The Garden of Words

Although I don't make reviews of movies (only read and maybe comment with friends), Shinkai's movies just force me to. My first comment was of, in my opinion is this director's best work to this day, 5 cm per second, and so this is going to be my second comment.

With that long introduction said, I must say this movie surprised me, with a scenery a OST worthy of the highest regards (like Shinkai has us used to) and a character development spot on. Not the deepest analysis in each character (he couldn't do that in 45 min) but deep enough for the audience to understand them and know what they are going through which is the whole point of the movie. All this wrapped up with a spectacular climax. Although you feel the climax coming, you don't expect a climax like this, with that much energy, sentiment, and art, all in 2 min long.

To finish, a little opinion on Shinkai, I have seen all his movies and I sense that him, with this movie, just realized what are his strong points: not huge movies with 8 characters and lots of themes (a ground where Miyasaki flourishes) but little situations where few characters stand for being truly humane and how they confront problems that ,at that time, mean the world to them and shape them for the future. He's a director that likes to test new grounds (part coming from being a young) but he's also getting reaching his full potential. That's why "Voices from a distant star", "5 cm per second" and this movie are his best work to date and "Voices from deep below" and "place promised" being his not so good movies (although I liked them).

I have no words that can describe how in love I am with this movie. I stumbled upon it randomly, thought the art looked lovely, and decided to give it a view. I'm so glad I did. The artwork and animation is just breathtaking. The landscapes and city scenes are almost photo realistic, attention being given to the tiniest of details. I would consider it on par with Studio Ghibli at least. I consider myself very critical when it comes to animations, and it takes a lot to really wow me, but this took the cake. I came with no expectations, and left wondering why this movie isn't more widespread and the need to tell everyone I know to watch it. Though the film is only 46 minutes long, it feels like a feature length film. I was captivated for every second of it, and will be watching it many times in the future.

Too long, didn't read? Watch this movie.

"A faint clap of thunder. Even if the rain comes not, I will stay here, together with you". Walking the path of life is no easy feat. The appropriate metaphysical footwear must be utilised for every type of emotional terrain we encounter. Sandals for joy. Wellies for sadness. Sneakers for rage. Yearning to overcome our rational, or irrational, fears so that we can "walk" again. Teenage student Takao, an aspiring shoemaker, attempted to perform such a generous offer for Yukari. A mysterious woman he socialises with in the dense thickened foliage of a Japanese garden experiencing torrential downpour. Two souls of differing youth encompassing an identical level of maturity. Yukari avoiding her career to snack of delicious chocolate and consume canned beer, whilst Takao solidly working throughout his summer break.

The two share a common trait. Seclusion. The melancholy of isolation is one that evokes a rainfall of sympathy, and director/writer Shinkai embodies all of nature's complexities to portray these wandering individuals. The ferocity of rain portraying both the characters' sadness whilst shielding them from the rest of society. The pale green shading of the summery foliage producing a reassuring aura of tranquility within the garden. Yet it's Shinkai's usage of Man'yoshu poetry that truly captivates, adding a traditional authenticity to the Japanese central romantic narrative. With "love" being traditionally written as "lonely sadness", Shinkai honed in on the deprivation of companionship. When both characters see each other as salvational assets as opposed to romantic interests, it provides a subtle layer of maturity that is commonly found in Shinkai's writing. Love is never simple, yet nature finds a way to pull people together. The Garden of Words itself is that motif.

As expected, the animation was gorgeous. Faultless. Combining hand-drawn animation with rotoscoping to create meticulously constructed scenery, assisting in the world building of their blossoming friendship. Less detail is given to facial expressions, with much of the attentive focus towards the environmental backdrop, which occasionally leaves a vacuous emotional complexion. Almost expressionless on occasion. Not enough to deter from the character building, but worth noting.

