by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $18.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Takeru Satoh, Kaho Nakamura
Intro:
… very touching and resonant …
At a time when Black Mirror remains the dominant pop culture reflection of man’s relationship with technology, and the internet in particular, this film immediately grabs attention by swinging in the opposite direction. The latest cyberspace coming-of-age story from Mamoru Hosoda of Summer Wars and two-thirds of Digimon: The Movie fame, the depiction of the internet here, through the virtual world of U, is among the most inviting ever put to screen. The beautifully rendered 2.5D animation, the sheer scale of the digital world and all its facets, the optimistic tone of the story; this ain’t your daddy’s Hellscape.
Hosoda’s spin on the classic story of Beauty & The Beast bolsters the original’s surface-level prejudices and theme of finding one’s true self, through the story of Suzu and her titular pop idol avatar (acted and sung angelically by Kaho Nakamura). It’s as much about her coming to terms with her own identity as it is about her trying to break through to The Dragon (Takeru Satoh).
In its exploration of the internet as a place for introverts to discover themselves, the writing and visuals have Makoto ‘Your Name’ Shinkai-sized gut-punches lying in wait, showing a breadth of understanding of what can make socialised media such a drag to deal with… but also something that a lot of people need to help them deal with the real world’s vile nonsense. It sticks firmly to the idea of the digital self as a source of empowerment, and through the eyes of Suzu both as an awkward high schooler and as a captivating music star, it’s a most invigorating one.
Much like the Disney version of the story, this is also a musical. Well, in as much as something like Macross Plus could be considered a musical, since they share an equal emphasis on music and song as a means of personal and even communal revelation. Nakamura’s utterly disarming voice combined with the work of Taisei Iwasaki, Ludvig Forssell, Yuta Bandoh, and Miho Sakai creates an enveloping and rapturous soundtrack, one that manages to push the film’s already-monumental levels of emotional engagement even higher.
Belle is one of the most heartrending depictions of the internet in recent memory, not by resorting to trendy cynical nihilism but by showing that it is also capable of the miraculous. It manages to celebrate the good that can take place, but in an honest fashion. It’s a very touching and resonant tribute to those who occupy these screens not to punch others down, but to raise others up, including themselves. They can keep saying this place isn’t real, but the connections we can make within it can be as real as anything.
