JQ Magazine: Film Review — ‘Weathering with You’
ByA.A. Sanborn (Shimane-ken, 2009-11) for JQ magazine.
Sun Amid the Clouds
*Warning: This review contains spoilers
“Don’t interfere with the weather too much,” warns a fortuneteller early on: “Messing with nature always has a cost.” As the titlesuggests, weather is the focus for writer/director MakotoShinkai’s newest feature film Weatheringwith You. It’s a tough act to follow after 2016’s YourName, Shinkai’s previous work and the most commercially successfulanime film of the last decade. Nevertheless, despite similarities in plot(adolescent romance, natural phenomena, and a sci-fi twist) the film offers arefreshing story which transports and delights.
We follow the friendship of Hodaka, a runaway from a remoteisland, and Hina, a girl with mysterious powers that temporarily conjure sunnyskies. Hodaka is intent to find freedom in the big city, while Hina is justtrying to get by. The number of scenes alone where characters resort to eatingcheap instant ramen is an indicator that life is not going quite as planned.Still, adventure can be found just around the corner.
Soon after meeting, Hina and Hodaka start a business using Hina’s sun-producing powers. Their services are marketed to Tokyoites for weddings and outdoor events otherwise ruined by a rainy day. The sunny vignettes are one of the most charming aspects of the film, connecting it to a broader sense of space and community. Tokyo is no longer an anonymous megalopolis, but a city formed of friendships and relations.
While their business venture started innocently enough, with eachsunny sky Hina beckons, the proceeding weather becomes more intense. Rain is nolonger charmingly in the background of a typical wet season in June, but movesto the foreground battling for control. We see rain in many forms now, and witheach new storm a sense of foreboding rises. Shinkai’s deft use of the rain as acharacter is a unique tool that he artfully displays. The film reaches itstorrential climax when the past catches up with the duo and their time togetheris cut short.
The film is crafted in painstaking detail for which Shinkai isknown. He applies techniques he pioneered in his 2013 short film TheGarden of Words to visualize realistic rain, clouds, and light.Weathering puts all of Tokyo on display in its misty, dewy, best. Hisportrayal also captures the excitement of the megalopolis, both lovinglyidealized and realistic. Weathering invites viewers into acompelling world of magical realism, making the flights of fancy all the morecharming.
Constantly present in the background are nuanced issues inJapanese society: from the sex-trafficking industry and the working poor, toanxieties surrounding family law and child welfare. Shinkai doesn’t deal withthese issues head-on, but alludes gently to their presence throughout. Perhapsthis lack of confrontation is a loss for the film, as it could have achievedsomething deeper.
Like Shinkai’s previous films, the storytelling rises above asimple adolescent romance. Shinkai moves to greater issues he has been hintingat all along: a looming natural disaster. Your Name was createdpartially as an emotional response to the tragic tsunami on March 11, 2011; thisfilm, like the rain which constantly falls, is about something in our liveswhich won’t go away. By the end, Tokyo is returning to the marsh it once wasand change is irreversible. Amid constant rain, Tokyoites now picnic indoorsand take ferries around the city. While Your Name wasultimately a story of recovery in the face of disaster, Weathering isone of assimilation to a new reality.
With beautiful visuals andcompelling characters, Weathering with You is a charming worldyou want to believe. At the same time, you realize that every seeminglyinconsequential human desire will lead us to a place we no longer know. PerhapsShinkai suggests we are already living this reality. With each passing year theanswer is slowly appearing through the clouds.
Weathering with You is now playing nationwide. For showtimes, click here.
For more JQ film reviews, click here.