Movie Review: A Silent Voice

Ref: A Silent Voice

I’m really in love with this movie because of how moving it is story-wise and how beautifully made it was.  I’ve originally posted about this movie a year ago, before it was released in September 2016 (as far as I remember).  A very very lovely story indeed.

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I didn’t write down any quotes but one that I remember near-vaguely would be:

“I want to love people, even a monster has… a heart” (from when Ishida was singing).  

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Context:

I didn’t know much about it before going into it, I knew that it would be about a couple (as far as the cover could tell) but nothing else.  I think that it was very well put together and that as the story unravelled itself,  it became more and more relatable and more close and personal to me and my feelings (as sappy as that may sound).  All in all it has become my top favorite animated film.  I am not so used to watching anime movies honestly, I’m more broken into the episodes and shows instead but this was lovely to watch.

Technicalities and Functioning:

It being an animated film, I didn’t expect much from this aspect of it (besides art style and possibly colorization) but this film really adds some new dimension to its usage of “cinematography”.  In many ways, the film replicates real-life and realist-filmmaking through its usage of rack-focus, point-of-view shots, and lighting.  Of course you can tell that it is an animated film, it is not in 3-D, but the backgrounds were so detailed, so beautifully defined that I fell in love with it.  I can only imagine how long it would take to animate such a film, knowing that as it’s replicating real-life (including the background) that would take some extra time.   There were many shots that I found to be gorgeous, a lot of reflective photography going on (I’ll call it a replica) but just it being an animated film made all the difference because you can see more of the effort, the detail, the work being put into it.  All of the choices for types of lighting, it’s composition and framing… everything was just lovely.  The art style itself was beautiful as well, no complaints at all  in this department.  

Content:

Overall the movie did a good job at sharing a moving story about a boy’s change of heart.  This type of coming-of-age story was new to me, specifically, because I had yet to watch stories that were so in depth and inclusive of those with disability and how that’s being dealt with in the story.  Even the entire cultural aspect of bullying was very fascinating to see, pondering it’s comparison to how the situation would be handled in America, because as the film reflects kind-of the culture of its time, we get a glimpse of this 3rd perspective = how both cultures differ (in my brain in comparison with its demonstration from the film).  It’s not so much different in America though, but I feel like the bully would not be as condemned and isolated in America as they would be in Japan / or in Asia for that matter (it is a serious issue).  

Moving on, I felt a close connection with Ishida as the story proceeded because there were / are many groups of  friends that I have lost through my words and my actions, most of them being from childhood (early elementary) and even high school whom I still have not made amends with even up until today.  I relate to his character so much because I was the bully at one point, I was that person, I did bad things, I made mistakes and I also thought very deeply about these things as well (and I still do from time to time).  His character was drawn up in a way that it allowed the audience to not only hate him and pity him, but to also connection with him as well.  I hated his character in the beginning, I hated him, he was a terrible person and then I saw myself in him, I saw that person.  I saw me.  

It was a very lovable story, touching to my heart.  It made me cry so many times (and maybe at unusual places and times at that).  

I also loved how they dealt with introducing Ishida’s anxiety.  That was a very pleasant part for me, honestly.  Seeing how different he is as a kid, growing into a very shy and closed-personality-type guy, heavy anxiety, that was very real to me.  In “normal anime” there’s more of an exaggeration (and not saying there isn’t any in this film) but Ishida’s character development felt very… natural and very real to me.  I’m not sure how to describe it but it was very nice.  

I’ll also mention that I enjoyed how subtle it was but that added Maria as a tanned, biracial baby in there (I have never seen that before) and I thought that that was so cuteeeee.  

Cons and Nitpicking:

There were some points in the film where the plot needed to speed up to get to specific point in the future and I thought that those points of transitioning were somewhat confusing and also very strange and slightly awkward.  At times, I felt like these parts (for example: the part where after Ishida confesses to his actions, he finds himself in the foundation with his books sprawled about), these parts felt sometimes like flashbacks and so it made me confused whilst watching the film because I had to constantly question like “is it the present or is this in the past?” and I think maybe it’s because of it’s awkward placement that it’s sort of this way.  Even the point where he tries to hang out with Yuzuru and Nishimiya more, his character seems to change personalities a bit but time keeps moving forward in an even more awkward and confusing pace.  I also think that some of the soundtracks chosen for said scenes were unfitting and did not define the mood of each scene as accurately as possible.  There was one scene where I could feel that the intention was possibly to make the audience feel sad and anticipate some more of sympathy for the character, but there were no actions or events based on this feeling, just the sound and the vibes it expressed didn’t fully describe the scene.  I remember feeling confused after the scene ended because nothing happened despite having this sort-of buildup and “tension” (probably not the best word to use).  

I would say that if you are someone that likes fast-paced, more action-pact, “manly-typed” anime that is full of bad guys and fighting and stuff, this movie is probably not for you.  Moreover, this film is very slow-paced (in terms of building tension and reaching for the climax) which is what I’d personally prefer but it may not be as entertaining and more boring to others.  All in all, I loved the film.  10/10, beautiful film, I will definitely watch this again in the near-future.