Suzume
Suzume is playing in theaters at the time of writing. Rated PG. Common Sense says 10.
STORY: B
Suzume is your typical, teenage girl living in Japan. On her very typical bike ride to her very typical school, she meets Souta, a very mysterious boy with a very mysterious job. Souta is traveling the Japanese islands, closing magical doors. If left open too long, terrible creatures will storm through the doors, unleashing massive amounts of destruction - something that Japan has experienced much too much of.
I don’t think there’s any more surefire way a story can hook my attention than by slowly revealing a hidden world whirring about right beneath our noses. Learning more and more about the complex ecosystem of international terrorists who walk among us is my favorite thing about the John Wick films.
Suzume’s hidden world has a lot less murder. It feels more like an ancient myth come-to-life. The myth itself is a really interesting story, but what’s even more interesting is watching the characters work their way through that myth in the context of our modern world. The mythology gets confusing at times, but that never takes away from the story’s power. Sometimes a little mystery is a good thing.
PEOPLE: A-
My favorite thing about Suzume is how chill she is. If mystical beings told me I had to drop everything in my life immediately and go on a quest to close bazillions of glowing doors in random Japanese towns, I would scream. Lots. At the very least, I’d have to grab a Starbucks iced tea, sit, and do some heavy pondering. Suzume dives in immediately.
Actually, my favorite thing about Suzume isn’t that she’s chill. It’s the reason why she’s so chill. She’s drawn to Souta, but not in a puppy dogs & ice cream, hippy-dippy lovey kind of way. She’s attracted to him the same way one might be attracted by a non-romantic elctro-magnet. AS ridiculous a scenario as it is, she follows him, (almost) no questions asked. I’m a big believer that we all have a radar that starts beeping when we meet a person who’s destined to be a big deal in our lives. The signal’s rarely clear (at least for me), but it always gets through somehow. In the midst of a fantastical story, Suzume’s attraction feels incredibly authentic.
But the best character in this movie is the chair. Mm hm. That’s right, a chair. When Chair was sad, I got sad. When Chair felt scared, the hair on my arms stood at attention. When Chair ran across the city streets chasing after its dreams, I sprinted down the aisles of the theater and frantically pointed which way it should go. When Chair chipped its leg, I started a GoFundMe. I can’t explain why a drawing of a tiny, wooden chair made me feel so invested. Again, sometimes a little mystery is a good thing.
FILM NERD STUFF: A
Suzume is a visually stunning film. The child’s breath in the chilly opening scene tiptoes across the screen before it finds a suitable hiding spot and vanishes. The sparkles on the ocean dance so wildly that it takes a bit before you realize your imagination is dancing with them, cheek to cheek.
I need to talk about the very big worms in this movie. The artists chose to draw them using CGI, which really stands out when it’s layered over the film’s gorgeous anime style. From an artistic standpoint, it makes it feel like they don’t belong in Suzume’s world. Which in the story itself, they don’t. They exist on another dimensional plane. It’s a great example of using a mix of drawing techniques in order to emphasize elements of the story.
MEMORIES: A
Memories create life. We often hear at a funeral, “As long as you remember them, they’re not really gone.” I’ve never really gotten too much comfort from that idea. It always made me feel the same way I felt when my parents once told me we couldn’t go on the Disney World vacation we had planned, but the trip to Aspinwall, Iowa was going to be just as fun.
Suzume is a film full of memories. She yearns to remember what terrible thing happened to her when she was four years old. She and Souta travel to abandoned places that only exist as memories. And an essential step of closing the magical doors is to recall the memories of the people who spent their lives in those spaces. It’s safe to say that Suzume is saying something about the importance of memory.
The movie seems to suggest that memories aren’t merely a way of providing momentary comfort to the remember-er. It’s not the deceased who stops living when we fail to keep their memories alive. It’s us, the living, who lose a vital part of the very thing it is that makes us human.
FINAL COMMENTS:
Suzume is a beautiful, funny, entertaining movie. Within its comical and mesmerizing adventure, it shines a light on many truths meant to help us live more fulfilling lives. It’s a winner.