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Reviews
Nakitai watashi wa neko o kaburu (2020)
A lot of potential...
Beautiful animation, interesting characters with complex backgrounds, and themes that held a lot of weight seemed to dissipate at the apex of "A Whisker Away".
I can see certain parallels and influences with Miyazaki and Makoto Shinkai films. However, where they succeeded was with an understanding that certain story-elements need a chance to live on their own without cookie-cutter resolutions. I won't presume to know if there was a higher power that had a hand in deciding what direction this film was going in, but it doesn't detract from the fact that "A Whisker Away" ultimately resulted in an interesting story that amounted to... basically an afternoon special on any major cable network.
It's not bad by any stretch. It's clearly for a much younger audience, un-accustomed to complex and progressive storytelling.
Omoide no Marnie (2014)
Love is mysterious
A little late to the game, it's easy to see why this movie works.
We can be our own worst enemy in a lot of ways that we (often times) don't have any control over. We take what we have and try to make the most of it. We punish ourselves internally and develop this layer of self hatred, and we become something different.
It's when we live outside of ourselves and allow love into our lives that we start to feel whole.
To that end, when something is fundamentally missing, we actively search for that piece we long for. Sometimes we don't do it in healthy ways, and sometimes the piece we want is the thing we don't realize we need, or already have.
My over-written philosophy aside, I just wish more stories had the same calm-ness and introspection that "When Marnie Was There" has.
Tenki no ko (2019)
Love it, but may have made a better mini-series.
Weathering With You is beautiful. That much is certain.
I found it lacking in a weird way however... and it was when I watched "Your Name" that I finally was able to articulate what it was that just didn't work for me: the film has so much going on that it is often times difficult to see the forest for the trees. Sometimes the best stories are the ones that use what generous time they have to focus on a few key things and how those things live in the world that is created.
Weathering With You has... well, a lot going on. I was charmed, and really did enjoy the plot, but I think if it had enough time to breathe it would have been a much more powerful film. I think it deserved a three or four episode treatment instead of sardining it all into a relatively dense film.
Kimi no na wa. (2016)
Connection is powerful.
I think a huge pitfall with a lot of romance stories is the idea of hamming the relationship, and making it seem like the two main characters were destined to be together.
That's not this story at all.
"Your Name" delivers a simple message: that real connection is the catalyst to all bonds, and from those bonds can come love. It delivers this message in a poignant way by having Mitsuha and Taki (surprisingly) never outright "fall in love" with each other.
To be sure, yes they do "love" each other, but I'm not even convinced it's romance- just plain old connection. That's my hot take.
For me, the most poignant parts of this film were the ones where Mitsuha and Taki just go about their lives, sometimes bodies are switched and sometimes they do their own thing. That kind of character development isn't something you see in a lot of love stories, and often times when its done it results in something like a spat between the two characters and you know they will reconcile and fall in love with each other.
No, these two are just really good (magical) pen-pal friends at first, literally walking in each others shoes and experiencing what its like to be the other person, eventually discovering that it's not just space that separates them. Their bond is powerful because they grow as we see them grow. I especially like when one of them outright writes "I love you" to the other, and they (wanting desperately to mean "I love you too") say "writing this doesn't help."
In an age where people exist to each other as text messages (myself included), its pretty humbling to realize that connection is the key to love. These two are connected in every conceivable way except for one: they have never seen each other. And that's what is missing, and that's the driving force behind their bond.
Artemis Fowl (2020)
My hopes were too high.
In the first Artemis Fowl book, even I'll admit, not very much happens. It all amounts to a novel length, day-long sting operation.
What ultimately makes it work, however, is merely the complexity in simple plumbing. What makes it work is being able to see the development and thought processes of this child prodigy, and seeing how we get from his introduction to a life or death standoff between him and a magical militia (and furthermore how he succeeds in his own devious ways).
In regards to the Artemis Fowl movie, I get the impression that there was someone probably higher up the creative wrung than director Kenneth Branagh (who happens to be a very competent director) who didn't trust that this franchise was strong enough to get by on merely that. It shows with how unnecessarily dense the movie was.
From beginning to end, the titular Artemis Fowl is touted to be this super genius, but from memory I can only really remember him doing two or three things that displayed who he really was (if even that). The rest of the movie flew by with about an hour and twenty minutes of force fed narration (side-bar: is it just me or does Josh Gad try to upstage every movie that he is in?), elements from the sequels jammed into the plot, quite a few important plot devices thrown out the window, and ten times more than your daily dose of action that would make Michael Bay's 'Transformers' movies look bland by comparison. By all accounts, it is the cinematic equivalent of dangling keys over your baby for an hour and a half. If the movie was half an hour longer and took time to BREATHE AND REFLECT then maybe it could have worked (and also by omitting half of the inclusions).
For what it's worth, I felt like the acting and overall design of the movie were really good. I didn't even mind some character changes (like Artemis being more athletic and emotional). It's only unfortunate that these details were colossally overshadowed by everything else.
I'm generally very forgiving when it comes to adaptations of books because it's nearly impossible to please everybody on a good day. But it's sad when you take a step back and realize that the minutes long trailer was better than the movie it was advertising.
Beastars (2019)
Be yourself, or try to, anyways.
The animation is sometimes awkward but definitely well put together and interesting.
The story is totally engaging for me, and I'm extremely excited to find out where it goes.
There's something innately simple and thought provoking about love between two species, and everything else that comes from that. Because it's not simple, and that's totally "human."
We can be triggered by anything, even blood.
What matters the most is that we tell our truth and make efforts we need to make to be our best possible selves.
Disenchantment (2018)
Disenchantment Season 2
Season 1 began with an episodic construct that was similar to any fraction of Futurama or The Simpsons. At the eleventh hour, it suddenly gained a multi-episode narrative that finished off with a Game of Thrones-esque cliffhanger, and suddenly it became a strange, if not interesting departure from the formulaic sitcom it made itself out to be.
Season 2 picks up right where they left off, and not only kept the narrative, but proved that it also gained a personality somewhere along the way.
Don't get me wrong, I love the first season. The plots are endearing, it's easy to binge, it's nice to look at, and the world is interesting. Is it Game of Thrones? No. Do I want it to be Game of Thrones? Absolutely no. When I see Futurama in medieval times, I want it to be Futurama in medieval times.
Futurama and The Simpsons are meant to be "soup of the day" shows, and people enjoy that. Some people have enjoyed that for 30 years. It's situational antics and shameless social commentary, and that junk is candy for the eyes and ears of your average viewer, myself included. What makes Disenchantment different from Futurama or the Simpsons (apart from only having 20 episodes so far, and a season-long plot, to boot) however, is the fact that both of those programs don't have a main character that lives to make an important statement.
I love Bean and everything she stands for. She's meant to not only be someone who rocks the proverbial boat (especially given the medieval-fantasy setting of the show), but someone who is pained, confused, complex, strong and often has valid points to make; shes a real person. She's a great character. And while I love how Homer Simpson can have a heart sometimes, I really love how Bean has a heart all of the time. She can be mean and she can make mistakes, but she can also learn, care about things deeply, and throw a punch at someone who wrongs her. I think that's someone that a lot of people secretly wish they could be.
The second season has a lot of heart, made me frustrated a lot, probably ended episodes rather abruptly at times but still managed to be really interesting story-wise, and develops the characters nicely to the point where I want season 3 to premier yesterday.