Shopping Guide
Makoto Shinkai’s newest movie “The Garden of Words” premiered on April 28 in Gold Coast, Australia as was one of the projects of the Gold Coast Film Festival.
The Gold Coast Film Festival is specialized for genre films, and many popular movie and drama stars come visit from Australia and Hollywood as well. This is the biggest event in its field. In recent years, they have also been actively introducing and screening anime. This year’s festival was a precious occasion on which the director of a much-discussed movie visited and talked about his work.
The Garden of Words is scheduled for release on May 31 throughout Japan; the world premiere was held one month ago. This was the first time in the world that a film was introduced to general audiences first.
The reason the world premiere was held abroad is director Shinkai’s popularity that crosses borders. There is no doubt that he did this with the feeling to send out his work not only to Japan, but to his fans around the world as well.
At the day of the premiere, the hall was crowded with fans, reflecting Shinkai’s popularity overseas. The tickets were sold out, and a full house of viewers were enthusiastically watching the wonderful movie The Garden of Words.
After the screening, director Shinkai went on stage to a roar of applause. A 40-minute interview was held with animation specialist Andy Spark, an associate professor of the local Griffith University, as interviewer.
The talk brushed a lot of interesting topics such as the work’s setting and stories about production. When asked about the motive behind production, Shinkai answered, “There was something I wanted to say first.” The movie was made so that he could say those fragmentary words. He also talked about the interesting concept of a work that is centered around words.
In addition, regarding character making, Yukino was very interesting. The director made her a mysterious woman in the beginning. However, since it was pointed out by girls that she is an unpleasant woman, he added more details to her portrayal. He collected data from women for this purpose.
There was also an explanation about the various metaphors appearing in the work. For example, “Rain has a habit of falling unexpectedly. You can’t do anything about it,” and, “Love is just like rain: You can’t do anything about it; you just fall.”
Slight nuances of words run through the whole story. By explaining the setting, another viewpoint surfaced, which must have left a lasting impression on the viewers.
On the other hand, during the Q&A segment, there were so many people asking about the setting and talking about their impressions that the nearly 50 minutes were not wasted. It was simple and worth seeing. The opinions from overseas viewers regarding this movie were about the same as that of Japanese fans.
Even though The Garden of Words is a typically Japanese work, aside from the setting, the intentions of the movie came through perfectly. This is where Makoto Shinkai’s worldwide popularity and universality lies. This movie is going to move the hearts of both Japanese and overseas people alike.
The Garden of Words Official Site:
http://www.kotonohanoniwa.jp/ (Japanese)
Gold Coast Film Festival:
http://www.gcfilmfestival.com/
Source:
http://animeanime.jp/article/2013/05/02/13894.html (Japanese)
