Most
of the time, when Hollywood makes anything with a high school setting, they
slap a laugh track on it. In contrast, many of Japan’s top animators consider young
people’s formative years to be, you know, formative. You can see that respect
in diverse films, like From Up on Poppy Hill, A Silent Voice, and Doukyusei—and
it is all over the filmography of Makoto Shinkai. A characteristically
sensitive but lonely high school student and a fragile adult make fleeting but
significant connections in his long short film The Garden of Words, which screens as part of the Metrograph’s
weekend Shinkai retrospective.
Japan’s
rainy season starts early, but that is just fine with Takao Akizuki. Whenever
it rains, he skips first period to sketch in Shinjuku Gyoen, a Prospect Park-style
garden retreat right in the midst of Tokyo’s legendarily intense business
district. He enjoys sketching in the cool shelter of his favorite gazebo and he
also starts to appreciate the company of Yukari Yukino, a pretty twenty-seven-year-old
woman.
Akizuki
does not realize it, but he and Yukino are more connected than he initially
understands. It is not that he is self-absorbed. Akizuki is a good kid, but he
largely takes care of himself, because his older brother and mother are fly-by
roommates at best. He also works multiple part-time jobs and spends what little
spare time he might have studying fashion shoe-wear design. Frankly, his stolen
moments with Yukino are the only time-outs he takes from being responsible
beyond his years. As for Yukino, his earnest guilelessness provides a small
measure of consolation as she recovers from a stress-induced breakdown.
In
terms of its beat-sheet outline, Shinkai’s narrative is quiet and simple, but
the characters’ inner drama is exceedingly complex. You will not find anything
remotely resembling cheap sentiment or cliched teaching moments in Words. Both Akizuki and Yukino will
probably be working on their issues for the rest of their lives. By the way,
that basically means their human, which is probably the only point Shinkai was
trying to make. These are just compelling people that he invites viewers to come
to know and understand better.
Words is a poignant
film, even by Shinkai’s standards, but he really outdoes himself with the
stunningly lush visuals. At times, his renderings of Shinjuku Gyoen are almost
photo-realistic. The backdrops are so rich and verdant, you feel like you could
just fall into them. It will definitely put you in the mood to cut work to
stroll through Central Park, hopefully on a rainy day.
