Today I present you another trailer of an upcoming movie that is linked to the Oscars: Weathering with You, Japan's submission for the International Feature Film Oscar. As you can see, Japan has chosen an animated movie this year, which is not a coincidence because Weathering with You is one of the most successful movies in that country this year. The movie also appears in the Academy's long list of Animated Feature Film, where 32 movies have been submitted (which is a record by the way).
The plot centres around 2 main characters. Hodaka Morishima is a 16-year old schoolboy who runs away from home and ends up in a very rainy Tokyo, where he wants to become a writer. Soon he meets an orphan girl, Hina Amano, who has a really special gift: she can change the weather with her mind. A friendship emerges quite quickly, but will they become more than friends?
I found the trailer to be really beautiful, moving and magical. The most magnificent scenes feature an almost submerged Tokyo. Somehow, it reminded me of the work by Hayao Miyazaki (the genius behind Spirited Away, which is an Oscar winner, by the way, and deservedly so). And that is not a coincidence either. Director Makoto Shinkai is often called the new Miyazaki, a moniker he finds to be an exaggeration (probably because he is a fan of him). Anyway, in Japan Shinkai is very well-known; he directed the highest-grossest anime film ever, called Your Name.
It's hard to say how well - or bad! - Weathering with You will do in the category of International Feature Film. At this moment, the animated movie is not exactly a frontrunner. But what I have learned after years of watching the Oscars is that this category can be quite unpredictable. There have been years that some of the favourites didn't get nominated at all and that some quite unexpected titles did make the cut. So, who knows? Anyway, in the category of Animated Feature Film, it will have to compete with some really big (American) titles.
In the meantime, I have seen fragments of Weathering with You (probably I will end up buying the DVD) and if Shinkai isn't nominated in either category, I bet that some year he will. I have a distinct feeling that we are dealing here with a genius in the making; and that this is merely the beginning... Mark my words, this is certainly not the last time that we hear about Makoto Shinkai! Anyway, here is the trailer. Enjoy!
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