Genre: anime
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Producer: Studio Chizu and Madhouse
Writer: Satoko Okudera and Mamoru Hosoda
Music by: Takagi Masakatsu
Duration: 117 minutes
Wikipedia: wiki about the movie
Though not yet as heralded as Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), Katsuhiro Ôtomo (Akira) or the late, great Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Paprika), Mamoru Hosoda may be the most inspired living animation director in Japan not to be associated with Studio Ghibli. He was at one point due to direct Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), but had creative differences with the Ghibli team, and set up his own rival studio, Chizu.
Best-known internationally for his delightful The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006), Hosoda has now outdone himself with a gloriously emotional new picture, which has the grace, magic and exquisite drawing we associate with the very finest of Ghibli. It tells the story of a college student, Hana (Aoi Miyazaki) who meets a mysterious, dark-haired boy (Takao Osawa) and falls in love, only briefly fazed by the fact that he can turn into a wolf at will.
There’s no howling at the moon here or business with silver bullets. Hosoda makes the subject of his movie into the choice between a lupine or a human destiny — one the couple’s two children, the tearaway Yuki, and her little brother Ame, must also face. The movie is hauntingly romantic at heart, in the best spirit of a Gothic fairytale, but without the harsh shadows or hard edges.
When this half-breed family escape their fear of city life and move to the countryside, we get an old staple of anime: a derelict villa with sliding doors and a leaky roof, which they must fix up to serve its purpose. This is exactly where we want to be — like the old dark house that so fires up the British imagination, it’s a nostalgic pleasure to discover this overgrown retreat with such vivid new characters. Hosoda’s film slots into classic genre traditions with gorgeous skill and also daring — pace Twilight, love between two species has rarely seemed more intense, more natural, or more ineffably sad...
Comment
You must be logged in to comment. Register to create an account.
Next movie
#222 Dancer in the Dark
12 May 2025, 3:00 pm
This isn't the last song, there's no violin, the choir is quiet, and no one takes a spin, this is the next to last song, and that's all...
