Luan Mengjiao Film Analysis FH2

Film Analysis Essay: Memories of Matsuko

Luan MengJiao (FH2)

Introduction & Synopsis

(Intoducing the film and a short summary of the film)

Institution, Genre and Audience

(Background story of the film, identify its genre and targetting audience)

Body Paragraph 01
(Starting scene analysis: 00:00:45 - 00:08:45)

Body Paragraph 02
(Origin of Matsukos funny face & her life turning point: 00:13:29 - 00:23:23)

Body Paragraph 03
(Prison life: 01:00:50 - 01:05:17)

Body Paragraph 04
(Lovelife with Ryu & Depression: 01:31:10 - 01:42:14)

Body Paragraph 05
(Final Scene: 01:55:23 - 02:05:45)

Conclusion
(Overview of the film and its influence)

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Luan Mengjiao Film Analysis FH2

Forgive me for being born. -- Matsuko

Memories of Matsuko is a non-linear surrealistic film that illustrates

Matsukos whole life through his nephews perspective after her death. Sho,
Matsukos nephew, is not aware that he has an aunt until after the death. He is
asked by his father to clean up her living place. Sho is at his prime age but
squandering his life away due to his lack of hope. Shos character is a drastic
contrast to Matsuko thus initially he finds it difficult to understand Matsukos
resilience and passion towards life. However, as Matsukos life gets
progressively unveiled, Sho understands better about her life and what she has
gone through. He appears to comprehend her decisions and forsaken his initial
prejudice towards the dirt, useless and unknown aunt.
The film is not exceptionally tragic and upsetting. In fact, Matsukos most
vulnerable and disappointing moments are illustrated through singing and
dancing, implying to the audience that she will eventually be fine. The original
Japanese title is Life of Despised Matsuko indicating that throughout
Matsukos life, she is being despised and judged and abandoned by people she
loves. The English title simplifies the title to Memories of Matsuko to portray
that the movie is about flashbacks of Matsukos life. However, neither of the
titles can capture the depth of this brooding, macabre window into how our
childhood fantasies can come tumbling down under the unforgiving weight of
reality. (Byrne, 2014) The movie adopts Amelies use of vibrant colors to
convey not only Matsukos optimistic attitude and desire to live, but ultimately
questions the meaning of life. Behind all the upbeat music, cheerful dance
moves and contrasting colorful connotations, it challenges the philosophy of
existentialism. Memories of Matsuko is a movie that makes the audience
laugh while watching, as the director tends to use dark humor to mask the pain
of life.

The film is directed by Tetsuya Nakashima, based on a Japanese novel by

Muneki Yamada. Tetsuya Nakashima has also directed other films like
Confessions and Kamikaze Girls, he is known for his use of hue. The film
has hit the box office of $9,578,449 which is an astounding figure for a foreign

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language movie. On top of that, it has received a 9.2 rating at the New York
Asian Film Festival, which is relatively high for a movie that has difficulty to be
categorized to a specific genre. Memories of Matsuko can be classified under
comedy, fairy tale, musical, mystery and drama. Thus the film is referred as an
unlikely cross between Moulin Rouge, Citizen Kane and Amelie.
However, Memories of Matsuko is fundamentally different from Amelie
which many critics have draw the parallels from. For Amelie, the movie
depicts pain in the midst of humour, but the basis of the movie is still a comedy.
As for Memories of Matsuko, it is a tragedy that adopts the cheerful music
and rapid shoots to intensifying the audiences emotions as well as to dilute the
misery and sorrow. Perhaps the only genre that can give a clearer theme of the
film is melodrama. The crux of melodrama is the underlying tragedy. Very little
movies in this genre is able to illustrate and embrace the inherent suffering. This
is exactly how the Memories of Matsuko sets itself apart, the suffering
heroine successfully portrays the realistic and the suffering that does not result
in a sugar-coated happy ending. As for the demographics, it appears that most
of the people who are appealling to this movie are normally the resigned, the
struggler and the reformer (according to the Young and Rubicams 4Cs). They
are the typical mainstream NRS class c1 and above who have certian
responsibility in life, but at the same time quesitoning life. Each scene is an
individual small narrative arc that contributes to the whole scheme of the movie.
In this essay, I will analyse five scenes comprising of the starting, the middle
and the ending, including also two other scenes that act as catalyst in Matsukos
life.

