Suzume at the movies: What is this movie that beats all records and even Avatar 2 in Japan?

What are you doing?

In a quiet small town in Kyushu, a 17-year-old girl, Suzume, meets a man who says he’s on his way to find a door. Deciding to follow him into the mountains, he discovers a ruined door in the middle of the ruins, the only remnant that has survived the passage of time. Giving in to an inexplicable impulse, Suzume turns the handle, and then other doors open to the four corners of Japan, letting in all their mischief. The man is formal: any open door must be closed. Where it is lost are the stars, dusk and dawn, the celestial vault where all time merges. Guided by the mysterious doors, Suzume embarks on a journey to close them all.

Suzume – In theaters now

A new animated gem

Four years after the release of Children of Time, Makoto Shinkai (considered by some to be the new Hayao Miyazaki) is back with a new animated feature titled: Suzume.

Distributed by Crunchyroll and Eurozoom from Wednesday, April 12 in France, this adventure film sees the return of the usual technical team of the multi-award-winning Japanese director: namely the CoMix Wave Films studio in animation and the team from Rock. on the RADWIMPS soundtrack, already a winner of the Best Music Award at the 46th Japan Film Academy Awards.

With a great theatrical opening, its previews and IMAX screenings, Suzume earned 14.39 billion yen (about 100 million euros) in Japan, ranking first at the box office, ahead of Avatar 2 .

A great recipe to attract fans from the start, but also for the most curious. However, this new project manages to be very different from Shinkai’s previous works…

A film about abandoned places on the road to disaster

It was during a trip to Japan that Makoto Shinkai began thinking about Suzume’s story. After passing through the desolate areas, the director decides to make it the subject of his next film. Unlike these other works, which mostly take place in the same place, Suzume is intended as a real road trip, during which two young adults will have to “mourn” by finally closing the “door” of abandoned places.

And after the comet of your name and the flood of children of time, it is a new form of disaster that hangs over Suzume: earthquakes, influenced by the earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Tohoku in 2011 and which deeply marked the director. The latter also wanted to recreate the atmosphere of the beginning of Covid in the film, the period when he was starting to develop the script.

Breaking away from these two previous successes, Makoto Shinkai also tried to focus his story on the concept of grief and family rather than a potential romantic relationship between his characters. This undoubtedly makes Suzume the most dramatic and sexual film he has made to date.

Sublime and colorful animation, charming music, fascinating characters and poetic morals: Suzume should not fall into the hands of a very young audience, but remains accessible to the largest number, with an exciting story, energetic respect. The planet and for those who are dear to us and who are no longer here.

The film should be in theaters of VOSTFR and VF today.