zdurgan - 2015-04-20 20:36:42

A beautiful and hearttouching story about a lost war and especially the time afterwards and all the positive and negative emotions and actions that may be involved. And life goes on. Tears guaranteed.

psipes - 2014-08-23 06:27:49

This Production I.G. film tells the story of two boys on a small island in Japan at the end of WW II, and depicts what happens when it is occupied by the Soviet Union. It's directed by Mizuho Nishikubo, who has had an extremely long industry presence, if not an especially extensive one. It opens with some rather ugly CGI during the framing device, but once the story proper begins, it's a very aesthetically appealing film. The backgrounds have a lush and roughly-painted, comfortable look to them. Combined with the very three-dimensional camera work, it creates a sort of pop-up book feel at times. The characters are all very stylized and lend themselves well to expressive animation, which the film has plenty of. Nishikubo gives the film a very confident and precise directorial hand, and for the most part understands how to let the visuals speak for themselves, with the dialogue as a complement, not a substitute for meaningful imagery. There are several moments of pure sakuga joy which I would probably count as some of the best individual scenes in anime.

As a story, though, Giovanni's Island is essentially two tales in one. Weaved throughout both are constant allusions and references to Night on the Galactic Railroad and its two protagonists, for whom the two main characters in this story are named. I imagine being more familiar with that book could add something to the experience, but it's not strictly necessary. It's easy enough to understand the meaning of the symbolism in the film itself. In the first story, we see the effects of the Soviet occupation on the island and the people in it. In particular, the growing relationship between protagonist Junpei and the lonely Tanya, the daughter of the Soviet Commander who is living in Junpei's house. This is easily the strongest part of the film, with the interaction between the shy Junpei and the friendly, teasing Tanya painting a very believable and involving portrait of adolescent infatuation, the confusion of hormones heightened by the very difficult situation Junpei, his family, and his village find themselves in. It ends in a believably heartbreaking manner, although that isn't the end of the film.

The second part of the movie deals with Junpei and his village being relocated to Russian internment camps, and sadly this part was much weaker than the first. There are a number of strong individual scenes, and the production quality is no less than before, but the contrived and unbelievable, not to mention stupid, actions of the characters in this part left me more angry than sad when the inevitable happened, which I don't feel was the intent. I rather wish they had expanded the first part of the story into a complete film, which would have been very easy to do, and could have provided much stronger overall character arcs. I recognize what they were going for, but it was just more frustrating than effective.

Overall, it's a very beautiful and well-directed film which is a rewrite or two away from being a true timeless classic.