Reviews

I watched this movie not knowing it was by the infamous maker of Your Name, Makoto Shinkai. Those who knew had a hard time not being annoyed by the glaring similitudes. But I prefer seeing it like an attempt to rework its flaws:

• THE ANIMATION AND MUSIC ARE STILL TOP-NOTCH. I'll rewatch this movie with pleasure just for the soundtrack.

• the supernatural, which was yanking the plot whichever way every five minutes in Your Name, here takes a backseat to the story. This means the story has some time to breathe and expand, yay!

• the characters are better defined here! (with the exception of Keisuke Suga, the hero's boss, who switches sides more often that a weathervane in a storm. I guess he was supposed to be ambiguous, but he comes off as inconsistent)

• the romance is believable. We see the boy and the girl interact and their relationaship grow.

Still, the plot feels like it's written by a 5 years-old. It's overly dramatic, in your face to the point of manipulative, but at the same time clumsy, with a weird reliance on a gun (!) as a plot device that's frankly off-putting.

All in all, an improvement on Your Name. I hope Mr. Shinkai will keep it up.

Hi, everyone ! For this review, I'll be receiving a special guest : myself ! Alter Ego, welcome.

AE : Thanks for having me.

ME : We'll be discussing that weird Orville episode...

AE : Weird is good ! Weird is what I look for in a space exploration show. Pushing boundaries. Provoking thought.

ME : I agree, but I have to admit I was weirded out. I mean, there was a fully nude sex scene...

AE : The captain, the first officer and the alien's private parts are never shown !

ME : I'm talking about the doctor and Yavin.

AE : Oh. But the doctor is technically covered by the alien. And aliens can be shown. Or are you saying that discovery documentaries should be flagged for showing animals mating ?

ME : But they're never mating with a human !

AE : I guess it's a new case : alien with human. It falls into a grey area.

ME : Whatever. There were so many plot holes in this episode, you could have made a golf course. The alien character at the center of the plot, he...

AE : It's an alien, there is no way of knowing it's gender.

ME : ... Fine. Nor its age, I guess. But it seems to know its own physiology very well. Yet he never seems to bother telling others about his 'love ability' before he's confronted. That's plain manipulation.

AE : Should it be held responsible for an innate power that triggers without his conscious decision and it has no capacity to suppress ?

ME : Gotcha ! You said 'his'. But he DOES have capacity to suppress it ! He could have avoided shaking hands, or just worn gloves. That would have saved thousands of lives by avoiding the delays in the peace talks, just sayin'.

AE : Well... Remember, he's under its effects as well. He's in heat too.

ME : Right. But he doesn't seem overwhelmed like the others affected are.

AE : Maybe he's just as overwhelmed, but better at playing cool because he's used to it.

ME : And he doesn't offer to solve the conflict before it is nearly too late, despite having being comissioned precisely to solve that conflict.

AE : Again, he is in heat. And please note that he never tries to use his power to avoid being discovered or judged.

ME : So, he's just manipulative enough to avoid disclaiming his power and let it act, but not enough to lie about it. The assumptions keep piling here. How about this : his 'heat' power triggers at regulars intervals. When he was commissioned to support the peace talks, he should have either taken precautions to prevent his power from affecting people, or declined the job altogether. Not doing so is precisely what led to that space shootout.

AE : Well... Um... Well...

ME : By the way, when the leaders make their declaration, their people have already started shooting at each other. I have a hard time believing they would stop so fast. How about for convenient ?

AE : (whistles)

ME : That sums it up, thanks. I don't think it's a terrible episode, but you better leave any critical thinking at the door if you want to enjoy it.

This episode is not terrible, but there's one thing that bothers me (SPOILERS).

Of all the murderous indigenous cannibals who attack them, the crew only kill two. And one of them was not even hostile, he actually saved a crew member from probably being found and eaten by the cannibals when he took her to his shelter. Then he proceeded to share his scarce food with her and warn her about the dangers outside. What did he do wrong ? Well, he wouldn't let her out of her cell, even after she explained her situation and pleaded for a full 5 seconds. And he was threatening, even though he never actually harmed her.

Who kills him ? Well, the crewmember he saved ! She tricks him into entering her cell while she's behind him. She could lock him in and go, but she prefers backstabbing him.

Oh, and who is that crewmember ? Not the cold android who treats humans like fascinating animals, but the doctor who (I assume) has taken an oath to protect and save lives even at a great personal cost.