I will start off analysing the starting scene of the movie that is packed
with mise en scenes and notable editing techniques. The movie starts with the
upbeat music singing, coupled with flowery background through editting to give
a postive, dreamlike and make-believe scenerio. It establishes the date, time and
location through the use of wide shot, that gives clear overview of the
geographical space as well as to set up the atmosphere. The shot comprises of a
busy Tokyo street that is crowded with people. The main character Sho
(Matsukos nephew) starts his monologue by saying Itll be fine as long as

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there is happiness. This monologue foreshadows the events happening in the

later parts of the movie and is the crux of the main theme. Shos full monologue
here can be seen as a summary of Matsukos life. -The scene then transits
slowly into short POV shots from Shos perspective depicting different people
and their problems in life at different stages and places. The only constant is the
time editted on those shots: 3pm, when Matsuko died. The mise en scene worth
mentioning here are the lighting and the facial expressions. The scenes changed
rapidly but the low-lit scenes are consistent, and they look upset and troubled
with life. The light indirectly contributing to the atmoshpehre of the movie and
the upbeat contrapuntal music denotes that it is not a depressive movie.
At 00:08:36, the middle-length shot with the protagonist Sho right in the
middle depciting a sense of loneliness and hopelessness especially with his
baggy T-shirt and messy haricut. The vivid silk red curtain at the background
give the sunset an vibrant orange glow through the room window. Tetsuya
Namshika is adopting color schemes that other directors would normally avoid,
while red usually signifies danger, in this case, it represents excitement. Both
the excitement in unravel the life of Matsuko and the excitement that is
contrasting to Shos gloomy and negative attitude. The camera moves to Shos
hand as he is holding Matsukos photography and zooms in to focus on
Matsukos facial expression. She is wearing a formal Kimono but making a
funny (and inappropriate) face. This contrast implies Matsukos desire to please
others and her unique character and behaviour. This picture plant a sense of
curiosity in the audience so that they are willing to explore the reason behind
this appropriate smile. According to Barthes Code, this picture posed as an
enigma code that drives the audience to continue with the movie. It then cuts to
the next close-up shot of Shos face looking at the wall outside Matsukos
residence. This scene is particularly full of colours which is a drastic contrast to
the shabby and rundown residence.

Moving on to the next scene that explains the origin of the funny and
inappropriate face that Matsuko likes to make. At 00:22:10, Matsuko makes the
funny face and for the first time, her father smiled. The close-up shot here
reveals the characters personality as it accentuates the dramatic moment of

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truth. By using the close-up shot, it helps the audience to identify with the
characters emotional turmoil as well. The fact that her father smiled causes a
vicious cycle that every time when she finds it hard to satisfy someone, she
makes the face. It is a childhood emotional trauma, but in a hilarius (to the
audience) and pathetic (from Matsukos perpective) way. Perhaps to understand
better why Matsuko wants to please her father, the audience needs to know her
family. Matsuko has a sickly little sister that her father dotes and concerns, so
much so that she often feels being left out. 00:20:16, Matsuko is wearing a red
dress that signifies passion and anticipation in this scene. She was singing the
theme song when her father came back holding a present in one hand and brief
case in another. Matsuko eagerly stands up to greet her father, he merely passed
the brief case to her and went straight upstairs to find Matsukos sister, Kumi.
The long shot from the angle above the stairs at 00:20:26 intensifies the
loneliness and lack of companionship. Low-key lighting is used to further
hightlight the disparity between the fathers attitude towards Matsuko and
Kumi. the The subtitle stopped at this shot is He adored my sick sister, Kumi. I
was always alone.
From 00:24:04, Matsukos life starts to change as she was forced to leave
her job. The job she took as a school teacher in order to please her father. In
Matsukos earlier monologue (from 00:22:23 - 00:22:46), she mentions that
practically everything she does is to please her dad, to make her father happy
but it was futile. The accumulation of disappointments and futility forced her to
have left her own house and wanting to start a new life. The flower appearred at
00:27:29 while Matsuko is cycling away from home represents the equilibrium
(Todorovs narrative theory) in the movie. It acts as a transition when a new
chapter of Matsukos life unfolds and restores to peace. The camera gradually
zooms out, the scene ends with a wide shot, with Matsuko being positioned in
the middle to reinforce that she is all alone now. The sky is an eerily
combination of pink, yellow and blue to juxtapose Matsukos sombre and
joyless. From this turning point, Matsukos life starts to exacerbating.

