Makoto Shinkai's Your Name (Kimi no Na wa.) popped up on UK Theatrical Screens for 24th November

Your Name wouldn't get above a 3/5 from me, though I did still like it - I just thought it was a bit mawkish, especially in comparison to Shinkai's earlier masterpieces The Place Promised in Our Early Days and 5 centimetres per second which feel like more mature works which is a bit ironic considering they came earlier in his career.

It is perhaps the most significant of the post-Fukushima films I've seen though (eagerly awaiting Shin Godzilla), and it has some interesting things to say about the relationship between tradition and modernity and the rural/urban divide - probably more so than anything about gender.

I certainly don't grudge it its success; it's a better film than the many Transformers and superhero films that usually populate the box office peaks.
 
If I had to rate Your Name I'd rate it a 4/5 so not perfect but definitely up there for me in terms of animation, storytelling and doing a good job keeping me interested throughout the film.
 
If anyone is still keen to watch your name during the Christmas period, you can still catch it at Picturehouse Central on Monday 26 December if this screening manages to sell enough tickets.

Your Name
 
I can easily understand how well it's done, it's a masterpiece, it's the best film I've ever seen. I'm serious. If anything I think it's underrated. I bloody loved it. But it was too much, I can't stop crying. The love that film depicts is exactly what I always thought I'd experience one day. Maybe I still will?

Spellbinding, magical, my favourite film ever perhaps. Speechless. Crying. Even better than Akira.
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Glad that you liked it as much as you did, I too wish to come across something that makes me as happy as you are right now. Alas...
 
Yami said:
It is perhaps the most significant of the post-Fukushima films I've seen though (eagerly awaiting Shin Godzilla), and it has some interesting things to say about the relationship between tradition and modernity and the rural/urban divide - probably more so than anything about gender.
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Would be interesting to hear more of your thoughts on these. I didn't really pick up on much of interest about the rural urban divide besides noticing the well worn tropes of the countryside depicted as the spiritual home of Japan where an unbroken timeless tradition is preserved, and it's of course women who are the bearers of that tradition (something we see a lot in Miyazaki's films too to be fair though). Though at least Mitsuha is shown as having a desire to leave all that behind her. And surely the film is a bit of a cop out if portrayed as having any significant relevance to Fukushima.

I loved this film, but I think it's all about the pie in the sky romance 100%.

qaiz said:
Glad that you liked it as much as you did, I too wish to come across something that makes me as happy as you are right now. Alas...
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Thanks man, but it's a pretty bittersweet feeling, seeing all your dreams played out on a screen by animated characters.
 
Vashdaman said:
Would be interesting to hear more of your thoughts on these. I didn't really pick up on much of interest about the rural urban divide besides noticing the well worn tropes of the countryside depicted as the spiritual home of Japan where an unbroken timeless tradition is preserved, and it's of course women who are the bearers of that tradition (something we see a lot in Miyazaki's films too to be fair though). Though at least Mitsuha is shown as having a desire to leave all that behind her. And surely the film is a bit of a cop out if portrayed as having any significant relevance to Fukushima.

I loved this film, but I think it's all about the pie in the sky romance 100%.
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The film is definitely heavily influenced by the events of Fukushima, which Shinkai himself has admitted saying:

"People still have huge regret about 2011. Everybody was praying for everyone. It affected all of us, including me. So I really wanted to create something like a miracle. OK, it might be a fiction, it might be a lie, but we still want to have hope. That’s what I was thinking when I was making this film."

The imagery might be most obvious when
they approach the now-destroyed Itomori only to see the crater beyond the barricades
.

The comet wipes out the town of Itamori during the town's festival, thereby explicitly destroying its traditions and ways of life. If we're to take the comet as being representative of Fukushima, or nuclear power in general, then we can see how Shinkai illustrates how tradition is sacrificed in the pursuit of modernity and industrialisation.

But, as you say, Mitsuha has a strong pull towards the city life so Shinkai isn't saying that either is better than the other. In today's interconnected world, is it fair on the youth of rural towns to not have access to the same amenities as their urban counterparts - i.e. coffee shops? Is expecting them to uphold traditions fair? Is it any wonder that rural youth tend to leave for the cities when they're old enough? You could also interpret the destruction of Itomori as what will inevitably happen when the town's working age population leaves.

I think you could see the relationship between Mitsuha and Taki as symbolising an idealised vision of Japan - of a world - where these things can peacefully co-exist without taking away from the other.

I've only seen the film once - and a few weeks ago now! - so I apologise if there's anything I've forgotten or overlooked (or just plain made up haha) in the meantime.
 
Thanks for the reply!

I think it's good that Japan is starting to explore themes of Fukushima in it's cinema, and I suppose this is a start. But I can't help but feel Your Name is rather disappointing in that regard in the way it wraps things up with "oh the future boy went back in time and stopped anyone getting hurt". It's a bit of a cop out for me, and more like an insult to those who were hurt by the disaster. But of course, the movie probably wouldn't have been so successful if went down the route of dealing with the pain head on.

In regards to the tradition vs modernity themes. I understand what you're saying, but I just don't think what Shinkai was saying was particularly interesting in that regard either. He was at least offering some balance in his depiction, but he was still regurgitating many of the same tropes that have existed in Japan since the Meiji period. I would have appreciated a different angle.

With all that said, I still adore the film, it's one of the best young love films I've seem in ages, and looks and sounds beautiful. I just think that if viewed for what it has to say on Fukushima or tradition vs modernity, it's a bit thin.
 
