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Movie Thoughts: Suzume
Apr. 18th, 2023 09:12 pmThere were times when my thoughts turned to Weathering With You that I just wound up thinking “at least The Rise of Skywalker wasn’t the last movie I saw in a theatre.” (As for that second film mentioned, though, I understand the three-screen movie theatre in my home town where I saw it for the sake of a gathering of old friends has now closed, and that is something to deal with given I was taken to a re-release of the original Star Wars: A New Hope at an early yet impressionable age back when the theatre had two screens...) When I heard Makoto Shinkai had completed another anime feature and it was going to be brought over here, however, the temptation crept up on me to make it “the movie I went back to theatres for.” It took a little while for local listings for Suzume to show up, and I wound up crossing the city line where Weathering With You had got into the multiplex closest to me. I was aware of the comments that “Makoto Shinkai only makes one movie over and over again,” but was willing to take my chances.
For all of the complaints that have been made about “irks at the movies” over the past decade or so, I have to admit that with the lights down I found myself, to use a familiar word, “immersed” in the experience. There’s a cable box clock in my line of sight when I watch something on my own TV, and that can get me thinking “well, it won’t be much longer.” With Suzume, though, I did find myself surprised time and again by new developments in the plot, then able to fit them into the story. That I was “surprised” so much does leave me in a familiar fix of feeling cautious about how much to say here, however. I perhaps found myself more involved with the characters and what they were doing than just “taking in the scenery,” and that might be a difference from previous Makoto Shinkai movies for all that I did find myself thinking back a bit further into his filmography than your name. The movie was satisfying to see in the moment, although a few days later the temptation to turn over plot elements and “try to make them make sense” might be unfortunate. I’m at least thinking right now it would be nice to see it again on Blu-Ray, though.
For all of the complaints that have been made about “irks at the movies” over the past decade or so, I have to admit that with the lights down I found myself, to use a familiar word, “immersed” in the experience. There’s a cable box clock in my line of sight when I watch something on my own TV, and that can get me thinking “well, it won’t be much longer.” With Suzume, though, I did find myself surprised time and again by new developments in the plot, then able to fit them into the story. That I was “surprised” so much does leave me in a familiar fix of feeling cautious about how much to say here, however. I perhaps found myself more involved with the characters and what they were doing than just “taking in the scenery,” and that might be a difference from previous Makoto Shinkai movies for all that I did find myself thinking back a bit further into his filmography than your name. The movie was satisfying to see in the moment, although a few days later the temptation to turn over plot elements and “try to make them make sense” might be unfortunate. I’m at least thinking right now it would be nice to see it again on Blu-Ray, though.