NOOB FILM REVIEW - CALL ME CHIHIRO directed by Rikiya Imaizumi (Netflix)

SYNOPSIS: A former prostitute, Chihiro is rebuilding her life in a small seaside town. She now works in a bento shop, where she imperceptibly changes the lives of her new customers.

REVIEW: Ahh. Another one of those “telling a simple story in a great way” examples. It has been shot extremely beautifully from the first scene to the very end. It is a reflection of the protagonist despite her inner conflict, she strived for good and as they say, how you are will also affect the people around you.

In a little over 2 hours, there are multitudes of scenes, and characters and they take you to surprising new places and stories. The typical three-act structure is applied oh so subtly. The whole experience is sublime and near meditative. This reminded me of what Joseph Campbell said when he ventured into one of the Shinto temples on a hill in Kyoto.

"In Kyoto, there are gardens where you are screened from the expanding view while climbing, and suddenly - bing! - the whole vista opens up before you. That’s sublimity. So, power and space are two renditions of sublimity, and in both cases, the ego is diminished. It’s strange: the less there is of you, the more you experience the sublime.”

The same experience watching this film transitioning from one scene to another. As if the protagonist is going through a spiritual awakening from her dark past. It shows how the Japanese emotionally handle their life - meditatively, zen-like. It is magical how the land that has survived many great wars, 2 atomic bombs, and multitudes of natural disasters turned into such a soft and forgiving society.

At one point, Chihiro is feeling as if she is underwater. It is one of the ways in the old literature saying that they are in a state of emotional confusion. Just like how Noah is in the belly of the whale. And even in the classic Malay film Tsu Feh Sofiah, Rahim Razali's character Nik plainly said that he saved Tsu Feh from drowning in the 'perut laut' (the sea).

Another further acknowledgment of the writer and director of the connection of the human spirit to the cosmos is by saying that "...we are all space aliens in human boxes. And we are all from different planets" Akin to many religious sayings that the human body is just a vessel and all connected to the stars. Also a directing to why famous directors have scenes pointing to the stars like the recent Lighting Up The Stars (Youtube and Netflix). Even in Yasu and Bea Tanaka's Lari Sayang Lari.

The Japanese. Perhaps they channeled their angst onto their art and films, like how the terror of the atomic bomb is portrayed in the horror of Godzilla. One of many examples. (not to mention numerous blood-bath anime and manga) And this film is an adaptation of a masterpiece manga "Chihiro-San!"

The play of fresh colors (even in downtime), the presence of animals (that fat furry cat!) close to the characters. Even the official poster has blue skies marking the top of the frame pointing to godliness. Like how John Ford used to tell the young Spielberg, "Look at the horizon!"

There are scenes where Chihiro is asked about her past job many times and when it was asked for the last time near the end, it marks that her journey of self has been achieved. Not only of herself but the people around her. Another related Joseph Campbell quote,

"Just as the people who you met by chance became effective agents in the structuring of your life, so you have been the agent in the structuring of other lives. And the whole thing gears together like one big symphony, everything influencing and structuring everything else."

Catch it on Netflix! Thank you Pak Hassan for the recommendation!
Watch the trailer