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a14 people & arts
Tuesday 11 april 2023
The anime hit ‘Suzume’ and Shinkai’s cinema of cataclysm

By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Makoto
Shinkai was never the same
filmmaker after the 2011
earthquake struck Japan.
When the tsunami and
quake ravaged the Tōhoku
region of northern Japan
and prompted a nuclear
meltdown, Shinkai, a now
50-year-old director and
animator of some of the
most popular anime fea-
tures in the world, could
feel his sense of storytelling
crumbling.
“The shock to me was that
the daily life that we had
become accustomed to
in Japan can suddenly
be severed without any
warning whatsoever,” says
Shinkai. “I had this odd,
foreboding feeling that
that could happen again
and again. I began to think
about how I wanted to tell
stories within this new real-
ity.”
The three blockbusters that Makoto Shinkai poses for a portrait to promote the film “Suzume” on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 in New York.
have followed by Shinkai — Associated Press
“Your Name,””Weathering
With You” and the new in my daily life by disaster. through everyday life. Na- the southwestern island of bolism of the door, I think
release “Suzume” — have It’s like a door that keeps tional trauma mixes with Kyushu with that mysterious people are able to trans-
each tethered hugely opening.” supernatural fantasy. While young man, Souta (Hokuto late to their own story. We
emotional tales to eco- Shinkai has emerged as Japan has been home to Matsumura), who happens start thinking about: How
logical disaster. In “Your one of cinema’s most many extreme geological to get transformed into a do we maintain our daily
Name,” a meteor threatens imaginative filmmakers of events, it’s a tension that three-legged chair while routine?”
to demolish a village, an contemporary cataclysm. most in the world can in- closing a portal. Shinkai is known for photo-
event that dovetails with a His movies aren’t just about creasingly connect with. As a wooden sidekick, Sou- realistic panoramas of glit-
body-switching romance. surviving apocalypse, “It can be anything: earth- ta recalls a Miyazaki side tering splendor. As much
In “Weathering With You,” though, but living with its quakes, climate change, character like the hopping as doorways make up the
a runaway teenage boy omnipresent threat. And the pandemic. Russia and scarecrow of “Howl’s Mov- iconography of “Suzume,”
befriends a Tokyo girl who it’s made him one of the Ukraine, for an example,” ing Castle.” But Shinkai, the most indelible image is
can control the weather, biggest box-office draws in says Shinkai. “This idea that who’s often been cited as one he uses at the begin-
spawning fluctuations that movies. our daily life will continue among the heirs to Miyaza- ning and end of the film.
mirror climate change. After it was released in to maintain the status quo ki, says his film is no hom- Suzume rides her bike on
“Suzume,” which opens in 2016, “Your Name” be- should be set aside and age. But he grants Miyaza- a steep hill with a sparkling
U.S. theaters Friday, returns came the then-best-selling challenged.” ki’s influence is so pervasive ocean set behind her. The
to the earthquake of 2011. anime of all time, dethron- Shinkai, who writes and di- in Japanese society that it waters below, which to her
Suzume, whose mother ing Hayao Miyazaki’s be- rects his films, has become seeps into everything. He could signify the tsunami
perished in the tsunami, loved “Spirited Away” with convinced that young peo- imagines Suzume, herself, that left her an orphan, are
years later meets a mysteri- nearly $400 million in ticket ple shouldn’t be pandered grew up on his films. at once gorgeous and per-
ous young man responsible sales. “Weathering With to with stories where the Shinkai liked the symbolism ilous.
for racing to close portals You” made nearly $200 natural world is heroically of a chair, something we “In a weird way, I feel that
— literal doorways that ap- million. Before opening in returned to balance, call- use every day. His father with ‘Your Name’ and
pear around Japan — be- North America, “Suzume” ing such approaches “ego- made him one as a child. ‘Weathering With You’ and
fore they unleash a giant, has already crossed $200 tistic and irresponsible.” In- While promoting “Suzume,” ‘Suzume’ that I’m creating
earthquake-causing worm. million, including $100 mil- stead, his disasters take on Shinkai has traveled with a this sort of folklore or my-
“With these three films, I lion in Japan and nearly metaphorical meaning for chair just like the one in the thology,” Shinkai says. “In
didn’t set out to make a that in China. It’s easily the young protagonists who movie, packing it in a suit- mythology or these ancient
disaster movie. I wanted to biggest international re- learn to persist, and find case, bringing it with him legends, what they’re do-
tell a love story, a romance, lease of the year so far in joy, in a world of perpetual on stage and occasionally ing is taking real-life events
a coming-of-age of an ad- China, more than doubling danger, shadowed by loss. taking pictures of it at plac- and transforming it into a
olescent girl,” Shinkai said the sales of “Ant-Man and His latest, which was the es like Times Square or the story that can relayed to
on a recent trip to New the Wasp: Quantumania.” first anime in competition Museum of Natural History. others.”
York, speaking through an Much of that success is at the Berlin Film Festiva l “I’ve picked very daily Whether Shinkai will contin-
interpreter. “As I continued owed to Shinkai’s earnest in two decades, is a road items — a door, a chair — ue on this quest in his next
to make the plot, this idea grappling with today’s eco- movie where the 17-year- that are perhaps relatable film he doesn’t know. It’s a
of disaster kept creeping in. logical upheaval in sprawl- old Suzume (voiced by Na- to a wide range of audi- blank slate, he says. But he
Suddenly, I felt surrounded ing epics that are filtered noka Hara) travels from the ences,” he says. “This sym- doesn’t close the door.q