As I have been ill, I have been struggling to find the motivation to watch films. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but it is true. Even when I did find that motivation it would usually wain very early and I wouldn’t finish the film. As I have refound that motivation I have also found my love for films again and so I am excited to sit down and watch them. No more so for a film I think is great that I haven’t seen in a while, which is the case for today’s film. It has been a long while since I had seen ‘Your Name’ (2016) but I did love it the first time around, so I was massively excited to get back to it. The film follows two high school kids, Taki (Ryûnosuke Kamiki) and Mitsuha (Mone Kamishiraishi), who come from two different worlds but are connected through a bizarre phenomenon where they occasionally swap bodies.
This films director, Makoto Shinkai, is a director whose work I am not massively knowledgeable about having only seen ‘Weathering with You’ (2019) and ‘The Garden of Words’ (2013). But from what I could see of the criticism of those films and Shinkai as a whole are that while his animation is superb his narratives and characters can be weak and problematic, and I do see that (especially for ‘The Garden of Words’). But in the case of ‘Your Name’, both the narrative and animation are superb and mesh brilliantly to create a superb film-watching experience. The films environments and worlds are genuinely beautiful and can be breathtaking. The use of light and scale in creating these environments are superb and all I wanted to do was to explore these places myself because of how beautiful they are to look at. I was meant to visit Japan in 2020 and, for obvious reasons, I had to put those plans on hold, but the way this film looks and how it animated Tokyo especially really gave me the itch to get there as soon as I possibly can. The narrative is a mix of stuff you have seen in several other films. Body swap films are nothing new, but this film manages to tell that story brilliantly and without it feeling contrived or hokey in how it comes about. The film also works really well as a romantic comedy. The animation style and script allow for several big laughs, and I was sat watching the film basically beaming the whole time. All the characters are great, but especially Taki and Mitsuha who are really likeable and relatable, and I have to give praise to the animators and voice actors who did a great job in bringing these characters to life.
As you can probably tell from the paragraph above, my love of this film has not diminished on second viewing. Visually I just love it, and it is why I also really enjoyed the other two films of Shinkai’s that I have seen despite their narrative and character flaws. But apart from how it stands on a visual level, there is something really engrossing about the film. As I have mentioned already, the characters are all great and you want to be spending tie with them as you watch the film, and the relationship that builds between the two characters is one you believe and buy into. The plot device of the body switch is also played really well in this film. It isn’t a permanent switch, meaning that they only occasionally swap bodies, and this allows for some great comedic moments to occur through how other characters react or how they react when they see how the other person has changed their life when the switch has occurred. Maybe it is just my improved mood and my current positive thinking, but I did find the film generally really funny and the plot device has a lot to do with that. While not something entirely new, it does add a lot to the format, and I really do enjoy it.
This film is not perfect, nor does it make it into my five-star film club, but it is knocking hard on that door. It is hard to find something really to criticise. I guess some aspects of the plot can get muddled with how much is going on, but that is me really clutching at straws. It is a ton of fun, has an emotional kick, and looks bloody beautiful and really made me want to get on a plane to Japan as soon as I can. Of course, I recommend it, and I wouldn’t be the only one. This film has a huge fanbase both in Japan and abroad and I am very much a part of that. I think it is great.
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