Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
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GATSU
Posts: 15580 |
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Interesting that you held back on giving it a good score, considering it's been received better in Japan than Earthsea.
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ScottGreen
 Posts: 20 |
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Concerning when the movie derails, and "derails" is pretty much the word I've been using to describe it too.
I agree that happens, but I'm a bit more ambivalent about the direction. "Aunt Witch" Kazuko appears to be the original Girl of Leapt Through Time of the novel/life action movie. Considering how well known the previous works were, I'm wondering if the revealed reaction is more acute for North Americans approaching the anime. That said, Hosoda picks a moment for the reveal where the audiences attention is directed elsewhere, deliberating ensuring that it is a jarring moment. I do think that the in retrospect, the reveal is foreshadowed and that the twist is crucial to the movies points. I also think the ambiguity of the painting was intentional and significant. |
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Second_Ignition_Yui
 Posts: 33 Location: Nasty Sensou |
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To the reviewer: Did you see the MIT screening? Or the one in New York?
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1685 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Yes, because A- is not a good score. 
This will completely alude anybody that hasn't read/seen the first book and movies. As none of them have ever been released in English, that would be near 100% of ANN's readership. That includes myself as well. Maybe that's less a failing in Japan as here, but if you can't bring in new audiences, what's the point of a stand-alone movie? That said, the rest of the film is so strong, it's hardly a fatal flaw.
The one in NYC. Unfortunately, as this was the NY International Children's Film Festival, my group was seated in front of a group of 12-year-olds who seemed to agree the movie was like "The Click" and that the F-word was too awesome to be withheld from most sentences. |
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Mike Toole
 SubscriberANN Columnist  Posts: 105 Location: THE GOOD OLE U-S-A |
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Scott: I'm intrigued by your remark about Kazuko being from the original film. I've been reading about the old live-action movie in the wake of seeing this film (I was at the screening with Justin, it was the NYC one-- I never heard about the MIT one! wish I'd known, I might've tried to get in on it, since I live mere blocks from MIT...) and would definitely like to see it.
As for the 'derail' - I simply think that, in the final act, the movie goes someplace it really doesn't need to go. It certainly doesn't ruin the movie, but as Justin points out, it keeps it tantalizingly held back from the cinematic perfection we so rarely get from the likes of Studio Ghibli or Satoshi Kon. |
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Greboruri
Posts: 387 Location: QBN, NSW, Australia |
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ScottGreen
Posts: 20 |
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I went into the film having read the Wikipedia entry which said that the Kazuko of the anime was the Kazuko of the early works.
I saw the film at MIT. Hosoda was there and he was cagey about whether it is the same character. The organizer, Prof. Ian Condry suggested what I ultimately felt about the character. She might or might not be the same the character. Either way, there were interesting implications knowing the original story, and comparing Kazuko to Makoto. This is something I admire about the film. There is a degree to which it is a solidly defined symbol and there is a degree to which it is art open to be interpretted. Also, worthy of note, a translation of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time author Yasutaka Tsutsui's "Salmonella Men on Planet Porno" is apparently about to be released. It's listed on Amazon. Last edited by ScottGreen on Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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GATSU
Posts: 15580 |
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Justin:
Sorry, I was referring to the story. |
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CloverKuroba
 Posts: 506 |
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I'm happy that "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" got a good review, because it just raises my spirits higher for seeing the movie on Saturday. I'll be seeing the one in NY. I'm looking forward to it.
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Cloe
Moderator
 Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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I'll be attending the LA screening on the 31st. I can't wait! I've been waiting to see this film for ages.
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bob_loblaw
Posts: 229 Location: Tanning in Hell |
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First up, anybody know (or can speculate) who might have this licensed?
Really now? Well, that changes a few things to make Kazuko seem more wise than mildly patronizing to Makoto's "Time Leap" troubles. Of course, this information wasn't needed for Makoto's story. But it does sort of come off like a "homage/shout-out" to those familiar with the preceding works (which, I'm not either). Okay. One of our dozen or so publishers we've got in North America has to license both the Paprika and TokiKake novels. Now, preferably. After seeing both animated adaptations and enjoying them immensely, I want to read the original works. 
As for the "derailing" third act (nice pun there, jsevakis): spoiler[I just didn't seem to care that Chiaki "time leaped" to see a painting. Maybe it's importance, even after Kazuko's explaination, just didn't catch. Now, I'm completely on board with Chiaki coming back to enjoy this century's "rivers", baseball and girls. Time-traveling for totally shallow reasons? Thumbs-up. And is Kazuko's restoration of the painting just a coincidence, or does it have something more to do with her "unspoken" history?] spoiler[Also, I seemed to have forgotten just HOW Makoto's "leap timer" got another charge. The sequence of events in the last act have left me uncertain where and how she might've got it. Was it the "Power of Twu Wuv"? I can't, for the life of me, remember.] This was only the second time I've attended a NYCIFF screening; the first being Castle in the Sky some years back. Anyway, it seems I got lucky, seating-wise. The rows around me were an even mix of adults and kids. No yappers. Parents actually *gasp* parenting. Thankfully, the screen was high enough and the sound was great to make up for some of this. But, man, my back was hurting something fierce afterwards. |
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Deltakiral
 Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
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Say what? Where is this happening at? I didn't even know there was a screening for this in LA....I need to do some googling 
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GATSU
Posts: 15580 |
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Delta: Link.
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Case
Posts: 1016 |
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When an anime goes to a film festival this way, who does the translation? Or isn't there a translation? There's no American credits for this film, or Tamala 2010 which is another one I remember being screened the same way a number of years back.
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GATSU
Posts: 15580 |
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Kadokawa appears to be self-distributing the film at the moment.
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