Suzume: Film Review
Given that Makoto Shinkai‘s filmography includes critically acclaimed animes such as Your Name and Weathering with You, I had high hopes for Suzume – and it did not disappoint.
The film follows 17-year-old schoolgirl Suzume (Nanoka Hara) after she discovers the existence of supernatural threats in Japan. One day, she comes across a mysterious door that seemingly serves no purpose. Soon after, a thick red supernatural ‘worm’ bursts out of the door and starts to take over the skies of Japan, setting off earthquake warnings. Nobody is able to see the impending threat except Suzume and a young man named Sōta (Hokuto Matsumura), who travels across Japan closing doors and sending the worm back where it came from.
Soon after they become friends, Sōta is cursed and turned into a three-legged children’s chair (yes, really). This naturally makes it difficult for him to keep protecting everyone from these threats so Suzume joins him to help out. Leaving home without telling her aunt, Suzume and Sōta follow the cat that cursed him to try and reverse the spell and close magical doors that open unexpectedly along the way to stop further natural disasters.
Suzume is a wonderful fantasy adventure. The concept is very strange and it’s odd to see her having a talking chair as a buddy, but you can roll with it pretty easily because it tells an engaging story and is packed full of heart. The magical journey helps Suzume come to terms with and find a sense of closure following a loss in her past and I really connected with that emotionally and was nearly moved to tears towards the end.
The visuals are absolutely stunning and I loved watching their beautifully animated journey throughout Japan. However, there was one sequence in Tokyo where the classic hand-drawn animation was replaced with CGI that didn’t look great. It was only brief but it really took me by surprise as it was so ugly and jarring.
Suzume is a delightful road trip movie with an unexpected emotional undercurrent. The story was absorbing, sometimes funny, and bizarre and it really levelled up with the third act.
In cinemas from Friday 14th April