Thelongestfilm.com – Review of Suzume no Tojimari. Suzume no Tojimari, also known as Suzume, is the latest film from Makoto Shinkai. This film was released in Japan on November 11, 2022.
The story in the Makoto Shinkai film this time will follow the story of a high school girl named Iwato Suzume. He went to several places with a young man named Munakata Souta to find a door.
What happened on Suzume and Souta’s journey to find the door?
Synopsis and Review Suzume no Tojimari
The story begins when Suzume dreams of herself as a child and looks for her mother. Then, after a while, Suzume finally woke up and got ready to go to school.
On her way, Suzume met a young man who asked about an abandoned place. The young man said he was looking for a door there. Suzume then mentioned an old onsen (hot spring) ruin that was in the vicinity of the mountain.
Feeling curious, Suzume decided to go to the ruins of the onsen. There, Suzume found an old door that stood tall and was in the middle of the ruins of the onsen.
Suzume opened the door and found a very different world. He also tried to enter the door but never managed to enter that different world.
Then, he accidentally stumbled on a cat statue, which suddenly turned into a cat. Terrified, Suzume ran away.
During recess, Suzume and her classmates were eating their bentou (packaged food). Suddenly, an earthquake alert entered their cellphone, and soon, a small earthquake occurred.
Seeing a red smoke that only she could see, Suzume rushed to run in the direction of the red smoke. The end of the red smoke he saw was toward the old onsen he had been to before.
Arriving at the old onsen, he saw the young man he had previously met trying to close the door that was the source of the red smoke.
Seeing the young man struggling, Suzume decided to help. After trying for a while, finally the door was successfully closed, locked, and the red smoke disappeared. The young man then introduced himself as Munakata Souta.
Synopsis and Review Suzume no Tojimari
Furthermore, Souta explained that the red smoke that Suzume saw was a “worm” that could cause disasters, like earthquakes.
Seeing that Souta’s arm was injured after she rescued him, Suzume forces Souta to come to her house for treatment. When he finished treating, Souta told him more about the door, worms, and his job to close the door.
While chatting, suddenly a cat appeared. The cat looked thin and hungry. Suzume then gave the cat some food. Then suddenly the cat spoke and turned Souta into a child’s chair, which he sat on.
Feeling angry, Souta then chased the cat. Unable to believe what she was seeing, Suzume chased after Souta and the cat, who had headed for a ferry headed for Ehime.
The people around were shocked to see the sight of the chair chasing the cat. And the scene was immediately spread in cyberspace.
After being found, the cat again ran away. Suzume and Souta, who were trapped on the ferry that had sailed away, couldn’t do anything about it.
Souta explained that the cat was once a keystone that could prevent worms from coming out. But when the cat is released, the worms can come out.
Arriving at Ehima, feeling guilty, Suzume decides to help Souta find the cat. It didn’t take long for Suzume to find the position of the cat now known as “Daijin” through social media. But on the way to find Daijin, another earthquake occurred.
Suzume and Souta rushed to find a new door that had opened again somewhere. Following the direction of the worm’s exit, they rushed to the place to close the door to prevent an earthquake.
Recounts Suzume’s journey to “Closing the Door.”
The storyline of Suzume no Tojimari is actually quite simple and predictable. Even so, the premise of this film managed to make me drift into the story. Even after watching, the deep impression of this film is still very much felt.
Broadly speaking, this is the story of Suzume’s adventure to find a door and close it. An adventure to prevent an earthquake disaster on earth. Then, in her adventure, Suzume experienced various unexpected events.
Like traveling from one city to another, which is even very far from where he lives in Miyazaki. And on her way, Suzume met many people of various ages and backgrounds.
Even though this film is said to be a fantasy film, quite a lot of action scenes are shown. But not action fighting like action anime. The action scenes in this film are like when Suzume has to run after Souta and Daijin, jump from places, and so on.
Overall, for the storyline, from beginning to end, it feels clear and doesn’t hang. The character development is told very well.
Suzume’s interactions with other characters look very real and fluid. Until finally, Suzume’s journey succeeded in making her grow and develop into a more mature person. Oh yes, in certain scenes, it reminded me of the two previous Makoto Shinkai films.
Like when wearing a uniform and wearing a red rope, this reminds me of the film Kimi no Na Wa. Meanwhile, the scene like rainwater when Suzume and Souta managed to close the door reminded me of the film Weathering with You.
Undoubted Cinematography
Like other Makoto Shinkai films, this one has no doubt about its cinematography. All the visuals look amazing and lively. And in my opinion, this is the film with the best visuals made by Makoto Shinkai so far.
In contrast to several previous films, which only showed in one particular area, In this film, you will see various places in Japan, such as Miyazaki, Ehime, Kobe, Tokyo, and Tohoku.
As usual, Makoto Shinkai got the idea for this film after traveling around Japan. Shinkai said there are many abandoned places in Japan due to disasters and depopulationai said there are many abandoned places in Japan due to disasters and depopulation. So, the abandoned places in this film are real in Japan.
The earthquake and tsunami that occurred in 2011 in Thoku, Japan, became one of the inspirations for making this film. And all the effects of the disaster that happened were successfully described by Shinkai.
In addition, music from Radwimps returns to accompany Makoto Shinkai’s work this time. Having previously filled the soundtrack of the films Your Name and Weathering with You, This time, Radwimps also succeeded in making Suzume no Tojimari feel even more alive.
Famous music composer Kazuma Jinnouchi also joined in on this film project, along with Toaka, a TikTok singer who also contributed his voice to this film, which has a sad scene. So that the cinematography, visuals, storyline, and music come together and produce extraordinary works.
Highly recommended film!
Just like Makoto Shinkai’s other films, this film also gives a very deep message and impression. Many lessons can be drawn from this film. Especially about “closing the door”. And as Makoto Shinkai mentioned in his press conference, starting something is easier than ending it.
This film shows a way to identify the chances that someone looking for something missing will find the right ending. So that new can move forward and actually find a new place.
When watching this film, you will be invited into various emotions. Starting from comedy, happy scenes, a little sweet romance, and sad scenes mixed into one.
And one of the scenes that always manages to give me chills when watching is when Suzume closes the door. A scene that gives the deepest impression in this film for me.
For me, this film is the best film of the year. Even though the film is actually premiering in 2022 in Japan, But since it’s only been shown in Indonesia, this is the best film in 2023.
