Qualifiers: I'm writing this based on my somewhat hazy memory of the show, so perhaps I've left out elements or exaggerated (even made up) some things. If I ever watch the show again, I'll re-look this.
Spoilers!
I was wondering why Tony Takitani was so strangely compelling (hehe), and I finally hit on a strangely compelling explanation. The show was very very very tightly controlled. So tightly controlled that it was very finished and very disciplined. I got the vague sense, even while watching, that it was a very 'small' show, not just because it was short (about 1.5hrs) and about only 1 man (as you can tell by the title), but also because of the style. It wasn't flashy, it wasn't grand, it wasn't exciting; by right it should have been kind of dull. But the style really reinforced the theme of the movie - loneliness. Restraint in the style parallels the protagonist's restraint on his feelings (loneliness), which was also compared to the physical imprisonment of his father (another type of restraint).
And now I shall proceed with the analytically dubious exercise of talking about restraint on the part of the director, the composer, and the fictional characters in the show in one breath. And I'm going to get away with it because it's my blog, and all I want to do is to explore (why the show is strangely compelling and) the feeling I get of restraint in all elements of the show.
I thought the use of a narrator was a big factor. Having a narrator tell the whole story takes away the sense of spontaneity and 'presence'. The movie is not one that is happening there and then, while you're sitting in the cinema. Restraint vs spontaneity... The sense of anticipation is taken away because everything already seems inevitable. Which is all the more depressing, because there doesn't seem to be any hope, and the few instances of hope (that I'll talk about later) have the audience really wishing that there could be a happy ending or at least some sort of resolution. (of course it doesn't happen)
Plus the narration was very matter-of-fact, even during the sad/traumatic parts. Very... restrained.
The framing of scenes was interesting also. Lots of boxes, very careful, very orderly.
The use of sound - it was a very quiet movie. I don't think there was any scene with loud music (oh yeah there was! when Tony was watching his dad's performance).
The use of colours - nothing flashy, all blues and greens and greys and browns. With the exception of the wife.
The wife obviously stands as a counter to Tony. Tony might be an artist, but he draws very very careful, detailed, emotionless pictures of machines. He is very organized, not very expressive, stoic, and to many, quite boring. He is someone who denies his own emotions, his own loneliness. We never see him emotional except when it comes to his wife, and even then, his emotions are 'hidden' from us by the director. When he asks his future wife out, he is emotional (and kind of sappy) but we look at them from the distance and through the rain, and of course, we are told what happened by the narrator. When his wife dies, he cries, but behind the sofa, so we never see his face. His wife, though, is unable to restrain herself from spending on clothes. While Tony deals with the loneliness by turning it inwards, restraining his emotions and behaviour, his wife deals with it by externalizing it... by wearing her solutions outside.
And interestingly, it is the clash between restraint and the lack of restraint that leads to the wife's death and the breaking down of Tony's newfound happiness. I guess it sounds silly that the wife died because Tony asked her not to buy more clothes and she tries to, but cannot restrain herself. But her death is also the premature death of Tony's attempt at learning to open up and express himself - the failure of his new venture into the realm of emotions, so to speak. When the extreme lack of restraint represented by the wife dies, Tony is back to his old ways. The clash between Tony and his wife over her spending is a clash within Tony too - keeping everything orderly and controlled vs letting go and escaping the imprisonment of this self-imposed restraint and loneliness. Without his wife, Tony cannot accomplish the latter.
So the wife is interesting. Tony was able to date her because his self-restraint broke down once. When she dies, we see Tony returning to his apartment, doing the chores, and then there is quiet, then there is the regular ticking of the clock, and Tony crying behind the sofa. I really liked that scene because the sense of loneliness is so oppressive. Really brilliant.
If the wife is interesting, the effect her death has is interesting too. Tony loses the two people in his life (his wife and dad), both of whom were more colourful than him. (A note on the dad. The dad is a jazz musician, which suggests improvisation, spontaneity, passion, feeling.) At first Tony seems to want to deal with his grief. However, it gets too burdensome. So he sells his wife's clothes, burns his dad's old records until finally, he is truly and absolutely alone. His way of dealing with the tragedies is learning to forget and to restrain the emotions, and in doing so, making himself even lonelier.
Tony sets about trying to get over his wife's death in an almost laughably rational way. He attempts to hire a female personal assistant to wear his wife's clothes, just so he can get used to his new life. He puts an ad in the papers, specifies the requirements, conducts job interviews, and then chooses a girl who looks like his wife.
The girl, who seems like a peripheral figure at first, actually becomes a central figure. When she sees his wife's collection of branded clothes, she starts crying because she's never seen so many beautiful clothes in one place before. In the end Tony doesn't hire her, but though he's able to distance himself from the memory of his wife and father, he cannot forget the girl who cried.
Following our discussion on self-restraint, this shouldn't be surprising. It doesn't matter that the girl cried for entirely the wrong reason. She was able to experience the catharsis that Tony is not able to. She was able to cry openly in front of the camera, whereas Tony had to restrain his emotions, and had to hide his (very limited, all things considered) expression of grief. His wife just died, but it is the girl who is crying, not himself.
It is not strange then, that the movie ends with Tony trying to contact the girl. What is he trying to accomplish? Perhaps he is trying to connect to the only person left to him who seemed to care. Perhaps he is somehow trying to get in touch with the sense that it is possible to reach out to another person, to forget restraint, as he did with his wife. Or perhaps he is simply fascinated by that image of catharsis that he is so divorced from. His phone call to the girl seemed entirely impulsive, his last attempt at escaping the prison and loneliness he's created for himself. Of course, almost inevitably, he misses her by just a few seconds, and the movie ends there.
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Ok, can you imagine not being able to think of anything EXCEPT that bloody movie while you're trying to finish your readings on balance of power in Asia? Freaking hell. Between, I apologise if not everything is logically consistent. The above is more an amalgamation of related thoughts than an argument.
Oh, and one last note on the movie, before I feel compelled to blog about it again, there is probably another level of discourse. All members of Tony's family are dealing with a sense of emptiness, and escaping from their own traumas. His dad cannot stay in one place, or spend much time with his son. His wife feels as if she has to spend on clothes to fill up the emptiness. Tony... well, Tony we know. There're probably themes of alienation, materialism, capitalism, identity, Westernization in there.
Note: The wife's obsession with clothes is exacerbated by a trip to Europe // The father's love of a Western form of music (jazz).
Ok enough! I need to stop thinking about this movie!
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I've got Jay's album! *does hip-hop Jay victory dance*
But I'm slightly disappointed in it. It's all very nice, I know *waves fingers dismissively*, but kind of tame? I prefer Jay with an edge. Like, put him in corny costumes! Get him to sing weird songs! Put him in a lousy singlet even! Drama mtvs! Just don't make him boring... And don't make him sing with Fei Yu Qing haha...
Though music tends to grow on me, so maybe some KTV sessions later I'll find myself liking the album.
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