Suzume no Tojimari
Suzume
すずめの戸締まり
On her way to school one day, Suzume Iwato stumbles upon Souta Munakata, a young man searching for abandoned areas. The high school girl directs Souta to a nearby ruin, but out of pure curiosity, she herself decides to head to the same destination. Once there, Suzume discovers an isolated door with a dreamlike universe lying beyond it—a place that she can see and feel, but not enter. A strange stone rests on the ground nearby, but it turns into a cat-like creature and scurries away when Suzume lifts it. Suddenly afraid, she heads back toward her school, not realizing that her act of leaving the door open will have consequences. With the "keystone" released, the evil within the other universe can now freely escape and wreak havoc throughout Japan. Intending to correct her dangerous mistake, Suzume joins Souta—whose true goal is to prevent evil from festering—in finding and locking all open doors before the country is destroyed. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Synopsis
On her way to school one day, Suzume Iwato stumbles upon Souta Munakata, a young man searching for abandoned areas. The high school girl directs Souta to a nearby ruin, but out of pure curiosity, she herself decides to head to the same destination. Once there, Suzume discovers an isolated door with a dreamlike universe lying beyond it—a place that she can see and feel, but not enter. A strange stone rests on the ground nearby, but it turns into a cat-like creature and scurries away when Suzume lifts it. Suddenly afraid, she heads back toward her school, not realizing that her act of leaving the door open will have consequences. With the "keystone" released, the evil within the other universe can now freely escape and wreak havoc throughout Japan. Intending to correct her dangerous mistake, Suzume joins Souta—whose true goal is to prevent evil from festering—in finding and locking all open doors before the country is destroyed. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Characters
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Reviews(20)
n1saki
March 19, 2023
I'm as much of a Shinkai fan as the next guy, but I have to admit his latest work is also his weakest to date. Shinkai's writing has always been a point of criticism in his previous works, but in Suzume, even the relative strength of its visuals and music do little to rescue its struggling storyline. Shinkai makes no attempt to push the boundaries in Suzume, and viewers will find that the story follows pretty much the same formula as his previous two works. Unfortunately, there's just a bit too much crammed into its 2 hour long runtime for anything to be resolved in asatisfying manner. There's that slightly forced, slightly awkward romance subplot; there's a coming-of-age/self-discovery segment; not to mention some familial angst and trauma thrown into the mix. None of these threads are given enough time to develop and it all ends up feeling like a bit of a cop out with little to no emotional payoff. Side characters come and go, serving as little more than checkpoints in the main characters' journey, doing little to influence their development and final destination. Our main guy might look cute, but he has less emotional depth than the chair he turned into. Overall, not great, even by Shinkai's standards. The visuals are, as usual, the star of the show. Suzume departs from the more grounded, realistic atmostphere of past films, instead opting for a more ethereal, supernatural vibe. Viewers will once again be treated to stunning panoramas and wallpaper-worthy backdrops. Although, the film is sorely missing the small, human aspects that were so effective in creating that extra bit of immersion in Your Name and Tenki no Ko. In my opinion, Suzume doesn't quite reach the high bar set by Tenki no Ko in terms of atmosphere and visuals. To no one's surprise, sound design and SFX were once again impeccable, and lent quite a bit to the realism of the film. Our friends in Japan may (or may not) appreciate the attention to detail in earthquake-related scenes in particular. In the music department, Radwimps reprise their role in the soundtrack, delivering a great soundtrack. Unfortunately, while the sougs were fine, the timing felt a little "off". There was a noticeable reuse of some tracks, and it never quite felt like there were many emotional notes hit. There was no moment like when "Sparkle" or "Grand Escape" started playing in Your Name or Tenki no Ko; no moment that made you go "damn, this is it". Perhaps this is more the fault of the plot than the music. That said, relegating one of the only vocal Radwimps tracks to the end credits was a... questionable decision, to say the least. Viewers going into this for the visuals (and other things Shinkai has traditionally done well) should prepare to be whelmed, or maybe underwhelmed. Viewers hoping for an improvement in the story writing department shouldn't bother. While I will still eagerly await Shinkai's next project, I only hope that he brings something new to the table next time. Even the best formulas get stale after a while.
