[Categories: OAVs, Movies and Full Series]
Voices of a Distant Star
Yeah, I know I’d reviewed it before but I wasn’t too happy with the way it read for some reason. It’s also a slow day so I might as well post up another oldie, but apparently 5cm Per Second will be released Stateside at the end of the year so I guess it’s kinda relevant.
The idea of love traversing the infinite distance of outer space is a particularly well-used one in the realms of animated science fiction. From the seminal Super Dimensional Fortress Macross to the heart-tugging Gainax OAV Gunbuster and many others before and since, viewers have seen countless couples separated by the consequences of intergalactic warfare so the premise of Makoto Shinkai’s Voices of a Distant Star is hardly an original one. Furthermore the entire OAV is little more than 25 minutes in length - scarcely enough time for a film to realise its full potential.
A walk by the railway
I know it’s unusual for me to outline the shortcomings of a feature before mentioning its plus points or even a plot synopsis, but the merits of Voices of a Distant Star must be viewed with these criticisms in mind. Shinkai famously animated it on his own using Lightwave and a Mac so writing it off as being too short or a little amateurish when placed beside the likes of Madhouse and I.G. is unfair to say the least. Taking a less sympathetic view though, can it be enjoyed as a movie without using its humble origins as an excuse for its limitations?
Noboru’s agonising wait
That question is fortunately easy to answer. Voices…looks, with only one or two jarring moments, utterly beautiful. Sure, the animation doesn’t quite measure up to bigger budget productions but it’s still polished and fluid enough: even in the action scenes in which the heroine Mikako is aboard her mecha and fighting the invading aliens, it puts some more recent made-for-TV efforts to shame (I’m looking at you, Gonzo). Shinkai’s forte as an animator lies in his ability to use lighting effects to convey feelings and situations, which is a useful device when screentime is short such as it is here. The way sunlight falls on an empty classroom, or the breaks in clouds after rain, are rendered with breathtaking professionalism; the skylines in particular verge on the photorealistic.
The trademark Shinkai Sunset
The visual side of things was enough to catapult Shinkai into the limelight but what I think is an equally admirable achievement is how it is used in the characterisation. Mikako and Noboru are the only characters in the piece but we are clearly shown the awkwardness found in the beginnings of first love, before time and space that separates them. The core idea that the film is founded on, that of the two protagonists relying on sending e-mail to one another by mobile phone, is a simple one but the trick is in the execution. Considering many teenagers today exchange innane and trivial nonsense by moronic ‘txt speak’ on mobiles and IM, it’s strangely fitting that Mikako and Noboru use the same medium to make much more meaningful conversation and keep hold of something much more precious.
Mikako on the front line
The overall message of the movie is ‘love conquers all’ - as Mikako travels at lightspeed to fight the Tarsians, Noboru mentally braces himself for the wait prior to her return. The messages, which take longer to arrive as the distance increases, start off as typical correspondance but soon reflect how the separation draws their respective feelings sharply into focus. In the face of an undeniable reality, that of the millions of miles between them, both simultaneously declare that even this cannot change another undeniable fact which takes on a whole deeper meaning: the final, tearjerking, “I am here.”
In Summary
Voices of a Distant Star cannot be dismissed merely as a short advertisment or showcase for the talents of its creator: despite its compressed narrative and ‘home grown’ visual style it is a classic in its own right. The first time I saw this I was deeply moved by the eye-watering artwork and thoughtful portrayal of the characters’ situations; repeated viewings don’t seem to dull its power in the slightest.
Posted on August 27th, 2007 @ 12:40 am
Don’t forget the background music; I believe that TENMON and Shinkai are a perfect match for each other. Shinkai’s work would probably lose a bit without those simple piano melodies supporting the films in the background. Plus Shinkai has a knack with timing the sequences of scenes to the music to great effect; I read elsewhere a description of that it’s as if Shinkai made a shorter music video, then expanded it.
In truth, I have little clue of Shinkai’s real approach to creating movies, but I found this to be an interesting observation.
Posted on August 27th, 2007 @ 9:30 pm
@Nick: Ah, a fellow Shinkai fan!
Yeah, I love the contributions Tenmon makes to his movies. He/she (they?) adds much to the charm - that violin piece in Place Promised… is spectacular, and Pale Coccoon owes much to this movie’s conclusion, with Hello Tiny Star in the background. Awesome!
Posted on August 30th, 2007 @ 10:24 am
Well, I became a Makoto Shinkai fan with this short movie, and even though his newer works (Kumo and 5cm) look better, the emotional impact that Voices of a Distant Star had on me could not be surpassed. It’s just beautiful by the simpleness of the story. It’s mainly a personal thing, but Voices of a Distant Star also is the only animated (and only japanese) movie in my favourite movies list so it stands above all other anime movies and series I’ve ever seen.
Posted on August 30th, 2007 @ 9:56 pm
@Sasa: I think that because this was the first time Shinkai made use of his ‘love traversing time and space’ it will always hold a lot of meaning, but above all else it’s the brevity and simplicity that makes it pack such a punch. I don’t cite it as my favourite of his but it as great ‘rewatchability’ for some reason and I still hold it up in my top 20-25.