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Shinkai’s highly-awaited film topped all charts in the third week after its theatrical debut in Japan. Suzume No Tojimari film has reportedly sold 38 percent more tickets than the widely acclaimed film, Your Name. With the global release knocking at the door, fans are curious how Shinkai’s latest outing will stack up with his other two films. Will it deliver the same hype and ‘eyegasm’? Will it have chart-destroying songs like Grand Escape and Zenzenzense? Here is a spoiler-free Suzume No Tojimari Movie Review!
Your Name & Weathering With You were quite similar. Thus, many felt that Shinkai should stop copying the same theme. And it seems he has taken those criticisms to heart since Suzume No Tojimari Movie feels very different. At the same time, there is a common pattern that Makoto still follows! Keep reading to know more.
Inside The Mind of Makoto Shinkai: New Film With The Same Theme As Your Name?
Unlike his previous works, Shinkai based his film on a real-life event in Japan. On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the Tohoku area of Japan. This calamity claimed countless lives. The mood in Japan changed dramatically as a result of this. To this day, the event is still very sensitive among the Japanese. And a film on that emotional trauma might have brought critics to the front. But Shinkai has managed to plan it through. In Your Name, he wrote about preventing calamities. And about accepting them in Weathering With You. So after 11 years, he is prepared to bring the story to the younger generation who have not witnessed this calamity.
Shinkai has packed it with mystical elements like his other films. Yet he will firmly ground the fans to reality. The new film is filled with Japanese mythologies, much like Your Name. Kimi no Na Wa uses the Shinto belief of Musubi as the film’s core. Likewise, similar Shinto-related myths will also be present in the new film. While Your Name is about seeking something new, Suzume No Tojimari is about protecting what is already present.
Suzume No Tojimari Movie Review: Plot & Visuals
The story focuses on a High school girl, Suzume. She lives with her aunt in southern Japan. One day a man called Souta arrives in her area. She follows him and finds a door in the ruins of a mountain. The world through the door is a different one. Disasters ruin it. Soon the door closes, and they find themselves in the middle of chaos. Meanwhile, a cat named Daijin turns Souta into a chair. Now Suzume must travel across the doors to prevent disasters in several parts of Japan and save Souta.
The animation quality is stellar, with breathtaking cinematography. Unlike the earlier films based in Tokyo, Shinkai has focussed on other regions. He has carefully chosen landscapes that put focus on the old scrapped rural trains, ports, and tangerine fields. Meanwhile, RADWIMPS has returned this time. Mokoto managed to keep audio effects playing throughout the film, only pausing for brief minutes to enjoy the tranquil quietness. Using the film’s audio elements, he plays with the watcher’s emotions. However, this time the music has failed to connect with the fans emotionally.
Suzume No Tojimari Movie Review: Conclusion
Romance is more muted in the new film. It is very obvious since Souta remains a chair for half of the screen time. On the other hand, Your name had deep character moments as the two shared each other’s bodies for a long time. Thus, every inserted soundtrack and song hit hard. Finally, many would find the new film divisive due to the theme it is based on. However, it is too soon to judge. International fans are still in the calm before the storm. This film might just turn out to be Makoto Shinkai’s magnum opus. Here we end the Suzume No Tojimari Movie Review! The film is all set to release in winter’23. Stay tuned for more updates!
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