“The Long Goodbye” From someone who watches the world to someone who intervenes in it *Note! Contains spoilers.

OK with me

Philip Marlowe watches the world from the sidelines. Even when faced with the cruel reality, he solemnly accepts it and leaves the stage with a resigned look on his face. That is the unsentimental style of Raymond Chandler, the style of hard-boiled novels. Haruki Murakami, who also translated this work, wrote:

``We read several stories with Philip Marlowe as the main character, and we learn about Philip Marlowe's opinions about various phenomena...What we understand there is that Philip Marlowe is the main character. It is the way the world is viewed through Marlowe's ``perspective,'' and it is just the precise way that mechanism works. Although it is highly concrete and palpable, it transports us nowhere. We hardly know what kind of person he really is. Marlowe actually appears to be many light years away from us."

“The Long Goodbye” © 1973 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved

Haruki Murakami has a keen eye and refutes the fact that Philip Marlowe is an observer of the world. In ``The Long Goodbye'' as well, Marlowe appears in almost every scene and fulfills the role of a guide who guides us, the audience, but he never tries to intervene in this world. What stands out to me is the line he mutters over and over again, ``OK with me.'' As he tells himself, he accepts the absurdity of this world.

What's interesting is that the camera keeps moving, repeating dolly and panning to match Marlowe's movements. It's a mysterious feeling, as if we too are peering into this strange world. Yet, a story that is ``concrete and palpable, but does not transport us anywhere'' is woven in a calm, faded tone.

"Long live Hollywood"