Saturday 15 February 2014

Garden of Words (2013)

  'Garden of Words' (Koto no ha no niwa) is a 2013 Anime film directed by Makoto Shinkai.

  It tells the story of a 15 year old Student, Takao, who plans to be a shoemaker. When it is raining, he misses lessons to draw feet, under a gazebo in a public garden. There he meets the mysterious Yukino and they slowly fall for each other. Problems arise, when a) the rain stops, and b) he finds out she is a teacher at his school. So this is not your typical rom-com, so don't expect a happy ending.

  Shinkai, is one of the finest directors, it's just a shame his films are far apart... and short. 'Garden of Words' is only 47 minutes long, but a narrative so thin couldn't last any longer, so in a way I'm glad it's short. Shinkai is known for creating the best looking Anime, and this may be his best looking film to date. I did, however, see it on a blu-ray player so I admit, I am biased. Any screenshot of this movie, would make a lovely picture. I would even say Shinkai is the only director to make rain look wonderful. Like his other films, it features hints of J-Pop and a wonderful soundtrack throughout.

  I found the story to be thin, as if he thought of two completely opposite characters, in a beautiful setting, and made them fall for each other. I also think of this less of a film but more of a montage of events. The plot skips time so often, it never lets the audience settle in.

  Every director has one bad film, but Shinkai (with Kurosawa and Tarkovsky) is one of the few directors to have a faultless filmography. For this to be his worst film, shows you what a master film-maker he is.



TO CONCLUDE
Gorgeous and completely enjoyable. Shinkai's work is the only competitor to Ghibili in terms of greatness.

SCORE
79

No comments:

Post a Comment