But how does Makoto Shinkai, director of Your Name And The Children of Time to renew with each film? The magnificent susume gives the impression that it is reinventing itself by telling the story of a teenager who tries to close magic doors to prevent natural disasters (tsunami, earthquake, etc.) from entering the human world and destroying Japan. It is supported by a crisp animated chair.
“I wanted to make entertainment starting from a sad subject” explains the filmmaker to 20 minutes. That’s why I chose the heroine’s partner to be a cute object that the spectators will love. The handsome boy who was originally tasked with Suzume’s mission is suddenly turned into a chair by a mischievous cat. But not just any chair: a lively three-legged seat, which is a find as the director manages to make it expressive.
A childhood memory
“It came from two things,” he recalls. My own childhood, first, when my father made me a chair with his own hands, giving me the impression that I had my own room. But also Luxo, the animated lamp that serves as Pixar’s logo and has influenced animators around the world. Makoto Shikai transforms this trivial object into a real hero whose feelings appear clearly to the viewer. “I didn’t do anything exceptional,” he insists, modestly. I just used normal 3D animation, everything happens in the mind of the viewer. »
We believe the chair is endowed with life when it hops to chase the tomcat that gave it this impractical shape or when it falls asleep in a position evoking a child falling asleep. “The chair only has three legs because that makes it more appealing when it moves,” says Makoto Shinkai. This gives him a very interesting unbalanced movement to animate. It also shows that we can survive even when we are missing something, which is also the case of Suzume who lost her mother. »
Guillermo del Toro conquered
Suzume and his companion of adventures won the hearts of the Asian public who made them triumph at the box office both in Japan and in China or South Korea. This animated little gem evokes the resilience of its characters in an epic and poetic way. “I added a touch of feminism to it, perhaps because I’m the father of a daughter,” admits the filmmaker. This completes making susume a great film appreciated, among others, by Guillermo del Toro.