Rapid Response: Weathering With You (Patreon)

Probably my favourite film of recent years was Makoto Shinkai's Your Name, one of those films that just got to me and which I was still thinking about weeks after I saw it, so I was really excited to watch his new film, Weathering With You, about a girl who can make the sun shine.
Structurally, this is pretty similar to Your Name, and I think for that reason it surprised me less. On the other hand, it's a really effective structure, Shinkai creates characters that you really fall in love with and then threatens them - not necessarily with death, but with sadness - so you are incredibly invested in the conclusion. Both films deal with big, earth-changing events, but as viewers we only really care about the outcome for the central characters, and that's great writing. So many films we review want to do that but I always end up thinking; why would I care about these jerks when the fate of the world is at stake?
It probably goes without saying that the film is gorgeous, the backgrounds are beautiful and I cannot imagine how long animator's spent creating the rain effects (it's raining in virtually every scene). I also think the teen romance is very well-handled; awkward and tentative and very affecting.
Overall, it didn't have quite the same effect on me as Your Name - perhaps because it was too similar - but I still enjoyed it, I still laughed, I came close to tears (Your Name broke me) and I would definitely recommend it. That said, watch Your Name first because viewing one will affect how you see the other, and Your Name is the better film, the premise is that bit more perfectly tailored to the story and the character interactions are that bit better.  rb