Shinkai's unfortunate issue here is with the runtime. It's short. Absurdly short. At only forty six minutes in length, the character development between Takao and Yukari is often rushed with no emotional simmering. This became drastically noticeable during the climax when Takao discovers the reasoning behind Yukari's work avoidance. The exquisitely mature metaphors and symbolic imagery were somewhat diminished for a typical "anime ending". What I mean by that, is the sole purpose in attempting to make the viewers shed a tear. The erratic framing, the J-pop music and the explosion of emotion is typical work from Shinkai, yet it never suited the preceding scenario. Whilst it nearly, oh so nearly, worked for me (I held back that tear!), it fell short due to the complacent storytelling. Motohiro Hata's vocal talent behind the theme song "Rain" was exceptional though, almost replicating Takao's personality. So I'll give some leniency...

The Garden of Words is poetry. Visually and literarily. With gorgeously vibrant animation and themes of maturity, Shinkai has crafted a wonderfully organic story that depicts loneliness with a hint of empathy. If only he was able to stretch it out for another half an hour, we could've witnessed a masterpiece in the making.

Just remember the technical brilliance of '5 Centimeters Per Second', the same director who curved this movie as well. So the expectation usually will be high for anyone who watched this filmmakers earlier movies. The movie was too short, not even it crosses an hour mark, but only a just below the 50 minutes.

Not only the filmmaker, but title as well impressed me. You know 'The Secret Garden' was one of my favourite so thought it would go similar fashion. Yeah, that's right the movie deals a story of a high school boy Takao who is passionate about shoe making. He goes to a nearby garden to the school to sketch shoes. One day during the rainy season he meets a stranger with beer in one hand and chocolates in another. Days passed by, they become very close and shares things to each others. How far this unanticipated relation takes them together and what are all changes make in their lives is follows in heartbreaking way.

''A faint clap of thunder. Clouded skies. Perhaps rain comes. And if so, stay with me.''

I can't say it was an unexpected surprise, it gave me what I was looking for, fulfills my desire. You know during the transition between two scenes some director will take an alternate route by showing skies, rain, clouds, insects et cetera for the few seconds. Those were very impressive and realistic. Technically it was spectacular, every minute details were incredibly good. It was a perfect meld between characters, story and the backgrounds.

The visuals were very charming in every frames of the movies just like '5 Centimeters Per Second'. Fine story as well, pure drama with more realistic mode covered with sentiments at the end. Could not ask better than this. The only worry was this movie is unbearably small. I was thirst to have extra more minutes, but I could not get. Ended seeing it with a disappointment but more than satisfied with the complete movie. For anime movie fans, it is a must see. Hope y'all get same excitement and pleasure like I had.

Within the first few seconds, you know you're in for a treat for your eyes. The animation in this movie so well done and pleasing to watch. It's one of the better animations I've seen, at least when it comes to the environment (the people are animated pretty much just like most other anime movies). There are so many details and work put into this.

We meet the boy Takao quickly through his narration. It's both beautiful to listen to and at the same time kind of funny, since he is only 15 and he makes it sound like an angsty diary entry. He like the rain, and shoes. He skips school to go to the park when it rains, where he meets a woman. They seem to have the same idea of going to the park on rainy days. He finds out eventually that he wants to design shoes for her.

The movie is unintentionally funny in its fixation in shoes and feet. In one way, it almost framed in a fetishized way, on the other hand, its very sweet and beautiful to watch.

The movie is very short, so there is not much time for character development or to let the story unravel in a slow pace. I don't know myself why Shinkai didn't make it longer (time or money or both probably), but if he could've made it longer, he should have. It has lots of promise, and would be way more interesting if it could tackle their relationship more, especially based on the massive taboo on age difference in Japan. It misses out on some really good opportunities for telling a deeper story.

There's a climax where there is a lot of feelings and crying going on and it is, unfortunately, bombarded with really loud emotional music. The dialogue is intense and almost violent, and at the same time kind of silly in a strange way. The music almost drowns out the dialogue and there is anger and sadness and love and it all happens so fast and in an intense way it's hard to know what to feel.

I really wanted to like this movie more than I did. It has a lot of potential, the animation, again, is gorgeous, the story is cute, but with not much substance (of course it has some, it tackles some issues of the woman, Yukari, for example, but not deeply enough. Everything is told so fast you'll almost miss it). I do want to see more of Shinkai (this is the first one I see), because I have no doubt he has made things better than this, and I look forward to see it.