This film seemed to be a justification of domestic violence, going as far as saying that because Matsuko unquestionably loved all these horrible men who beat and abused her, she is "like God". So desperately clinging on to abusive men for fear of being alone is a sign of virtue. What a hateful piece of rubbish.
shareIt's frustrating when people watch a film and can only see what's at the very surface, nothing else. To say this movie is a justification of any kind of violence is to miss the point entirely. Yes, domestic violence is featured. But is it glorified? Really? And yes, Matsuko is likened to a god but only in terms of her many imperfections and never once in relation to her choice in men.
I'd recommend you watch the film again (perhaps with a more open mind this time), and you might get more out of it. But far be it for me to say. What I will say, though, is don't assume that if a film shows an act, it's endorsing that act. We've Hollywood to thank for giving us an endless stream of films in which we're supposed to aspire to be more like the title character; but we've the rest of the world's filmmakers to thank for showing us that no one's perfect - even if they've had a film made about them.
You said it.
An unenlightened, surface movie review from a reactionist viewer, with no reasonable input.
The film is a brilliant in content and storytelling, and brilliant in style. A neo-melodrama, with a lot of soul and levity to balance out. Throughout, the film displays itself as a pastiche of cinema from the 60's, 70's and 80's eras in which the story takes place. This constructs a mood of fantasy, which is really mirroring the mind of Matsuko, forever clinging onto a dreams of happiness.
Matsuko "is God" because as it is explicity referenced in the movie, "God is love", and Matsuko is unconditionally a loving person. The filmmaker is clearly stating his case for life, and what meaning might there be. After all, Matsuko's brother, who carried her box of ashes, declared that Matsuko's life was "meaningless". A point of the film, and the journey of Shô was to show that Matsuko's life did have meaning; there were some lessons to be had from her life.
How can one come to the conclusion that this film justifies domestic violence whatsoever? It tells the story of a women suffering from relationships with abusive men... I mean seriously... Where did you find any justification of such behavior? Matsuko is not a flawless hero but a human being desperately looking for love and always seeing the problems only in her own personality while ignoring the fact that her boyfriends are abusive douche bags. This may not fit in your perfect shiny movie world but it's pretty realistic since it is well known that victims of domestic violence often stick to their partner on wrong introspection grounds.
shareThe movie was her story, and about the decisions she made in life (perhaps albeit, over-exaggerated in parts) from the era she lived in.
It was a tradionalist view from tradionalist-era Japan. Unfortunately, due to her decision to eventually isolate herself from everyone, the world quickly moved on without her.
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Clearly you didn't really watch the film. Clearly you're missing the point. All you've done is take some key points to the film and run with them as though that's the moral.
She dreamt of a fairytale, but her life was far from it. She had been in the shadow of her father's affection for her sister all her life, trying her hardest to make him smile, to please him - which I think greatly affected her psychologically, because nothing she did, seemed good enough because he always referred back to her sister. I think he loved her very much, but was just so upset and frustrated about her sister he had trouble showing it. You can tell this through the diary he kept.
Everything she loved was taken from her, because of one crucial event. She wanted to help someone else (Ryu), who at the time didn't deserve it. Again I feel like he probably did it out of frustration of not being able to have her, as she was his teacher and so his confused feelings ended up being projected negatively. This isn't excusing the behaviour I just think that was why.
To fill the void of what she had lost, she looked for love, or a better example would be companionship instead. If you really watch the movie you see, she really just wants companionship. She just didn't want to be alone anymore, she wanted her family back, or instead at least make her own family, somewhere to belong. In that desperation however she got herself hurt and tolerated much more than she should have, because of lingering childhood issues with inadequacy. That opportunity for a family never came, and the last opportunity she did have, was ultimately ruined. What Ryu thought was good for her, by staying away is ultimately what broke her.
Simply because he said that she was 'his God' does not mean that is what the entire movie is saying. I think someone else mentioned it also, about someone seeing through imperfections and loving you anyway, something along those lines. That forgiveness and unconditional love that the priest was discussing, he related to her, because all those qualities are things she had shown him, which is why he made that reference. The whole movie isn't saying it.
I think it's already been mentioned, she thought that most things were her fault, rather than her douchey boyfriends.
If you didn't get all the references to when she would say 'Welcome Back' you probably missed what I think was probably the whole if not main point of the movie. Forgive the cliche, but home really is where the heart is. She just wanted a home as hers had been taken away. At the very end when her sister says 'Welcome Back' and she says 'I'm Home' I thought that summed it up beautifully. After all that time, finally she was home, finally she had some peace.
...R.I.P Michael Joseph Jackson...
...R.I.P Heathcliff Andrew Ledger...
Her character is weak and unable to make good decisions. She is horrible to her family and a bit psychotic. The film decides however to end by saying "she's a god". The nephew had no reason to love a crazy family member he barely knew who spent her life making horrible decisions. There's nothing redeeming about her actions -- nothing to love, only to pity.
shareAgreed. I'm blown away by how certain viewers cling to this garbage as some sort of revelation. It seems all the whimsy has blinded them to the horrible depiction of women.
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