Review of Suzume

Oh, Makoto Shinkai, you’re a confusing one for sure. Suzume no Tojimari is a beautifully written and even more beautifully animated film about two young adults travelling across Japan in order to prevent natural disasters from spilling out of these “doors” which lead to another realm. It has managed to effectively balance wholesome slice-of-life-like interactions between our main pair with the supernatural elements it brings up across the way. Unlike Shinkai’s, quite frankly appalling 2019 film (What was it called again, idiotic gun side plot with you?), Suzume no Tojimari doesn’t take itself too seriously all the time, having moments featuring lighthearted gags and joke along theway (the hilarious image of a three-legged chair flopping around as it tries to walk is still etched into my mind, not to mention Suzume quite literally treating him like a footstool at one point).

If I had to draw one major criticism, it would be that this film has some pacing issues towards the middle and end. When watching in the cinema, I thought that the Tokyo scene would be the finale and was a little disappointed by how quickly it had all gone, only to be surprised that the entire final act of the movie was still around the corner! This also made it a little difficult to connect with the characters, and I don’t feel like I was as sympathetic towards Suzume as I should have been during the reveal at the end.

While not as emotionally impactful as the masterpiece of Kimi no Na wa, Suzume no Tojimari his restored my faith in this director’s abilities by being a beautiful return to form for Shinkai after the nonsense dumpster fire parading around under the name “Tenki no Ko” that I had the displeasure of watching a couple of years ago.

I truly hope that 2019 nightmare was just a fluke, and Shinkai will continue to create beautiful works of art from now on.