To be honest, I don’t have a grand story as to how I ended up watching this film. I was volunteering at a place across from a food court and decided to grab a bite to eat there after my event wrapped up. When I was walking out, I noticed a staircase leading to a little independent boutique theater and thought “heck, I’m trying to be more spontaneous, why not watch the next movie.”
Starting with the animation (because this is an animated movie), it’s extremely solid in my opinion. It has a sort of colored pencil / watercolor aesthetic, with high contrast and lines sometimes sticking out of their boxes a bit, that feels like a mix of Amélie’s perspective of the world and a traditional Japanese painting. Some of the movement is a bit choppy for my taste, but I don’t mind too much if it allowed more of the budget to be put towards the beautiful character and background designs.
As for the plot, it’s also quite good. The story centers on 2-year-old Amélie as she spends time with her Belgian family in Japan during the late 1960s, slowly getting closer with a Japanese nanny named “Nishio-san.” It’s structured as a serialized anthology, with Amélie reading a book about yokai, learning the Japanese character for “rain,” going to the beach with her family, etc, while events like her grandmother dying or her father going back to Belgium happen in the background. The pacing sags a bit in the middle, but the format allows you to effectively get into Amélie’s shoes and routine, which enhances the effect when we find out she’s going to have to leave Japan near the end.
Nishio-san was by far my favorite character, she’s very kind and I really like how they depicted her slowly introducing Amélie to Japanese culture, particularly the portion where they go to feed koi fish. In comparison, I wasn’t huge on Amélie herself, she literally considers herself a god for most of the film, and her kinda spoiled attitude becomes grating at times. The family is just window dressing for the most part, but I really liked how the “villain” / foil to Nishio-san, Kashima, hated Amélie because of her experiences during WWII. It felt like an understandable motivation and makes it feel more grounded in the late 60s rather than being timeless, and she’s just present enough to make an impact while not smothering the rest of the story.
Ultimately, it was a great watch, and I’m glad I decided to give it a try. Hopefully my next spontaneous movie keeps up the positive momentum!