Rating: 4/5 stars
“Suzume no Tojinari” was recently released in theaters on April 14. It has been a long wait for Makoto Shinkai (“Tenki no Ko”) fans with the initial release being in November of 2022. The movie explores the idea of “lonely places” as a road trip across Japan leads to a whirlwind romance. Suzume Iwato (Nichole Sakura,”Superstore”) is on the way to school when she comes across a mysterious man, Souta Munakata (Josh Keaton, “Voltron: Legendary Defender”), whose job is to stop disasters with his family heirloom key.
The supernatural aspect of the movie occurs when doors in abandoned locations manifest and lead to disaster when opened. The supernatural creature is a “worm” that causes invisible but devastating earthquakes all around Japan. The increased frequency of earthquakes is caused by Suzume accidentally opening the sealed cat god named Daijin. After the first earthquake, Souta and Suzume talk at her house and treat his injuries.
Daijin then places a curse on Souta by saying “You’re in the way, goodbye,” turning him into a three-legged chair created by Suzume’s mother when she was alive. The majority of the plot is following the cat trying to close doors all around Japan all the way from southern Kyushu to her old hometown in Tohoku, where the 2011 “Great East Tsunami” occurred.
The movie is about the character’s journey and is not just about romance. They have good chemistry and work well together but that is not really the focus. The movie is a commentary on a lot of stressors in Japanese society occurring at the moment, including the memory of the 2011 tsunami and the “mourning of deserted areas.” The overall mood is a bit post-apocalyptic as production started just as the COVID-19 pandemic started.
The main theme “Suzume” by Radwimps (“Forever Daze”) featuring Toaka, is riveting and epic. There is a sense of loneliness and vibrato in the song. Radwimps is a Japanese rock band who created soundtracks for “Your Name.” and “Weathering with You” and have previously worked with Shinkai. The singer Toaka really sells the song, her background being interesting enough as a TikTok performer. She does not seem to have a discography as her content uses covers of other songs. She is incredibly talented with her voice range going from incredibly high to low at times.
Shinkai created many critically acclaimed movies such as “Your Name.” and “Weathering With You” In each one of them the synopsis is a boy and a girl meet unwittingly by supernatural forces and try to overcome it, eventually becoming romantically involved. The difference with Suzume is the male love interest becomes a chair for most of the movie as to decrease the romantic elements. In an interview Shinkai states the initial thought was to create a female partner for Suzume as he had gotten bored with the typical “will they, will they not?” However the producer for the movie said “You may be tired of these romantic stories, but your audience loves it.”
There is a bit of a pivot as the relationship between Suzume and her aunt Tamaki Iwato (Eri Fukatsu, “Genshin Impact”) is fleshed out in the second half. In many adventure stories featuring young protagonists, parents or guardians are often forgotten about to allow the story to occur. Instead the aunt halfway through meets up with her to continue the supernatural journey even though she does not really get it.
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