By Steve Dinneen
Japanese animation can often be unfairly categorised as a niche genre, meant for the arthouses but not the multiplex. Disproving this point, Suzume arrives on these shores already a blockbuster.
Its director, Makoto Shinkai, is an animation veteran who has found international success in the last few years with 2016’s Your Name and 2019’s Weathering with You. This new film has exploded records across the world, grossing a heroic $221m thus far.
Sticking with his themes of fantasy and wonder, Suzume tells the story of the title character, a young girl whose trip to school is interrupted by a boy called Souta, who claims he is looking for a door.
Helping him find it, she learns that it is a portal to another world that, when opened, unleashes destruction. The two must travel across the land, closing doors in order to save their world.
Shinkai is a master at balancing high concept, the beauty of the everyday, and gorgeous animation. He takes huge chances, coming out of the gate flying with stakes that couldn’t be higher, and then somehow stacks them even further.
Newcomers may leave a little purplexed but it’s a pleasure to see a visionary filmmaker let loose to realise exactly the kind of story he wants to tell. The extraordinary is used to comment on everyday sentiments, with the whole thing unfolding on a canvas so colourful and sweet you might need a filling afterwards.
Suzume may feel too unfamiliar for audiences more used to American animation, but fans of Shinkai’s work will leave delighted by another inimitable entry into the filmmaker’s exceptional filmography.
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