"Belle"
"Belle"
Suzu (Kaho Nakamura) is a shy, freckled schoolgirl in rural Japan, with a desire to sing, inherited from her mother who died young... She is distant with her father (Koji Yakusho of all fucking people! Hell yes!), but has friends in the form of eccentric computer expert/nerd Hiro (Lilas Ikuta), cool kid Shinobu (Ryo Narita) who vowed to protect her when they were six, and popular queen bee Rika (Tina Tamashiro); though she struggles to communicate properly. When Hiro hooks her up into the ultimate virtual reality world of "U", where your avatar is matched to your inner self, she becomes "Belle", an overnight success and singing superstar. But the fame encroaches on her school life, bringing new anxieties she never asked for, and her path crosses with another user ; The mysterious "Dragon", who is wanted in the "U" by various factions, in a tale as old as time...
Alright, so if you're familiar with Mamoru Hasoda ("The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", "Mirai", "Summer Wars", "Wolf Children" and "The Boy and the Beast") then you should roughly know what to expect: critical acclaim, a relatively strong emotional core but perhaps too much ambition for its own good. This is certainly one of those, definitely closer to "Summer Wars" in more ways than one: beyond its use of the internet as a plot point, it has a sweet central story at its core which is overshadowed by its scope and reaching just a tad too far for the stars, but gorgeously animated and just about sticking the landing. The animation is spectacular and the first 15 or so minutes are riveting: a triumphant introduction followed by a legitimately harrowing flashback. The film takes an optimistic view of mankind, technology and the internet, and uses its imagery well. There is a fantastic water motif used nice and sparingly, and the animation is spectacular throughout. The film, however, speeds through its "Beauty and the Beast" angle a tad too quickly for my tastes, and it is at its best when focusing on the real world and the smaller details: My favourite shot is of two star-crossed lovers trying to confess their feelings to each other, whilst behind them a bus and a train leave in different, but parallel, directions. I love it, it's nice.
The darker elements are not too jarring, personally, and there's a lot to dissect and discuss with its imagery, plot, characters and themes. I feel that it could have just stripped a few things back, focused on one or two things more.
Music is, naturally, brilliant.
But it is still excellent, and a great addition to cinema.
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