seijo no maryoku wa bannou desu cowboy bebop characters movie
Though Suzume never feels fatalistic or at risk of becoming lost in the darkness of its metaphor, it also never lets you forget that each and every single instance of the worm bursting through a portal carries the risk of causing a calamity like the real-world 2011 quake. But one of the most powerful concepts woven throughout the film is how the key to keeping the darkness at bay isn’t preparedness or simply responding with magical force but, rather, holding space and having a deep reverence for the past and all it can teach us about the present. There’s a certain degree of random and somewhat twee energy coursing through Suzume as it’s first laying out the series of events that leaves Sōta transformed into a walking, talking, child-size chair who needs Suzume’s help tracking Daijin across Japan’s various islands. But there’s a subtle brilliance to the way the movie uses the duo’s journey to illustrate different facets of its larger ideas about the past, memory, and growing up. In Suzume, Shinkai’s signature use of oversaturated colors and playing with light to give natural settings an almost otherworldly splendor is in full force. Here, though, it works more to emphasize the beauty there is to be found in everyday, ordinary places and happenings when people slow down to appreciate them as the things that make life worth living. At times, it’s almost disorienting how seamlessly Suzume’s able to shift gears and become more of a coming-of-age story about a girl learning to make her way through the world both on her own and with the help of unexpectedly kind strangers. But instead of ever feeling like it’s veering off course, Suzume’s paced in such a way that makes its brief tangents into the lives of other characters feel like it’s taking the scenic route on the way to a truly moving finale. Those showing up to Suzume hoping to see a completely new side to Shinkai might be somewhat disappointed because, in everything from its sun-drenched depictions of the Japanese countryside to its deeper metaphorical meanings, you can see how the movie’s the result of his doubling down on the things that light him up as a filmmaker. But that doubling down is also what makes Suzume feel like one of Shinkai’s strongest outings yet that’s almost certain to become even more of a classic with its wide release. Suzume hits US theaters on April 14th.
[SMALL-TEXT]]