Sunday, May 14, 2017

Your Name. - Movie Review

Starring the voices of Ryunosuke Kamiki and Mone Kamishiraishi.
Written & directed by Makoto Shinkai.

★★★★

We have an early frontrunner for the Best Animated Film of 2017.

This Japanese entrant takes a cliched plot device (body-switching comedy), but it's so inventive with where it takes it that it makes the concept seem fresh.

It centers on a teenage boy Taki and a teenage girl Mitsuha who don't know each other, but they wake up in each other's bodies. Then the next day they're back in their own, but with most of their memory of it gone. And then back again the next day. And they leave notes for each other to give clues as to what they did, but still, how did this happen, and why them?

The movie adds a twist halfway through that elevates this to a whole other level. The stakes of the mystery rise, as does the emotional weight.

No comments: