Summary
Yamada Naoko’s latest is a spin-off to Sound! Euphonium, but it works incredibly well as a standalone piece. This very touching film will be familiar territory to anybody who endured high school.
Kyoto Animation have produced some cult classic series and films over the last few decades, from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and K-On!! to last year’s beautiful and impressionistic A Silent Voice. In LIZ AND THE BLUE BIRD, the studio spins-off from their Sound! Euphonium anime by concentrating on the relationship between two characters. Yet viewers completely new to the world will also find a lot of adore in this introspective gem.
Creator Ayano Takeda and writer Reiko Yoshida structure this story around popular flautist Nozomi Kasaki (Nao Toyama) and the withdrawn oboist Mizore Yoroizuka (Atsumi Tanezaki). Selected to play the titular “Liz and the Blue Bird” as their senior competition piece, the once close friends display a disjointed style during practice. As talk of college plans grow, so does the distance between the two girls on the cusp of adulthood.
“I wanted this movie to be like two girls dancing,” commented director Naoko Yamada (A Silent Voice) in a press statement. “The flutter of an eye, an intake of breath, hair swaying like a pendulum.” From the near-wordless opening sequence, as Mizore is almost umbilically tethered to Naoko as she follows her through the streets and hallways of their closed-world existence. Seasons pass and still they are linked, telling us everything we need to know about these characters before a word is spoken.
As we follow the two girls on their journey of self-discovery, Yamada intercuts the Mizore/Naoko narrative with the story behind the titular track. Animated in a more stripped-back and lyrical style, it’s like having a late-era Ghibli film in the middle of a Kyoto joint. The story of the young Liz and her friendship with a blue-haired girl mirrors the journey the two leads are going through.
Yamada’s A Silent Voice was one of the truest depictions of the inner turmoil of youth, using a unique visual storytelling approach that reflected on teenage interactions, bullying and the notion of self-worth. LIZ AND THE BLUE BIRD is no less powerful, with the director deftly switching her gaze to the intensity of pre-college life for two young women.
Building to a massive emotional climax, Yamada cements her reputation as a sharply observational filmmaker who gets straight to the heart and minds of her characters. It may not get the massive attention of some of the other Japanese animated releases this year, but make sure you spend some time with this alternatively enchanting and touching story.
2018 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Naoko Yamada | WRITERS: Ayano Takeda, Reiko Yoshida | CAST: Nao Toyama, Atsumi Tanezaki | DISTRIBUTOR: Kyoto Animation (JPN), Eleven Arts (US) | RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 9 November 2018 (US)
