PODCAST | Federica Scarpa interviews Makoto Shinkai, director of the animated film Suzume.
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In competition at the 73rd edition of the Berlinale, Suzume, the new film by Mikado Shinkai, which is already a blockbuster in Japan. We spoke to the director about the development of this story, born just before the pandemic, but who then rediscovered a deep connection with the feelings that emerged during the lockdown. Shinkai then revealed what was hidden behind the missing chair leg from his film.
Suzume: In a small, peaceful town on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, 17-year-old Suzume has lived with her aunt ever since she lost her mother as a little girl. One day on her way to school, she meets a mysterious young man named Souta who is in search of a door. She follows him into the mountains and finds a dilapidated old door standing alone among ruins. On an impulse, Suzume turns the handle, and at once sets free all the calamities the portal was meant to contain. All around Japan other doors open, threatening a population unaware of the looming danger. Together, Suzume and Souta set out on a journey to close them all again. Written and directed by anime auteur Makoto Shinkai, this epic adventure takes us across the length and breadth of Japan, venturing outside metropolitan hubs to seek doors of disaster in the abandoned infrastructures of depopulated rural areas. As we follow this young woman in her frantic search, we realise that she is also engaged in a personal quest for maturity and freedom. An intimate portrait that is also a study of a vulnerable yet combative nation, Suzume is a sign of resilience at a time when Mother Earth is sending humankind evidence of her fury.
To discover more about the Berlin International Film Festival, click here.
Makoto Shinkai – Suzume #Berlinale2023 was first posted on February 25, 2023 at 1:13 pm.
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