The prison scene is the peak of Matsukos narrative arc. In a place where
there is no aspiration and ambition, Matsuko does not give up. She stays alive

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and works hard for the sake of surviving. This is the only scene in the movie
that adopts gloomy and dark colours. However, it does not give the audience an
bleak impression due to the non-diegetic music. If looking at this scene
separately, it could be considered as a music video (the full soundtrack is played
in the movie, which is rare for a movie) that well illustrates the mechanical life
in the prison. Matsuko lives like a emotionless robot that repeats the cycle of
sleep, eat and work which fully subscribe to the lyrics She wakes up to the
same routine. Matsuko, a character full of facial expressions, regardless of it
being funny or upset, has shown no reaction to the surrounding. Yet, at
01:02:25, Matsuko tears up when she sees the pancake in front of her. The
pancake reminds her of the time she spent alone with her father, without her
sick sister, Kumi. The extreme close-up shot here successfully portraits
Matsukos sadness and how much she misses her family. By using the low-key
lighting here, it indirectly implies that after so many years, Matsuko still has a
soft spot for her family. A sharp distinction from the exuberant and bubbly
sountrack. It is worth to take note that the prison cell costume is in vivid blue
colour, while it is attempting to be realistic, blue also signifies order (as
everyone is living the same life without defiance) and depression (a
claustrophobic place that devoids of hope).
When Matsuko is released from the prison, she is very elated to see the
guy that she misses, only to realise that he is married happily with kids. The
sudden lose of motivation and hope acts as the disruption according to
Todorovs narrative theory. The camera zooms out from 01:05:01 to show
Matsukos devastation and cuts to a medium-shot that establishes the guys
happy family in a small but cozy barber shop. Finally, the camera pans from left
to right to construct the over-shoulder shot from Matsukos back. The
compelling antithesis between the single alone Matsuko and the blissful family
ends with a close-up shot of the unwanted Matsuko with a bitter smile, saying
Im back. The subtext of the phrase Im back which has been used
constently throughout the movie denotes Matsukos desire of stability and also
her yearning for returning to her original home. However, when Matsuko left
the barber shop, the flowers (that acts as euqilibrium like previously mentioned)

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blossom along the way indicates that her life will return to peaceful and alone
again.

While the above scene has a huge impact in Matsukos life, the next scene
that I am going to analyse affects Matsuko the most. This scene is a minor
narrative arc of itself provide insights on Matsukos attitude towards love. In
this particular scene, the colours used are less bright comparing to other scenes.
Perhaps it is because being with the love of her life, Ryo, is already a dream
came true that she does not require any fancy colours to mask her pain.
Matsukos costume here is more housewife-life, instead of the previous formal
or sexy look. Despite being with the love of her life, Matsuko is not happy as
Ryo is a yakuza (gangster in Japanese) and he tends to punch her. The camera
slowly focuses at the flower petals scattered on the floor at 01:23:08 and
unhurriedly tilting up to Matsukos face, and her bleeding nose. Matsuko
uttered: Its better than being alone. with an extreme close-up shot
pinpointing Matsukos nose and dilated eyes. The low-key warm interior
lighting (orange colour) is shone on half of her face, while the other half is in
the dark. A shallow depth of field has been created; Matsuko in the foreground
is in focus whereas the background it soft. The aesthetical incongruity enables
the audience to sympathise with Matsuko.
Undoubtedly, this relationship does not end well like previous
relationships, Ryu is arrested and send to jail. Matsuko, faith and loyal as
always, waits for Ryu to be released. The long eye-level shot at 01:30:55 with a
snowy background, contextualise the location - outside the prison. The
proxemics here suggesting that Matsuko and Ryu are distant and awkward, it
subtly denotes that things have change within them. Matusko holding a bouquet
of bloody red roses which is ironic as the backgroud clearly indicates it is
winter. It is as peculiar as Matsukos persistance in finding love (which is the
language of rose). Ryu punched Matsuko and ran away, with Matsuko lying in
the snow, asking why? at 01:31:31 when the camera focuses on her face. In
each minor narrative arc, the stroyline follows Todorovs code, there is the
equilibrium, disruption, realisation, restored order and equilibrium again.

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However, Ryus abandonment prevents Matsuko to restore the order of her life
and hinders the equilibrium.

