‘Belle’ review

Fan of parallel universes that coexist with the delicacy of everyday life, Mamoru Hosoda has found in the virtuality of social networks a perfect paradise to reinterpret the classic fable by Jean Cocteau. After all, the original story is about the conflict between the soul and appearance, and to place it as the scene of a passion between avatars who, in a typically teenage movie world, cannot recognize their identity as lovers, is a brilliant idea. . More brilliant is the conception of that social network called ‘U’ where the protagonist becomes a planetary pop star, not only because that allows Hosoda transform his odyssey into an intermittent musical in an organic way but because there he can display all his infinite creativity as an animator.

‘Belle’ is, in that sense, orgiastic: the explosion of pixels, multiscreens, flowers and colors that saturate the frame with scopic pleasure never masks the care with which Hosoda designs his characters, pending the slightest of his gestures, so monumental like the digital skyscrapers that frame them.

For anime ‘gourmets’ in the digital age.

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DATA SHEET

Direction: Mamoru Hosoda Original title: Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime Country: Japan Year: 2021 Release date: 03-25-2022 Gender: Animation Script: Mamoru Hosoda Duration: 122 minutes

Synopsis: Suzu is a 17-year-old girl who, after losing her mother, moves to live with her father on the outskirts of Kochi prefecture. Heartbroken and estranged from the world, she discovers “U”, a virtual space in which she assumes the role of “Belle”.