There aren't many animated films that I can speak about with much respect but with this Hawai'i International Film Festival's closing film Weathering With You I must say that I am completely blown away. This film was able to impact me in ways that not many American animations can. Japan is most certainly the biggest player in terms of animation and I am all for their incredible story lines and defining characters.
From the creator of the Japan's Best Film of 2016 Your Name, Makoto Shinkai delivers yet another enchanting love story that can impact a millennial audience. The story is about a young boy who runs away from his home to pursue a life in Tokyo. But due to him being underage he unfortunately must struggle for a living. But he meets a girl who happens to have a special power to stop the rain and reveal the sunshine that lies above Tokyo's dark soaked clouds. They both ride along on a magical journey to fight against authority and natural forces in hopes of living a free life filled with love and compassion.
I have only seen nothing but the first teaser trailer that Japan released months before the Japanese release. And from then on I vowed to myself to never watch a single piece of material related to the film until I get a chance to view the US release. And my patience was greatly payed off for I was able to fully enjoy the film without having a single ounce of motive on what the story is about. I was able to appreciate the love story between the characters a lot better and I was able to better interpret the setting happening around them. As much as the characters make the story, Shinkai was able to create a good mixture of environment and setting to help create this movie. The film is mainly influenced on the relationship between the two characters and whatever decision they make is a result to what happens to the world. Which makes it so perfect because with love it appear to be great but there are times where love can become interrupted by awful forces which can result in terrible results in the relationship. But sometimes those awful forces maybe the best for the relationship. There are some many ways things can turn out with love that it is quite unknown. But that is what this film was able to explore and I must say that Shinkai was able to succeed greatly with it.
Overall this film was excellent. It hasn't reached the level of Your Name but I must say that Shinkai really did amazing on this work and I hope many people will be able to appreciate this film as much as I have.