Flavours of Youth

During fall break, I watched a Japanese film called "Flavours of  Youth". It's an hour and sixteen minutes long, so I listened to Japanese for 1h16min. The film consists of three different stories set in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. 

In the first story, the young man feels lost as he opens up his umbrella towards the grey Beijing sky. He feels lost and miserable in the busy city. As he walks on, his memory drifts to his childhood. The small hand-made noodle shop is the first that comes to his mind. His dear grandma used to buy him this most delicious noodle made with love and care by a husband and a wife.

However, the noodle shop closes for the owner's personal reason, but the flavor that forever lingers in his head is the best memory from his childhood. It gives him the strength to face hardship in life.

The second story is called "The mini fashion show", which is about a model.  Her parents died when she was young. She chose to be a model to support herself and her younger sister and luckily becomes quite famous. However, she works so hard that she keeps neglecting the feeling of her younger sister. However, when she faces difficulties and wants to quit, it is her little sister, talented in cloth-making, makes her a stunning dress and encourages her to keep pursuing the modeling career, which is what she is passionate about.

The third story is very sad. The boy works hard to get to an elite high school because of the girl. The girl decides to give up on going to the elite high school because she doesn't know the boy is going there. The misunderstanding occurs because the boy didn't listen to the message the girl leaves to him in time.

 

The message in the film is quite implicit and needs a lot of interpretation. I feel familiar with the content because it is set in China. The first two stories are not yet relatable because I am used to living in Beijing and hasn't started working yet. When the boy's grandma died in the first story, I shed tears because his childhood memory is officially gone now. Neither his grandma nor the noodle shop exists. The third story is the saddest. I can't help crying (ugh I do that all the time when watching films) when the boy finally check out what the voice message the girl leaves to him. It's....so cute...yet so sad like "Magi's gift".

P.S. I also listens to Sekai no Owari's new song Illumination. I am so thrilled when I am able to understand 赤でも青でも黄色でもない (I don't really understand the grammar but I recognize the color)

My friend says the grammar incredibly easy. Looking forward to the day that I accumulate enough knowledge to understand a Japanese song:)

 

JUST FOR FUN: My friend's translation of my first paragraph

秋休みなので、暇がある時にflavors of youthという映画を見た。ランタイムの一時16分間に日本語を聞きっぱなしでした。映画には、３つの物語がある。