Moving on to the last scene, the long shot used here at 01:56:47 from the
back of the kids creates the tension between Matsuko and the kids. The use of
proairetic code (Barthes Code) helps in contributing the climax, it indicates to
the audience what is going to happen next. This is a moment of revealation of
the truth: that there is no hope for Matsuko. It is not going to be a happy ending.
What saddens the audience is the fact she is being killed by kids, kids that she
used to love to teach. Even her dialogue suggests that she cares about the kids,
she tells them off for staying outside during midnight, she wants them to be
home early and safe. Yet, in return, she is killed by them. It is ironic that she is
about to restore the her life back on track and fight against depression (which
was diagnosed in the earlier scene) but life does not give her chance to do so.
The long shot is used when Matsuko is walking back home from 01:57:16 and
slowly tilting towards the right, where the children creep behind her and hit her
with the baseball bat. The background is the alluring starry night, in contrast
with the neat and light green lawn. The soundtrack starts to play, to aggravate
the audiences feelings for Matsuko. 01:57:39 helps to establish the location as
well as the ending by using long shot with Matsuko collapses on the field.
Unlike the bright flowers used in the previous scenes, the flowers here are small
delicate and in white and yellow color. The white little daisies used in this scene
is the symbol of the overarching idea of life and death. On the bottom left of the
shot, there is articial lighting used right beside Matsuko, to represent the
unattainble hope. The close-up shot at 01:58:29 to focus on the flowers acts as
the contrast between life (the flowers) and death (Matsuko). The camera and
zooms out and defocuses, creating a dreamy scene at 01:59:01 with Matsuko
wearing a purple cardigan lying unconsciously and the flowers blooming around
her. As the Pulitzer Prize winner for photography Kevin Carter had said on his
suicide notes: Im really, really sorry. The pain of life overrides the joy to the
point that joy does not exist. It seems that the director is adopting vibrant
colour and fantasia-esque editing to portray pain in the life using joy.

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Considering this is a rather fatasy-like movie, it does not stop here but
continues to film Matsuko walking up the staircase (as a metaphor of going up
to heaven). It is filled with different cuts of the people that Matsuko has met in
her life, singing the theme song (the song that she love to sing). This indirectly
shows that Matsuko has an impact in peoples life without knowing it, maybe
all her sarcrifice is not wasted afterall. At 02:05:15, Matsuko turns back to look
at her father, she does not have to do any funny faces anymore, the close-up
shot of her father smiling at her implies his recognition. It also underlines how
much her father means to her, even when she is lingering, Matsuko wants to
seeking approval from her biased father. The whole movie ends at 02:05:40
with Matsuko walking back to her house and her sister comes out to welcome
her. A close-up shot of Matsuko and her tearful eyes, saying Im home. She
finally has a place to go back to - her home.

The different men appeared in the movie are ultimatelty the metaphor of
things we value in life. The father is actually a symbol of validation, Matsuko
yearns for her fathers approval her whole life, even at the last scene, she has to
turn back and look her father before climbing the staircase to what presumbly is
heaven. The first guy Matsuko loves is a writer, the relationship is unhealthy
and morbid. The guy treats Matsuko as trash, violence is often is used on her.
However she does not mind at all because she wants a companion in life. Thus
the writer represents companionship that we all need in life. The second guy is
the writers enemy, is a part-time writer thus he signifies the comfort zone that
we are unwilling to step out of or move on. The third guy that is being murdered
by Matsuko is a a connotation of wealth which can be seen from the way he
dresses, with golden chains and flowery silk shirts. The fourth guy, a shy
hairdresser is the emblem of a stable and peaceful life that Matsuko desires. The
last guy before Matsuko gives up on her life, represents true love, the love that
she thirsts for. It was the last straw that strained and forced her to completely
surrender to fate, relinquishing any power she has to change her life. Using the
Propp theory, Matsuko can be seen as the Hero in the movie, while the guys are
the Villains that poses as obstacles along Matsukos life. There is no physical

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form of a Princess as a reward in the movie, however, the recognition and

affirmation that Matsuko desires is actually the prize.

Her life was meaningless. This is the casual remark given by Matsukos
brother. It is ironic because after watching the movie, the audience would
realise that Matsukos life is the only meningful life that was totally selfless and
build on the basis to help others. Especially when Shos girlfriend said that: A
persons life isnt valued by what one receives, but, by what one gives, right?
Matsuko gives others everything she has, she loves and sacrifices
wholeheartedly, yet none of the people she met in life appreciates her. No one.
A movie that questions the purpose of life and who are we, as merely
human beings, to judge others life. With a philosophical theme like this, the
director cleverly uses subplots that contribute to the main concept and purpose
of the movie. It is depressing to see that when Matsuko finally finds herself and
want to regain her life, she died. It is as though the movie is trying to imply
death is the only constant in life, other than that, nothing matters. All is futile.

(3442 Words)

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