MovieChat Forums > Hôhokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun (2000) Discussion > I think one of the stories is out of pla...

I think one of the stories is out of place (possible spoiler)...

posted 19 years ago by fasta
18 replies | jump to latest

I just saw this movie a couple of days before and I love it in general. I have quite a few good laughs and this family is surley cute. However, there is a story about the grandma visiting her friend in the hospital, and unless I am mistaken, her friend actually has some sort of life-theathening disease. I am not objecting the subject of death in a comedy, but this one just seems a little bit out of place to me. I see this movie as a light-hearted comedy and the tones of the other parts are surley coherently light-hearted. And all of a sudden, we have to deal with the otherwise optimistic friend of the grandma who seems will die soon. I don't know how you react, but when I saw this part, my smile suddenly froze and didn't know whether I should feel funny or sad. Having experience my own grandparents' passing away, I find myself become quite sensitive to this subject, especially at times that is most unexpected (such as in this movie). I may be over-reacting, but I would prefer this little story not to be included in this movie.

BTW, I have a similar experience with another animation "My life as McDull", although I don't think too many people will have seen it here, because that is a Hong Kong animation and if you don't know Cantonese, I doubt that you will understand the jokes. The English subtitle doesn't help.

[–] dballred 19 years ago

This was a serious film--with quite a bit of humorous content. It was not a sitcom. Each segment closed with a Haiku--or poem--with a strong connection to the story's message.

[–] emasterslake 19 years ago

It was just one scene. This movie is not a Drama movie, like Grave of the Fireflies.

I have no problem with the scene with Shige's friend soon to be deceased.

[–] sumofeet 19 years ago

I thought the scene belonged to the movie and I had no problem with it. There were some other parts that were kind of sad (like when Mr.Yamada is thinking about being heroic). Thing is I didn't know it was about death until the haiku popped up. They put that music and since she loved gossip, I thought she was just acting dramatic.

[–] Daniel Thomas 18 years ago

It's one of the givens that when watching one of Takahata's productions that you will be taken through the spectrum of emotions. You're going to laugh, and you're going to cry, and while Yamadas is among his more light-hearted works, there are still moments that are filled with poignancy, regret, and sorrow. But, in the end, it's all a part of life. "Don't overdo it."

Just remember, if you dread Yamadas' darker moments, it could be worse: the daughter could have died from malnutrition, the father could have suffered a fatal heart attack, the mother could have been bombed out of her home, the dog could have been run over by a car, and the son could have wandered through the Valley of the Shadow of Death in search of "mother." Heck, this could have been a "Vietnam" picture.

[–] LuciaJoyce 17 years ago

I like that scene. Like Daniel Thomas said above, Takahata's films explore the spectrum of emotion. It's not like it teetered into melodrama, or pathos. It was a moment of unexpected emotion, revealing the depth that informed the whole scene.

I find another scene a little more enigmatic. That's the one where the mother sees the flowers left on the roadside and says, How sad! And the grandmother sees it too and says, How true, it's so sad when flowers wilt like that. The fact that the flowers are a memorial to a child killed in a road accident at that location seems elided by the mother and the bystander; and when the grandmother says brusquely, I know a child died here too but the flowers wilting is also sad, it strikes me as a little insensitive. Was that the point? Like when the grandmother praises the homely caterpillar on the rhododendrons earlier in the movie, saying that she'll be as gaudy as any bloom, is she saying something about the equality of all life and death in the world?

--
I should warn you -- he's a Fourierist.

[–] bruno-mailly 16 years ago

when the grandmother says brusquely, I know a child died here too but the flowers wilting is also sad, it strikes me as a little insensitive. Was that the point?

A greater sad (child death) must not hide lesser ones (flower wilt).

[–] kovalsky-1 16 years ago

In the subtitled version, the gradma takes it even further - poor guardrail (she says, stroking the guarrail, all bent by the impact) Sounds a little farcical to me (pretty much overdoing it), but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a guardrail shrine somewhere in Western Tokyo.

[–] fzh-1 18 years ago

I wouldn't say that it was out of place... Many of the segments were pretty intense. For example, when Nonoko was lost in the mall, or when Shige insisted on confronting the bike gang. While the movie was humorous, it also took itself quite seriously.

[–] Elianod 18 years ago

This is not the only sad segment.

There is that one when father comes back from work (ahem) and eats a banana, and there is Bach in the background (I suppose this is a reference to Norstein?).

Or when father starts dreaming about 'freedom' and mother says that he's thinking about his own retirement. Even though I see how this can be taken as a joke, I had the goosebumps instead.

I don't think these feelings are out of place. It's not like one has to laugh from minute 1 to 115 for the movie not to be a failure. That part at the hospital wasn't meant to be funny, or rather, wasn't meant to end in a funny mood.

[–] anak_d 18 years ago

The themes of death, old age and impermanence are present in most Asian countries. As far as I know they see it more as something bittersweet as opposed to plain "sad".

It's that here in the West we like to pretend death doesn't exist.

[–] sumofeet 18 years ago

¨It's that here in the West we like to pretend death doesn't exist.¨

Don´t forget Mexico´s Day of the Dead, ;).

[–] fasta 18 years ago

Yes, I see all of you guys points. That indeed isn't the only sad part. That's why I suspected I was over-reacting.

[–] MusicalParadox 17 years ago

Boy is this an old post... I think it was supposed to be a little grim and funny.

Here the grandma is visiting her friend in the hospital. The friend, who is in the hospital greats her visitor and friend(grandma) with an upper cheek. Instead of playing the poor me, she makes the best of things, acting like everything is fine. The grandma, being a good friend should know why her friend is in the hospital. The humor is when the grandma says "So, why are you in here anyways?" meaning "you seem healthy what are you doing in the hospital!?".

I'm not sure if I'm clear but that's another view on it.

[–] everyonestoostupid 16 years ago

That's how I saw it too.
I thought the sadder part was the whole section about the biker gang. It seemed to take a darker turn there, although that's not to say it ruined it at all, it just came as a surprise.

[–] Szabu 15 years ago

That is also a part of the life, you know, so it did fit the movie's concept.