Suzume.

Review #2003: Suzume.

Cast: 

Nanoka Hara (Suzume Iwato), Hokuto Matsumura (Souta Munakata), Eri Fukatsu (Tamaki Iwato), Shôta Sometani (Minoru Okabe), Sairi Itô (Rumi Ninomiya), Kotone Hanase (Chika Amabe), Kana Hanazawa (Tsubame Iwato), Matsumoto Hakuō II (Hitsujirō Munakata), Ryunosuke Kamiki (Tomoya Serizawa), Ann Yamane (Daijin), and Aimi (Miki) Written and Directed by Makoto Shinkai.

Review: 

"There are a lot of these issues that I think we need to come face to face with that demand our attention. But it’s hard to face them in a way or put them into a context where younger audiences will be open to discussing it. So in some ways, I think Suzume is connecting the older and younger generations through this sort of communal or unified experience. "

Admittedly, I haven't had too much to spend on anime films as I would like to cover, probably because one can only cover so much ground (Japan, perhaps not surprisingly, is the most prolific non-American topic on Movie Night, taking up nearly 30% of the films listed as world cinema, which has only taken up around six percent of these 2,003 reviews). But one thing that definitely matters most is finding a new director to introduce to the lexicon (of course, this particular director has been dubbed by some as "Miyazaki's heir", so me using "new" is a bit ironic). Born in Koumi, Japan, Makoto Shinkai found influence for his passion as a youth to manga and anime when he was a teenager; he graduated from study of Japanese literature at Chuo University to work at Falcolm, a video game company where he made video clips and graphic design. In 1999, he made his debut into animation with "She and Her Cat", which was done with hand-drawn illustrations and 3D done in Adobe After Effects, for which he had the help of three others in creating a five-minute short done in monochrome. He quit Falcom in order to work on a new original animation, which became Voices of a Distant Star (2002). He made his debut as a feature director with The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004). Since then, he has directed six further films (one being an anthology), with Your Name (2016) probably being the one that sticks out amongst people more familiar with Shinkai. That film, along with this one, were inspired by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami (which led to the death of thousands of people); as such, the movie is both a road movie along a fantasy adventure. As is the case with his other films, it was produced by CoMix Wave Films with him as director and writer.

It is probably not a coincidence that the film, released in late 2022, managed to find a release into theaters here because of its widespread success in its native Japan, as it soon ranked up there as one of the highest-attended films in Japan...ever. You know, the thing about watching a movie with subtitles in a theater is that it is undoubtedly better to enjoy it with a complete sense of calm. Well, that, or with no one else around so you can enjoy your own mood without problem, which goes double for a movie that features someone turned into a chair early on. But it is an interesting movie because of what ends up happening beyond first appearances, which mainly involves the trouble of trying to deal with opening doors without first looking at what we have behind us. In other words, it is tying up losing ends that matter most rather than leaving things to spiral out of control, whether that involves bubbling tension or, well, mythical worms. It grows on you as a coming-of-age film that soothes the soul in wondering what matters most when it comes to memory that its moments of crisp visuals (for the most part, as the CG animation is iffy) to go along with a generally interesting adventure that checks the marks for interest without turning into the complete paint-by-number venture. This was the first anime role for Hara, and she does pretty well in exhibiting the vulnerability required in a role that adjusts on the fly to the events happening around them, which is key in a road movie that sees plenty of presences around her, which works probably a bit better than the lingering romance. Matsumura proves fine, representing the struggle of trying to maintain one's sense of self while keeping a bond with Hara that makes for a useful bond. The rest of the passersby folks (whether it involves relatives or a magic cat) prove involving enough to make this an interesting atmosphere to remind one that being wrapped up in fantasy doesn't necessarily one has to leave people behind on the way there, as signified by the dynamic between Fukatsu and Hara. As a whole, it makes for a play at learning to closing one's emotional doors while also having a worthy adventure for 122 minutes that will prove most of your time well. Being a pretty good anime film will probably be more than enough for those curious enough to do this sort of film, so take that for what it's worth.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.