After they're back aboard the ship, she could ask for a team to rescue her jailer if possible. I mean, he could still be hanging to life for all we know, it wouldn't cost them much to check his state, and that's what doctors do, right ? Um... no. The other cannibals will be cured, but her savior can rot in his own blood for all she cares.

Conclusion : What kind of doctor is that ?

THIS REVIEW IS ABOUT THE STORY. EVERYTHING ELSE (ART, SECONDARY CHARACTERS, ATMOSPHERE) IS GREAT.

A boy and a girl discover that some days, their lives are swapped, which they only remember as dreams afterwards.

You see the love story coming between those two ? Color me naive, but I didn't.

First, it's one of the most contrived premises you could have for a love story. Second, there's like a million stories you could tell with such a premise, why take the less original ? Of all the funny, awkward, insightful etc. things that could happen to two people who exchange lives, why go for the most clichéd ?

But OK, let's accept that they fall in love with each other. After all, a lot of the emotional impact of the second half of the movie hinges on their being infatuated with each other. But we're never shown that happen ! The most we're shown for Mitsuha (the girl) is that she takes an interest in Taki's (the boy) life. I guess it could count as both reason and show of her growing fondness for him. As limited as it is, at least it's a small hint that something's happening.

We're not so lucky with Taki.

After his date with his female coworker, she guesses that he's recently fallen for another woman. At that point I thought she guessed wrong, because nothing we see supports that idea. But I'm more and more convinced that she's conveying the message of the authors : at that moment, they're flatly informing us that Taki is falling for Mitsuha.

What do they say again in storytelling school ? "Show, don't tell." Well, it's a typical example of telling, not showing.

It's like the movie is trolling us : "Oh, btw, Taki's totally into Mitsuha now ! A lot of stuff happened, but we didn't think it was worth showing, even though ALL we're showing you are those 2 very characters. U mad ?"

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that he has no reason for falling in love. He has plenty ! If you've seen the movie, here's a quick quiz. Taki falls in love with Mitsuha because :

a) he's attracted by her looks

b) he's impressed by her skills

c) he's thankful for her help

d) he remembers their first encounter in the subway

e) they're soulmates

f) any of the other bazillion possible reasons ?

You don't know ? Nobody does ! Because we don't see their love bloom.

As it is, this love story misses its core, its pivotal moment. It's a love story without romance.

Little annoyances :

Memories and messages appear and disappear so as to fit the plot's needs so perfectly that we have left the lands of Plot Convenience to enter the realm of Plot Laziness.

The second part is so clichéd that at any point you can safely guess what happens in the next 15 minutes.

Mitsuha convinces her father at the end in a deeply moving and insightful argument. Well, I guess, because we're TOLD, NOT SHOWN (uuuuugh)

Having sex with an unconscious person is rape (and there is no doubt the woman is unconscious : she's in a coma).

The fact that the perpetrator believes he actually really loves her is not an excuse.

The problem comes, of course, that this movie pushes us to embrace the perpetrator's viewpoint, and manipulates us to find his stalking cute and endearing.

It's not. It's wrong, and this movie is sick.

The pursuit of Happiness is a 2006 horror movie with Will Smith as the lead role. Don't be fooled by the happy end, horror movies can have happy ends too, and if you're a young person studying or looking for a job like I was when I first saw it, don't watch it unless you're ready for nights of cold sweat.

There's a scene (typical of this movie) where Will Smith barely manages to catch the attention of a businessman by solving a Rubik's Cube in the span of a short taxi ride. It's clear that the intent of the scene is to lift you up (look ! he managed to get an interview ! you can do it too !), but that very scene gave me nightmares : what if I'm not good at Rubik's Cube ? Nobody told me I had to be good at Rubik's Cube to get a good job ! It is a thing now ? Shouldn't it be taught at school then ? And what if I learn Rubik's Cube and the guy does Hanoi Tower ?

Another time Will arrives late and in dirty clothes at his interview (not by his fault), and saves it with a snappy reply. What if he didn't find that reply ? I'm shy : does that mean I have to settle for shitty jobs ? Is there no salvation for people who are in any way short of perfection ?

'Cause there is no nuance in this movie, no shades of grey : it's either thrive like the best, or die like the rest. Never Will rebels or even questions the situation he's in.

But don't worry : at the end of his kafkaesque ride, Will will manage to land the job of his dreams, in the lofty world of rich people, high above the mass of the rest of zombies crawling under the surface in cramped subways. What about you and me ? We're doomed, my friend. DOOMED.