I recently had the great pleasure of seeing Makoto Shinkai’s new movie, “Weathering With You” in theaters, and it became an instant favorite.
As a bit of preface, I saw maybe three movies in theaters in 2019, so I am far from a film connoisseur. That said, I’d like to think I can separate a popcorn flick like “Jurassic World” from more meaningful cinema such as “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”
But on to the real subject here: Shinkai’s first movie, “Your Name,” an elegant romance transcending the boundaries of space and time to explore emotional intimacy, was a triumphant entrance into the world of film, and “Weathering With You” is a perfect successor.
“Weathering With You” follows 16-year-old “Hodaka” as he runs away from home to Tokyo, where he meets “Hina,” a girl who can change the weather by praying. Together, they attempt to, quite literally, bring sunshine back to a Tokyo surrounded in clouds and damp air.
The animation captures this excellently. The color palettes and scenes change from dull, muted city settings to brilliant, bright scenes of greenery and fireworks, exploding in an array of colors.
The plot starts out relatively slow. It builds a sense of the mundane, capturing the struggles of survival in a new city, before slowly adding in elements of magical realism. The Tokyo presented by Shinkai is, in a word, solid. The setting is grounded, not in lights and sound or grime and moss, but in both. This makes the extraordinary lives of Hina and Hodaka that much more fascinating, as they bend outside of the realms of the normal by bending the world around them.
I have to admit, I was skeptical up to 30 minutes in. The bread and butter of Shinkai’s work is slowly building emotional beats and connections to the characters. This early sense of contentment is built so well that the plot’s twists wrench the heartstrings completely in sympathy to the characters’ plights.
It is difficult to describe a Shinkai work as ‘tense.’ There is no villain, antagonist or even primary goal driving the action. It is a slice-of-life in its purest form. Shinkai asks the audience to experience the strangeness of the world with the characters, not hesitating to explain the wonderful strangeness of the eternally rainy setting or Hina’s powers. The film’s resolution is invitingly complex, a welcome change from many films’ archetypal, Freytag-ian resolutions. Instead, it delivers a stunning catharsis for the lives of the characters, causing me to openly weep in Harkins.
The characters are completely genuine, from Hodaka’s naivete and strong work ethic, to Hina’s emotional maturity and relentless compassion. The side characters, “Mr. Suga” (who runs the tabloid where Hodaka works), “Natsumi” (his assistant), and “Nagisa” (Hina’s younger brother), all have compelling, independent lives and struggles outside of the adventures Hodaka and Hina go on. Even so, none of these details seem extraneous or out of place, and they serve the characters’ motivations and choices in clear, direct ways, making the action that much more enticing.
Shinkai weaves elements of mystery and personal struggle into each character’s arc, from trying to save money to wanting to care for one’s family to being the most popular boy in elementary school. Shinkai smashes character tropes of magical girls and sad boys to oblivion, giving every single character complete agency in their own right and never making a mockery of who they are.
Supporting the film’s emotional build is the soundtrack, performed by Japanese rock band, Radwimps. Balancing sweet instrumentals with piano and techno notes with full songs sung by singer/actress Toko Miura, the music supplements the emotional arc of the movie excellently, beginning with simple musical motifs that are repeated and elaborated on as the story continues.
I saw the movie with subtitles at Harkins Theatre in Bricktown. The dub is sure to be just as excellent, especially since Radwimps is known for changing their music to English for the English versions of films. Either way, I highly recommend seeing “Weathering With You” while it’s still running. The sound design alone makes the surround sound a benefit, and it’s the perfect movie for a slow weekend night. Just watch out, because the real rain in the movie will be the tears falling from your eyes in the audience.
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