Years from now, Makoto Shinkai will be revered as one of the greatest writers and directors of our generation. Further down the line, there will be another who breaks into the industry and they will be referred to as the “Next Shinkai”. And it all starts from “Your Name.“.
Although he is just as famous for his masterpiece, 5 Centimeters Per Second, Makoto Shinkai has been hailed as the next Miyazaki, after the latter announced their retirement (and subsequent reemergence) from the anime film industry. While I personally dislike the moniker, it is plain to see why there seems to be no other way to describe the path he’s set upon. “Your name.” has been obliterating box office records in Japan since the week it released, currently sitting in fourth place in the list of highest-grossing films of all time in the country.
It nestles right above Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and below Frozen, Titanic and Miyazaki’s own Spirited Away.
Story-wise, there isn’t much that makes this film different from the regular Japanese seishun eiga (youth drama) abundant in the industry. We follow the protagonists, Mitsuha Miyamizu (Mone Kamishiraishi) and Taki Tachibana (Ryunosuke Kamiki), as their paths intertwine and meet to blossom into a love story we’ve all heard of before, right? But “Your Name.” handles this a little differently. They switch bodies in their dreams and wake up to find themselves smack in the middle of each other’s lives.
Hilarity and misunderstandings ensue as Mitsuha, who lives in the countryside, finds herself running to a high school in Tokyo. Taki, on the other hand, wakes up to find that he has a larger chest than expected and behaves as a teenage boy would, much to the confusion of Mitsuha’s disapproving little sister, Yotsuha (Kanon Tani). “Your Name.” takes what should be an eye-rolling switchover cliché and generates a story grounded in adolescent awkwardness and romantic fantasy that strays far from what a typical Miyazaki film would venture into.
The gorgeous illustration and animation put “Your Name.” into a class of its own, giving life to the locations that draw inspiration from Tokyo and Hida in Japan. The same level of detail is prevalent throughout the film and pulls you in deeper than you would expect. Being an ardent fan of Japanese landscapes being incorporated into animations, the visuals hit all the right notes for me. CoMix Wave Films have outdone themselves in no small way with their latest production and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us in the future.
Out of all the components that lend this film its perfect score in my books, if I had to pick one to take home with me, it would be the masterful soundtrack produced by Yojiro Noda. The lead singer of the Japanese rock band RADWIMPS, without whom this film would have undoubtedly fallen short immensely. I simply cannot express how integral RADWIMPS were to the emotional setting and pacing of “Your Name.“. And thanks to the release of their original soundtrack album, I have something beautiful to remember my experience by.
The lovable cast of supporting characters serves to heighten the difference in personalities when they are thrust into each other’s lives. From Taki-kun’s crush on the beautiful older senpai, Miki (Masami Nagasawa) to the interaction between his close friends, we see Mitsuha delight herself in emptying out his wallet on expensive cafe food. Back in Mitsuha’s town, Taki struggles to navigate the intricacies of wearing a skirt to high school and gathers the attention of pretty much every student in her class. The weird juxtaposition in their behaviors offers us a chance to connect with both characters in ways we normally wouldn’t.
As we approach the climax of the film, the pace is sped up a bit as compared to the previous half and we see a dramatic change in the air surrounding the characters. While the transition in tone is handled acceptably, there are points where not enough emphasis is shown on certain plot points.
I wouldn’t have minded a longer film in exchange for a more gradual build-up, but one can argue the sense of urgency was absolutely vital to the story.
If you put that way, the pacing wasn’t as much of a big deal. Honestly, I’m probably just nitpicking.
After watching the film three times, I still have a sense of unease that there’s something left unspoken. While there are no real loose ends in the story, the feeling that there’s something out there to reach for, something not yet discovered invites me to watch it again and again. There are so many more things I want to say, but in the spirit of minimizing spoilers, I feel compelled to limit myself.
“Your Name.” is one of my favourite films of the year and deserves more than just two screenings. Hopefully its 2017 debut in American cinemas leads to a larger international release, meaning I have to start saving money for the Blu-ray. Makoto Shinkai has proven himself as a name to be acknowledged in the industry and while “Your Name.” continues to grow in acclaim and accolades, the venerable Oscar will probably still go to Zootopia.
Thank you Dubai International Film Festival for giving me the chance to experience this on the big screen. Hopefully “Your Name.” will never be forgotten for generations to come, but I’ll be writing it down on my hand just in case.
