Your Name.

Today my friend Suzi texted me. This is not an out-of-the-norm occurrence, but she was texting me to say she saw an ad about pedestrian safety that the City did prior to her movie. Suzi isn't the type to see a lot of movies in the theater and opening weekend is not a big deal to her. So with the opening of the latest Furious movie and several other movies I was sure she wasn't interested in seeing, I was curious what she was seeing.

"Don't know. Something in Japanese."

I knew immediately she was seeing Your Name. Her boyfriend and his friend met in Japanese class so they were seeing this movie. I had wanted to see it and had even though about going this weekend. Suzi had thought about inviting me but didn't think I would be interested.

Previews would be starting in two minutes, so I left my home and high-tailed it to the theater right then! I arrived at the theater in a speedy ten minutes and was able to catch three previews!

I'm so glad I made it because I loved this film! We saw the subtitled version, which is just marvelous. It is the story of two high school kids in Japan - a boy living in Tokyo and a girl living in the country. The somehow inhabit each other bodies, triggered by sleep. So several times a week each will wake up in the other's body. The eventually figure it out, and leave notes for the other on what happened while the other was away.

This film is so beautiful! The animation is extraordinarily colorful, particularly the scenes with the comet and the journey to the underworld. I have never watched an anime film before so this was literally seeing something for the first time. I was fascinated in how the animation seemed "real", in that it felt like something I would see through a camera lens as opposed to drawn on a page or created in a computer. There was depth, out of focus, fuzziness, detail, background, color.

A big part of the film and its loveliness is the music. From the beginning intro song and all the way through, each song and music selection was perfect, adding to the characters and feelings of the film.

When Mitsuha is talking about moving to Tokyo I yearned with her. When she finally gets to experience Tokyo, in Taki's body, I understand her excitement at awe at the big city with its tall buildings and rushing trains and people and vitality.

I have always loved twilight, as during that time everything looks lovely. It is fleeting, though, and it must be savored in a short span. I don't think I'll be able to experience a twilight without thinking of this film. I do not want to spoil any plot points for those who might go see it, so I won't say anymore.

The film does have subtitles, but if that makes you disinclined to see it I will tell you right now to get over it. You will not be disappointed. This is easily one of my favorite films.

(My cousin Phaedra has a much better review of it).