In This Corner Of The World review
In This Corner of the World isn’t just a touching and sobering coming-of-age story about an 18-year-old girl, it’s also an exquisite and moving war film. This multi-layered animation is something intelligent and mature in a very crowded summer of nothing but mind-numbing blockbusters.
Set in Hiroshima, during World War 2, our eyes into this story are that of 18-year-old Suzu (voiced by Rena Nounen), who we follow as a young artist in 1933 to the awful Hiroshima bombing in 1945. She is married off to Shusaku (Yoshimasa Hosoya), a shy boy that she barely knows, and the film follows her struggles not with soldiers and the action of war but rather the daily struggles for the ordinary civilians away from the battlefield. A war against rations, fear, and everyday life during this tragic time.
In This Corner Of The World review
In This Corner of the World tells a very atypical war story: a very personal, intimate character-driven one away from all the guns and guts and explosions. And it’s a delight from start to finish. This is such a rich, nuanced and beautiful character piece. The most fascinating and most riveting of scenes in this film are the ones that follow our protagonist, Suzu, in her day-to-day life, going about her day-to-day things. It gives us, as an audience, a much different look into the horrors of war than we’re used to seeing; it’s a much more personal story, and more harrowing and moving as a result.
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The film starts to slip a little towards the third act when all of the character tension and momentum is lost with the film perhaps focusing a little more on the war itself and the action than needed and straying away from what made this anime so great I’m the first place: the characters and this atypical and unique viewpoint on the war. However, this is still a riveting watch regardless. We care so much for these characters and for their struggle. It’s a hard watch at times, because of how the situation can get. And it’s incredibly moving.
The animation is, as expected, gorgeous. This is such a gentle, beautiful looking film; a nice contrast with the severity and harshness of the topics portrayed here. There is a soft touch to the animation strokes and to the direction too, from a great Sunao Katabuchi, again resting the weight on the characters and on more long, dialogue-filled scenes to really carry the film. In the end, what In This Corner of the World becomes is a beautiful, atypical and sobering war film that will stir your deepest emotions in the best way.
In This Corner Of The World review by Awais Irfan, June 2017.
In This Corner Of The World is released on June 30th, 2017.
