Review of Suzume

I promise that, eventually, this review is about Suzume. Your Name is brilliant and nearly flawless, words that do not do justice to its impact. Brilliance is both blessing and curse. How could anything M. Night Shyamalan make after The Sixth Sense compete with its predecessor? Same with Peter Jackson, and Lord of the Rings. These works, so monumental in their excellence, overshadow completely any other works created by their visionaries. So too with Makoto Shinkai and Your Name; before its release, Shinkai is quoted as saying that "it isn't ready" and that its story was flawed. He was simply tryingto avoid the fate of his fellow directors, and he failed. This review critiques Suzume, not Your Name- but it is incomplete without stressing how much Suzume lives in the shadow of its predecessor.

Suzume's Locking Up beautifully mixes stunning visuals and soundtrack with an engaging, overtly supernatural story, something which Shinkai has leaned into in recent releases. It features what is, by my estimation, Shinkai's strongest protagonist, Suzume, who possesses agency and drive, and is often a mover rather than the moved. Shinkai's movies often employ themes of distance and time, of which Suzume is no exception. Across the board, its excellent quality shines through, yet across that light a pall is cast.

I cannot stress this enough; Makoto Shinkai, whether by his own operative or that of a studio, has essentially made the same movie three consecutive times. Following his filmography, in Voices of a Distant Star, distance defeats love; same too with 5 Centimeters per Second. In The Place Promised and the Garden of Words, time indubitably trumps our human feelings, though in different ways. Yet for these commonalities, each feels distinct in tone, setting, and concept. When Your Name rebukes these themes, and proclaims "Yes, love is more powerful than any forces that seek to destroy it", it resonates, not only because of the strength of Your Name, but also because of its juxtaposition with Shinkai's earlier films. And its impact is diminished on the second and third time.

Suzume is quite a good film, and would be indisputably excellent if not for how closely it parrots its precursors. While much better than Weathering With You, it pales in comparison to Your Name, a comparison it invites in every scene. It's been eleven years since the last truly unique Shinkai film- maybe the next one will be.