I mean, I agree that the film is thin but I didn't rate it nearly as highly as you did :p I'd argue that the film is stronger as a whole than the sum of its parts, and I didn't find the central romance remarkable in the slightest - except as a vehicle in which to get across the themes I mentioned earlier.
 
Yami said:
I didn't find the central romance remarkable in the slightest - except as a vehicle in which to get across the themes I mentioned earlier.
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Fair dinkums but this is where we shall have to agree to (vehemently on my end ;)) disagree. I would say the opposite: the themes outside of the (stunning) central romance are just fairly banal fluff.
 
Vashdaman said:
Fair dinkums but this is where we shall have to agree to (vehemently on my end ;)) disagree. I would say the opposite: the themes outside of the (stunning) central romance are just fairly banal fluff.
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Let me turn it around then :p What did you find so captivating about that aspect?
 
I'm not claiming it's a game changer or anything, but it was just very sweet and charming, very well put together, and also pretty epic as far as young love stories go. I basically live for sweet and spectacular romance stories, so this very much is my cuppa.

Whereas I just can't see what's very interesting about Shinkai's following observations
1.countryside is home to timeless spiritual tradition
2. Modernity has nice cafes but is destroying those unbroken Japanese traditions
3.BUT the ideal is actually a combination of status quo modernity with the spirit of tradition

That's about as uninteresting and bland a commentary on modern Japan as I can think of. I appreciate some of it's nuance at times, but it's pretty trite stuff. It may seem funny that I adore the movie but don't really care for it's underlying subtext, and I totally understand that what I love about it is what others will certainly consider trite themselves, but that's the great thing about art.
 
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I didn't think the romance was especially well constructed.

It's not like they really knew each other, having only communicated through iPhone notes and the like while they body swapped. They only got to 'know' each other via inhabiting each others lives, which by definition was a barrier to them learning about each other's character.

I certainly didn't find it as believable as the romances in Hosoda's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time or Summer Wars or even previous Shinkai films such as Garden of Words, where there are distinct beats that progress the characters' relationship.
 
Yami said:
I didn't think the romance was especially well constructed.

It's not like they really knew each other, having only communicated through iPhone notes and the like while they body swapped. They only got to 'know' each other via inhabiting each others lives, which by definition was a barrier to them learning about each other's character.

I certainly didn't find it as believable as the romances in Hosoda's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time or Summer Wars or even previous Shinkai films such as Garden of Words, where there are distinct beats that progress the characters' relationship.
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The romance in summer was terrible, it felt like an afterthought in the film.
 
crashmatt said:
The romance in summer was terrible, it felt like an afterthought in the film.
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It wasn't an afterthought, it was just tentative and left up to the audience's interpretation whether or not it would continue after the events of the film. But the characters (whose names escape me) actually spent time together, got to know each other, experienced (and overcame) hardships together - unlike in Your Name,
where all the events of the film occur with the characters independent of one another, even if they are in the other's body
 
Yami said:
It wasn't an afterthought, it was just tentative and left up to the audience's interpretation whether or not it would continue after the events of the film. But the characters (whose names escape me) actually spent time together, got to know each other, experienced (and overcame) hardships together - unlike in Your Name,
where all the events of the film occur with the characters independent of one another, even if they are in the other's body
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Im sorry but I have to disagree. Yes they spent time together but there was no focus on their relationship until the final 10 mins of the film. I was pretty disappointed with Summer Wars and expected alot better. I am however looking forward to watching the Girl who lept through time.
 
Summer Wars wasn't a romance film though, and it wasn't supposed to be the central focus of the narrative. Hence why at the end of the film it's not explicit that they're an item, but I think that you believe that they could be.

But I was just using it as a counterpoint, as an example for a film where subsequent romance would be believable due to shared time in the story.
 
Yami said:
I didn't think the romance was especially well constructed.

It's not like they really knew each other, having only communicated through iPhone notes and the like while they body swapped. They only got to 'know' each other via inhabiting each others lives, which by definition was a barrier to them learning about each other's character.

I certainly didn't find it as believable as the romances in Hosoda's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time or Summer Wars or even previous Shinkai films such as Garden of Words, where there are distinct beats that progress the characters' relationship.
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I share the same view as you. Of the films you named, your name. had the least believable romance IMHO.
I would assume body swapping is the worst way to get to know someone or at least have an adverse effect on being attracted to the other. For me the romance totally falls apart if you consider the end result. Both of them have no memories of the past events and it effectively becomes a 'love on first sight' scenario.

On the other hand, I think it kind of worked on screen. You see quite a lot of alternating and splitscreen scenes of the two, making it seem like a lot of shared time. The communication using phone messages is quickly moved to the background making it less obvious they never really communicate realtime. Their urge to remember the other's name was a nice proxy for wanting to see each other.

As such, it feels like a proper romance up until the point you actually start thinking about it.
 
I think what I like about Your Name's romance is what you didn't perhaps like about it. As you say, it's not really logical, they don't get to know an awful lot about the other through body swapping. You have to enter the realm of spiritual romance to buy it really. And if you buy that, then you can posit that even if they didn't learn one's exact personality through body swapping, they still felt each other's souls perhaps? But either way you look at it they are clearly soul mates.

that's why they were chosen by the mystical powers of the universe, that's why the boy risked it all to go back in time to save her, and that's why even after forgetting everything they can't forget their spiritual love for one another

I love that. It's so much more heart pounding than anything Summer Wars had to offer (on any front).

I'm a big fan and firm believer of love at first sight and time travel (for the sake of love). I expect nothing less of my own romantic endeavors either.
 
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