Love seems to have become a luxury item, with money, power, and a face to match. The right to have the face of the talent worthy of talking about love, we have no name of the people only talk about the life of a chicken hair, parents, the workplace carefully, the interests of the disputes, talk about investment and finance, gossip news. If someday which said so-and-so was overwhelmed by love how how, as if many years did not hear the same joke, distant and unfamiliar. Last night inadvertently found out the Showa classic movie "cold Tsubaki", from that era, the lowering of the flag Yasuo director about love, life, social thinking and almost idealistic ending let me watch the movie after a long time can not let go.
"Tsubaki," an old Japanese movie released in '92, tells the audience a story about a geisha named Mudan (牡丹), which takes place in the early Showa period. The movie begins with the narrative perspective of Kentaro, the son of geisha intermediary Tomita Iwaki, and takes as its starting point the family conflict that erupts between Tomita and his wife. Dissatisfied with her husband's lowly occupation, on which Tomita earns his living, the wife flees to her mother's house with her son while Tomita is away, determined never to return. When Tomita discovers this, he immediately jumps on his motorcycle and rumbles to his mother-in-law's house, but his wife refuses to go back with him, so he grabs his son and ties Kentaro back up. Since then the conflict between father and son is out of control.
During one of Kentaro's unsuccessful runaways, the heroine Sadako makes her debut. She is a 21-year-old bus conductor with a bright smile who seems to be all light and no darkness in the world. Seeing Kentaro's reluctance to go back with his father, Sadako knelt down and kindly calmed him down, her understanding successfully resolved a father-son crisis, and Kentaro obediently followed his father back home, and gave up his repeated unsuccessful attempts to run away from home.
Then her reappearance turns out to be the result of her own gambling-obsessed father dragging her to the Tomita house, where she sells herself as a geisha to pay off her father's gambling debts. In the scene, Sadako is wearing a dark kimono that makes her face pale, her head buried deep in her shoulders, a far cry from the bright young woman in the dark blue uniform she wore before. Tomita rebuked Sadako's father, who had sacrificed his daughter to save his own life, and placed her in the hands of her trusted "mother" at the Yang Hui House, where she was taught dance and etiquette, and given the stage name "Peony". From then on, Sadako officially becomes a geisha who sells her art but not her body. But Peony's life is not as smooth as Peony's. Soon after she starts working, Sadako is forced to give up her virginity to Tada, a high-powered pleasure-seeker, and unknowingly becomes a pawn in the secret rivalry between the two major bank campaigning forces.
Tomita, though only a geisha agent, has always cared for and protected Peony. Peony took all this in her stride, and when she could not decide what to do, she would always go to Tomita's house to seek his advice. Even when she became the head girl of Yang Hui House and her portrait was sought after by men, Peony still treated Tomita the same way as she did when she was brought into his house by her father. In the eyes of others, Tomita, who only groveled and tolerated the smallest of men, was a haven for Peony. She respects him for fighting for the rights of the girls to the fullest extent possible, even though he lives off the back of an unseemly geisha business, and even loves him for remaining committed to his wife even after she fled, and for never failing to take advantage of the opportunity to have sex with his wife.
Mudo's heartfelt smile, which blossoms every time she sees Tomita, makes Inwangsan, Mudo's other ardent admirer, jealous. Inwangsan knows that he has no chance to get close to Mudan, but he can't bear the thought of losing out to Tomita, who is also an unassuming and lowly man. He leaves Tomita a challenge to fight him to the death. The young and impetuous man is blinded by his overwhelming love for Peony and even goes so far as to clash with his boss. When he learns that Mudan is about to be ransomed and married off by Tada, Inwangsan recklessly abducts Mudan, who is on a trip with Tada. In a hut by the sea, he loudly questions Mudan about her feelings for Tada, and his intense jealousy drives him to take Mudan by force, despite her resistance, and Mudan has no choice but to give in. The next morning when Inwangsan opens his eyes, he sees a hot breakfast, thinking that the two of them are the closest of lovers. Unfortunately, his dream only lasted less than a day, and soon Tomita found their hiding place and rescued Peony back to Yang Hui House. But she never dreamed that this incident would become the fatal turning point in her justly popular geisha career.
When Mudan was brought back to Yanghui House, she faced Tada again, and instead of being comforted, she was insulted and scolded. Dada is upset by Peony's loss of virginity, and his attitude towards her turns a hundred and eighty degrees. She suffers Tada's verbal insults in silent tears, but still chooses to follow Tada, a congressman who ran a successful campaign, to Tokyo. What she doesn't realize is that when she arrives in Tokyo, Mudan has stepped into a trap. The identity of the congressman's wife is a scam, and Tada has already planned to sell her to Manchuria to work in the flesh trade. Peony's desperate attempts to resist are brutalized by Tada's henchman, Tamura, who is the leader of a yakuza gang.
Tomita, who unintentionally learns of the incident, immediately uses all his connections to save Peony from the devil. Seeing the tortured and emaciated Peony, he is determined to get justice for Peony from a group of powerful people, such as the ruthless councilors. Tomita, who has always advocated the middle ground of "tolerate what can be tolerated, and give in to what can be given", did not choose to avoid this time. Tomita rushed into the restaurant box where Tada was holding a celebration banquet in a furious manner, and grabbed the newly-promoted councilor and beat him up violently. The newest addition to the list is the newest addition to the list, the newest addition to the list, the newest addition to the list.
Tada, who was beaten up, immediately thought of revenge and ordered Tamura to lead a large group of people to Tomita's house. In order to protect Peony, Renwangshan stayed at Tomita's house to fight against the villains, and in the poor melee, Peony had her finger cut off and her blood flowed profusely. Luckily, the three of them eventually recovered their lives and the villains got what they deserved. Mudan is touched by Renwangshan's love and unfailing devotion, and she finally decides to marry him and become the most ordinary couple. At the end of the movie, when they parted, Renwangshan's words, "It doesn't matter if you don't have a finger, I am your finger" were really touching. His love for Mudan is reckless and clumsy, but it is sincere and genuine. Peony's love for Tomita is more of admiration and respect for her elders. But Fu Tian's love for Peony is a long and delicate concern, a silent care and respect.
They are the most insignificant characters of the lower class in this era, but they show the basic sincerity of loving people, as well as the admiration and respect for love, which is seriously lacking in the so-called upper class represented by Tomita. They may behave in a vulgar manner and have never received a good education, but they are rare in possessing noble character and courageously fighting for and defending their beliefs with their actions. As underclassmen, they do not have the ability to choose the life they want, but are forced to accept and even endure the current situation, but use their own most clumsy way to struggle and fight against fate. At the end of the movie, the son Kentaro instantly understands his father, who seems weak and incompetent and only smiles all day long. He sees that behind his father's smile is the helplessness of being pressured by life, and the wisdom of resolving conflicts. But once where there is injustice, his father will be transformed into a real warrior, the first time to stand out, pull out the knife to defend the people he loves.
In a modern society where everything is becoming more and more convenient, we need a movie like this to remind ourselves that there is more to life than just the oil, rice, salt, vinegar, and tea, and that the romance is not just a dessert for the rich and the idle. Everyone has to live a routine life due to different circumstances and abilities, but the pursuit of love and belief in human qualities is the right of all people. In front of love, all beings are equal.