Tuesday, December 05, 2017

'In This Corner of the World' Is a Captivating Look on What a Young Woman Could Have Undergone in Wartime Japan

In This Corner of the World is an anime drama film that follows the story of a girl named Suzu from 1933 to 1945 in Hiroshima and Kure.  It starts during her childhood, as she helps in her family’s seaweed business and revels in making drawings.  But the bulk of the plot focuses on her experience as a young bride struggling to perform her housewife duties in the household of her new family, who are basically strangers to her.  On top of this, with World War II raging, she has to deal with various wartime matters, like rationing, deaths of loved ones, endless U.S. air raids, and – most notably – the dropping of the atomic bomb.

This is a very beautiful film.  First of all, it’s so due to its fantastic, gorgeous animation – something to be expected from Japanese-made animated films, which still adhere to traditional hand-drawn and cel techniques, doing these masterfully.  The watercolor visual style of ITCotW (will be abbreviating it as such the rest of the way) is exquisite and stirring.  Each frame is pleasurable to behold.
But the narrative also contributes to the holistic beauty of this film.  Suzu’s story unfolds like it’s separated in numerous acts or episodes of varying lengths – some short, some long.  Heck, some scenes even play out for just a few seconds.  It’s as if the audience is just coming in and out of random “snapshots” of her life.  But the pacing never feels disjointed from this kind of approach.  Rather, it is actually wonderfully effective in instituting riveting, flawless storytelling from start to finish.

Indeed, the slice-of-life execution has a captivating effect on Suzu’s mix-of-coming-of-age-and-character-study arc.  Moreover, though she’s a fictional character, her story feels authentic – as if she’s a spot-on composite representation of what the young Japanese women during that time had gone through.
This film is quite multi-faceted, and it has several aspects that can be explored and enjoyed.  One of the most fascinating parts is the love story between Suzu and her husband Shusaku.  It perfectly reflects the dynamics of “romance” during that time period, which is, there was no such thing as “romance.”   “Falling in love” wasn’t necessarily a prerequisite for marriage – it was the opposite actually.  Strangers getting married was quite normal.  It was only once couples were finally married that they began to learn to love each other over time.  Marrying someone you’ve already known for some time and has already fallen in love with was a convenience that was not available to everyone (in the film, Suzu didn’t get to marry her childhood sweetheart, Tetsu).  It’s something pretty weird to think about now, but this was typical in the past.  Go ask some old-timers.  They would confirm this.
Considering the film’s setting, tragedy is to be expected.  Equipped with historical knowledge, the audience has to carry right from the start the emotional burden of being aware of the impending arrival of the atomic bomb.  It maintains a bright tone most of the time, but things get darker and heavier as it draws closer to August 6, 1945.

However, unlike other anime films with similar themes, ITCotW is more bittersweet than full-blown depressing.  Yes, it gets heartbreaking, but it thankfully doesn’t get as harrowing and haunting as anime films like Grave of the Fireflies (a masterpiece, by the way, which you need to watch if you haven’t yet).  And it actually ends in a hopeful, positive note.
I’m not sure yet which between ITCotW and A Silent Voice I love more – probably need to watch the latter again to be really sure – but either one those two is my hands-down pick for best anime film of the year, with the other coming as a very close second (well, unless I get the chance to see Mary and the Witch’s Flower this month and deem it superior).

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