May 8, 2:10 PM
Ride Your Wave — Grief Wrapped in a Romance Film
Anime Relations:
Kimi to, Nami ni Noretara
A movie that I felt had a very good cast but strangely didn't really spend enough time with them for the payoff to feel deserving. While I enjoyed it "enough" and found it compelling due to personal circumstances in my life, I think it's difficult for me to watch shows where a constant giver is deified by the people around them and is only really appreciated after theyre gone...
With that personal misgiving out of the way, I did enjoy the movie as more of a story about grief and contending with unforeseen change rather than as a strict romance film. I think the fantasy elements of the movie were actually the least interesting part of the movie for me, which is funny, because I love water magic and ghosts and spirits and falling in love with ghosts and spirits, but I was really compelled by the character drama for the people still alive following Minato's sudden death. I almost feel like the fantastical element of having minato be a speaking ghost that Hinako could communicate with took away from the magical realism elements that charmed me about the film.
Talking about the director specifically, I always enjoy seeing Masaaki Yuasa's take on romance and love. Kaiba was entirely about love and friendship and romance and sex and memories and how human experiences shape people into who they are, but it was funny to me how he had a similar "meeting" between Minato and Hinako that reminded me of Neiro and Warp/Kaiba from Kaiba. I recall reading a reddit thread talking about how the main romance wasn't fleshed out enough for the grief to feel palpable, but I think that's intentional on Yuasa's part. He cares a lot about fleeting connections, and Hinako and Minato weren't together *that* long in the grand scheme of things. Showing the growth of their friendship to romance to Minato's sudden death via a montage rather than through scenes is kind of par for the course in his romance and grief focused works, I think. Their connection as lovers was fleeting similar to how their childhood encounter was so fleeting that Hinako forgot about it, and the same went for their romantic relationship. That being said, I do agree some parts of the film felt underbaked, which is strange when it could've been longer... It's only an hour and thirty minutes.
With that personal misgiving out of the way, I did enjoy the movie as more of a story about grief and contending with unforeseen change rather than as a strict romance film. I think the fantasy elements of the movie were actually the least interesting part of the movie for me, which is funny, because I love water magic and ghosts and spirits and falling in love with ghosts and spirits, but I was really compelled by the character drama for the people still alive following Minato's sudden death. I almost feel like the fantastical element of having minato be a speaking ghost that Hinako could communicate with took away from the magical realism elements that charmed me about the film.
Talking about the director specifically, I always enjoy seeing Masaaki Yuasa's take on romance and love. Kaiba was entirely about love and friendship and romance and sex and memories and how human experiences shape people into who they are, but it was funny to me how he had a similar "meeting" between Minato and Hinako that reminded me of Neiro and Warp/Kaiba from Kaiba. I recall reading a reddit thread talking about how the main romance wasn't fleshed out enough for the grief to feel palpable, but I think that's intentional on Yuasa's part. He cares a lot about fleeting connections, and Hinako and Minato weren't together *that* long in the grand scheme of things. Showing the growth of their friendship to romance to Minato's sudden death via a montage rather than through scenes is kind of par for the course in his romance and grief focused works, I think. Their connection as lovers was fleeting similar to how their childhood encounter was so fleeting that Hinako forgot about it, and the same went for their romantic relationship. That being said, I do agree some parts of the film felt underbaked, which is strange when it could've been longer... It's only an hour and thirty minutes.
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strangeklug
| May 8, 2:10 PM |
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