Your Name (2016)

Genre: Fantasy/ Romance

Time: 1h 47mins

Director: Makoto Shinkai

Quick Summary: Two teenagers share a profound, magical connection upon discovering they are swapping bodies. Things manage to become even more complicated when the boy and girl decide to meet in person

This is a wonderful film and a brilliant story, and it's such a sweet but also very sad love story.

Let me start with the animation. Stunning. That's the best way to describe it. It's honestly so damn pretty. This is so beautifully and intricately drawn with immaculate attention to detail in the backgrounds and is simply breathtaking but also very full of atmospheric colours, even during some of the more depressing moments I couldn't help but think God this is gorgeous to watch. 

As to the story, admittedly it can be confusing on your first watch but it's nothing that you won't understand by the end of the film. It's perfectly balanced between two different characters even with several interesting side characters, each adding something to the intricacies of the plot and supplying a lot of the light-hearted comedy which I did worry was going to become annoying but actually it was very sweet. 

The pacing is pretty quick I'll admit and I was sad we didn't get to fully see their lives apart from glimpses but I suppose there was a lot to cram into this film. A lot of it is spent during the girl's life and barely in the guys which I was also a bit annoyed about but there is a reason for it. Also, the music in this is brilliant and all of them are bangers.

I think the romance is a little too unusual though because how they interacted feels a little disconnected. Sure they were talking through notes and living each other's lives, but they never actually had time together. It feels more like they liked the idea of each other more than anything. But I will say in contradiction to that, I still found this adorable as they literally tried anything to see each other and fight their way into bringing each other into their lives. I also adore the old folk tale of "Red String Of Fate" and this has a nice fun take on it, along with various elements of red splashed into the film, let alone the literal red string that gets past between the pair. 

Aside from that this is an absolutely gorgeous film with so many emotions crammed into it and urge you to watch it as soon as you can. Even if the ending is predictable and the romance is very unrealistic, it's still very much worth watching. 

8/10