Your Name
I watched the acclaimed Japanese anime film "Your Name" for the second time today, and I felt the pressing need to spell out the whirlwind of thoughts I've had since.
While it starts out as a teenage flick about a guy and girl who swap bodies on occasion, experience very different lifestyles, and make choices to complement the other while discovering what they were going through, this brilliant visual masterpiece soon blends into a tale of time travel, the Red string of fate, supernatural twilights and a meteorite.
Being the first anime movie I've ever watched, I was blown away by the amount of detailing, how the story was woven into, and that sketches could evoke such deep emotions. While neither anime, nor time travel are new to the world of cinema, the way it was presented to the viewer is what makes this movie tick.
It also was a gentle reminder of how miniscule our grasp of the world around us is, and how our worldview is shaped by what we consume through visual, auditory and sensory means. A fellow human being conceived a story based on real-life landscapes, in a language spoken by a small fraction of the world population, based on a culture very different from anywhere else. He could not have been sure of the reach his movie would have, or who his viewers could potentially be, but he was still able to connect and influence an Indian living in the US, and that, was a deeply stirring realization.
Is it because movies make us forget reality, or wish they were real? Or were the themes used so universal that they found some shape or form in other cultures around the world? Would we be a happier bunch of people if we could craft our journeys to a desirable conclusion, like in the movies? Or are we simply content to envision ourselves living through the characters, while we resign ourselves to a reality where miracles and science fiction ideas don't exist?
We are people who, fundamentally, question and reconsider decisions we make throughout our lives. Perhaps, it is through such movies, that we satisfy our curiosity - taking every conceivable "what-if" scenario, every fantasy we ever dreamed of or will dream of, every barrier we are willing to put ourselves through, and try and lay out a sequence of events to make a narrative which is appealing, compelling and at the same time just a tad bit out of reach from reality. This is illustrated by how we are strangely accommodating of a morbid outcome as much as we are of a jubilant one.
It is often said that movies are a reflection of the society. Spectacles like "Your Name" show us that we are citizens of the world who are finding new ways to connect, engage and learn about each other and that movies go beyond being a mere reflection of society - they are a multiverse fit into a microcosm.
While it starts out as a teenage flick about a guy and girl who swap bodies on occasion, experience very different lifestyles, and make choices to complement the other while discovering what they were going through, this brilliant visual masterpiece soon blends into a tale of time travel, the Red string of fate, supernatural twilights and a meteorite.
Being the first anime movie I've ever watched, I was blown away by the amount of detailing, how the story was woven into, and that sketches could evoke such deep emotions. While neither anime, nor time travel are new to the world of cinema, the way it was presented to the viewer is what makes this movie tick.
It also was a gentle reminder of how miniscule our grasp of the world around us is, and how our worldview is shaped by what we consume through visual, auditory and sensory means. A fellow human being conceived a story based on real-life landscapes, in a language spoken by a small fraction of the world population, based on a culture very different from anywhere else. He could not have been sure of the reach his movie would have, or who his viewers could potentially be, but he was still able to connect and influence an Indian living in the US, and that, was a deeply stirring realization.
Is it because movies make us forget reality, or wish they were real? Or were the themes used so universal that they found some shape or form in other cultures around the world? Would we be a happier bunch of people if we could craft our journeys to a desirable conclusion, like in the movies? Or are we simply content to envision ourselves living through the characters, while we resign ourselves to a reality where miracles and science fiction ideas don't exist?
We are people who, fundamentally, question and reconsider decisions we make throughout our lives. Perhaps, it is through such movies, that we satisfy our curiosity - taking every conceivable "what-if" scenario, every fantasy we ever dreamed of or will dream of, every barrier we are willing to put ourselves through, and try and lay out a sequence of events to make a narrative which is appealing, compelling and at the same time just a tad bit out of reach from reality. This is illustrated by how we are strangely accommodating of a morbid outcome as much as we are of a jubilant one.
It is often said that movies are a reflection of the society. Spectacles like "Your Name" show us that we are citizens of the world who are finding new ways to connect, engage and learn about each other and that movies go beyond being a mere reflection of society - they are a multiverse fit into a microcosm.
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