After hitting his feature debut out of the park (YOUR NAME/’16), the almost shockingly talented anime writer/director Makoto Shinkai skipped any sophomore slump, but still came up a bit short in WEATHERING WITH YOU/’19, gorgeous looking but somehow both too much and not enough. NAME all about mirrored lives lived decades apart, WEATHER about a sunshine girl who lifts spirits & clouds in Tokyo. The difference was that Shinkai’s second film felt reverse-engineered to fit preconceived visual ideas whereas NAME’s look and set pieces always generated directly out of the story. And while this latest work can’t match the psychological sophistication and satisfying meta-physics of NAME, it does rebalance story & spectacle to their proper order of importance. This time, our 16-yr-old heroine (an orphan living with her young aunt) ditches school, dazzled by a striking young man who asks directions to any nearby ruins. ? Seems he’s looking for a door. ?? This will all eventually make sense as he’s a ‘Closer,’ keeping the world safe from devastating earthquakes by shutting secret portals to keep the 'Willys’ out. Or whatever these spirits are, along with a magical kitty who holds the key (that’s literally holds the key) to locking the doors.. (This all shows a lot of influence from the Ghibli world of Hayao Miyazaki and is frankly unwelcome here. Shinkai has his own distinctive voice.) But all too soon, the striking stranger is physically possessed by a three-legged child’s chair (a fabulous and bizarrely anthropomorphic conception). This leads to a series of simply spectacular set piece adventures as the threesome dash to the next open portal to stop the next catastrophic earthquake. Suzume helped by a series of serendipitous female helpers. (The film casually feminist in a manner atypical of anme.) Quite a show, especially when Shinkai dares to use refreshingly simply graphic techniques mixed in with his animated pyrotechnics. An abandoned amusement park come roaring back to life, quite exceptional. Hopefully his next will have a storyline worthy of his great ability. Till then, this will do nicely.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: If you haven’t seen YOUR NAME, what are you waiting for? (Hopefully you’re not waiting for the long-rumored Live-Action Hollywood remake! Boo.) https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2018/06/kimi-no-na-wa-your-name-2016.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Note the Closer’s best pal (and general Good Guy) back in Tokyo is a pack-a-day smoker. Cigarette smoking by non-baddies, not something you see much of in Stateside animation.
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