𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐇𝐢𝐯𝐞
Asian cinema has taken snapshots of feelings and emotions, portraying them with a delicacy that touches the soul. The vision of a story can encompass so many of life's own moments that it touches you deeply. Then you see yourself, sitting there, thinking, what are we doing? What is the future if you don't live in the present? Where are you headed? Perhaps to regret, or to discover yourself.
Between the large number of releases, and the repetitiveness of Hollywood, the superficiality of its scripts leaves you empty, but of moods. For the past few months I have opted for Asian cinema, the one that only reaches festivals in its own continent and its releases do not receive promotions in streaming accounts. A cinema that portrays a story to empathize with, where the seventh art is still reflected.
I sifted through the variety of choices while browsing online, this movie chose me, not the other way around. That's when after two hours, I find myself writing about the perfect arrival of this work into my life, and how it's a way to sit back and clear my head as the start of the year comes in a storm of emotions.
Directed by Michihito Fujii and starring Greg Han Hsu and Kaya Kiyohara, 18x2 Beyond Youth tells the story of Jimmy, a man who has just lost his job and returns to his hometown in search of an answer, something to make him feel alive. It is then that he finds an old postcard wrapped in a memorable scent, which will make him fall into the memories of the past and make the decision to embark on a journey to find himself, and an old backpacker love, named Ami.
This film is an adaptation of a memoir Youth 18×2 Japan Wanderers on Slow Trains that went viral on the internet in 2014. The director chose to tell the story from the perspective of the melancholic Jimmy, portraying the man's emotions such as loneliness, sadness, searching and longing, as well as the phases of falling in love. I believe that the viewer can easily empathize with the emotions of the protagonist, and depending on the age range can experience the feeling of identification.
The story is presented in two timelines, the past: where Jimmy, a young Taiwanese and Ami, a Japanese backpacker girl, meet and begin to establish this relationship that unites them during the summer, a month full of new experiences where they decide to learn more of each other's language to get to know each other and cherish the feelings that are developing. The present: where Jimmy does not know exactly what he has been doing for the last 18 years of his life, intensely pursuing a promise made in his adolescence.
The psychology of the characters is well interpreted, denoting the differences in their behaviors between the age gaps in which they are presented, which allows an understanding of their actions for the viewer. The play has a first-rate performance, highlighting the work of its protagonists who take us by the hand through their misfortunes, confusions, longings and search. Kaya Kiyohara (Ami), although she is not who has more relevance in the story, has such nostalgic scenes that shake the heartbeat and is the one who gives a great plot twist that takes you to tears; while Greg Han Hsu (Jimmy) presents a special charisma that endears easily, and you suffer each of its stages, you climb through their advice and makes you listen carefully to their way.
With a variety of tourist scenes in Taiwan and Japan, the director and the production took good care of their images, using orange and blue tones as the main ones, making a strong impact by evoking feelings of youth and sociability in contrast to the melancholy and coldness. Throughout the film a lot of angles are conveyed, especially close-up shots that make you feel closer to the characters, allowing the smooth movements of the cameras also allowed a natural approach to the story.
SPOILER. I'm not going to lie and say that I didn't perceive what had happened to Ami since a little before the middle of the movie, however, the scenes that narrate her own suffering while listening to her last words to Jimmy are like knives in the chest. But what made me cry silently is the plot twist at the closing of the story, when we realize that Jimmy already knew about his demise and that is the reason for his emotional decline that leads him to lose his job, presenting a man who had been repressing his suffering for about 10 years and delaying the confrontation of grief, something that seems all too common among men and that reveals an important message for society: live, feel, cry, overcome and go on.
18x2 Youth, as it was labeled in some festivals, is a film that everyone should see at some point in life. It is perceived as a teenage romance that pushes a man to be more mature in the pursuit of his dreams, but does not leave behind his inner child who represses emotions that can trap him in his bubble. I didn't see this movie as a love story, to me it is the introspective portrayal of a man who loses the meaning of his own life, but faces an emotional storm to regain a course, no matter what the path.
So dear reader, what's next for you in life?
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