Kotonoha no Niwa

Makoto Shinkai is a name that has become increasingly prevalent over the years. And for good reason, too. After hitting the anime industry in 2007 with his opus magnum "5 Centimeters Per Second", he quickly established himself as a director with the ability to combine masterful artistic talent with emotional, bittersweet storytelling.

Does his latest animation achieve that same ideal? In some ways, it does. But if you are awaiting another great story, this is not what you are looking for.

"The Garden of Words" is a short film depicting the romance and relationship between a 15-year-old boy and 27-year-old woman. Takao, the boy, feels ... lost and alienated by his uncertain future and passion for shoemaking. Concurrently, Yukino feels lost in an adult society where she feels she does not belong.

It's a premise that holds potential for a compelling story. How many films deal with such an age gap, especially with an older female? Very few. Sadly, this film doesn't realize its inherent potential. Rarely are their feelings for each other actually explored. It simply is. They meet, they talk, they fall in love. And why? The relationship seems platonic until a sudden confession at the very end. While the romance is at least passable, one can't shake off the feeling that more could have been done with the two. It all just feels a bit contrived.

Then again, one could always ask: with only 46 minutes of film, isn't it too much to expect developed characters and relationships? Maybe. But Shinkai was not constrained. He could have simply increased the length and have made the story exponentially better as a result.

Where "The Garden of Words" makes up for its romance, perhaps, is in its dialogue. What makes the dialogue so intriguing is not what it does, but what it doesn't do. It is simple, restrained; often limited to ordinary conversations between the characters. It shows more than tells. When Takao's dreams of being a shoemaker are revealed, it is through watching him sketch feet outside and craft shoes in his room. When it must tell, it relies on introspective monologues and poetic conversation. It gives us the time to think and the time for the atmosphere to establish itself. The modesty of the dialogue captures the monotony of their lives-- the change that they experience together.

Or at least that is what the majority of the film accomplishes. What builds as a subtle, heartwarming story regrettably ends as conventional melodrama. Any maturity in the characters is thrown aside in favor of screaming and crying. And, yet again, it relies on Shinkai's exhausted theme of unrequited love. For once, just once-- could he bother to convey the romance differently? It would be a sad thing if a director with so much talent was reduced to being a one-trick-pony. He is capable of more than this. I would like to believe that, anyway.

From a visual perspective, Shinkai's latest is nothing short of a masterpiece. If you have watched any of his previous works (notably 5 Centimeters Per Second), you will be very much familiar with the gorgeous scenery and eyecandy that accompany them. And is eyecandy ever plentiful here. It is a visual spectacle in every regard, meant to have us immersed in the world. Perhaps too much so, as you might find yourself so stunned by the scenery that any dialogue will sound like little more than background noise.

Numerous animation techniques are employed in the film. The most prominent of which is a depth of field effect, often used but never to the point of being distracting. Lens flare and careful panning are also frequently used to accentuate the scenery. Not a single error (at least noticeably) exists within the animation or artwork, thanks to Shinkai's meticulous attention to detail. There are times when the artwork looks and feels so authentic that it could very well be mistaken for live-action at a glance. "The Garden of Words" may be the best-looking anime to date. It is something that other animated films will (and should) aspire to, and nothing more could be asked from it visually.

Rain is the primary theme of "The Garden of Words", both in narrative and aesthetics. In storytelling, rain is often used to represent loneliness. Here instead the rain symbolizes happiness and peace. It succeeds in creating the appropriate atmosphere for the film, ensuring that there is more here to experience than the visuals. It is just as much an experience to feel as it is to gawk at.

The score comprises mostly of piano pieces and ambient noise which serve to further immerse the viewer. It's deliberately simple-- anything thrilling would only serve to undermine the experience. Notably, there is one vocal piece that plays during the climax and credits. I didn't think too much of it other than "Hey, this reminds me of 5cm/s!"

So what is "The Garden of Words" in the end, beyond a visual and aural treat? I would tell you that it is not a very good story. What brilliance it holds at the start is obstructed by lackluster characterization and cloying drama. With more focus given to the writing process and with a story at least partly equal to its production quality, this may have been a film to remember for years to come. As it stands, it is a captivating but ultimately disappointing experience. It could have been much more without the melodrama and with more room given for the characters to live and breathe. After all, beauty is best achieved in simplicity.

If only Shinkai held to this for the entire film.

I knew what I was getting into but still I can't help being a bit disappointed.

The art was breathtaking, obviously. I found some of the lightings and humans to be way too simple compared to the so-realistic-you-can't-help-wonder-if-it-really-is-drawn backgrounds.

The soundtracks sometimes hit the right spot at the right time but they aren't really that memorable.

But really the low point of Kotonoha no Niwa is the story and the characters.
Characters: I know, some people enjoy the just-sitting-in-silence kind of thing but it made it too awkward for me. So I'm not saying they were bad characters. But they weren't good either.
Story: They brought in this whole ... shoe thing and the teacher's backstory all for... nothing? They never really went any too deep with it. The love didn't end up completed.

So it was "just" a feels show. Which isn't >bad< but I find that making feels show work is almost impossible. Creating one of this kind of movies is like basically saying "We are going to make you have emotions and it's going to hurt" but it's like telling me "Hey here's a challenge, try to watch this through without letting a single tear drop." and I take that challenge and yes my eyes stay dry.

So all in all, when I started watching it I was hoping that they will bring in some kind of nice twists or some nice conversations, but other than some supposedly fun retorts here and there it really didn't make me feel...anything.

[Ah I'm so heartless.]

Breathtakingly beautiful, but that's about all it is.

I really wanted to like this film, but I can't. I understand that Makoto Shinkai is known for romantic dramas that explore the human condition, but I feel that sometimes the way he goes about it is really contrived. There are clear attempts within Shinkai's directing to relay symbolism and other "subtle" insights into the characters' emotional conditions, but they ultimately fall short. Sometimes the "camera" (from a directorial standpoint--I know there isn't actually a camera) lingers on certain things to insinuate deeper meaning--her heels at the end of the film, for example--but there isn't anything significant about ... them that merits the extra screen time. Yes, there's the theme of her "learning to walk" through life, and the fact that he's an aspiring cobbler, but the shoes themselves don't symbolize anything deeper. They're an empty symbol--or at least one that Shinkai doesn't bother to develop, and he includes such symbols so often in this film, that it feels like he's hitting me over the head with his attempts to be deep and introspective. After Hoshi o Ou Kodomo--which was a deviation into adventure/fantasy (and, in my opinion, a horribly flawed homage to Studio Ghibli)--I suppose he wanted to re-embrace his niche genre again. But, sigh, so forced.

The plot is very cliche, and the characters aren't developed enough to merit such a shortcoming. I don't feel anything for these characters, and I don't care what happens to them. I began to root for their romantic success near the end, but then the film just finished so quickly. Perhaps it's commentary on the fleeting nature of most human relationships, but I just couldn't buy into it. Also, the climax of the film is highly melodramatic for no real reason--I think I literally laughed when the rays of the sun burst onto the scene, augmented by the swells of dramatic music, and the heavy splashes of rainfall. (YES. There is dramatic sunshine AND torrential rain pour at the same time.)

The movie is beautifully animated, and I couldn't take my eyes away from the screen. But boy, did my head hurt from being hit over the head with his attempts to be deep. Worth a watch, but not if you're looking for a sincere consideration of the human condition.