Mirai 未来のミライ (2018)

Mirai (2018)

Written and Directed by Mamoru Hosoda

Rated PG

           My family and I observed on the way home from the cinema that there seems to be more films coming out, animated or otherwise, that focus on not just the family but also extending to ancestors and understanding one’s place in family history. I know these sorts of films have been becoming more frequent in smaller Christian independent films, but it can only be a good thing if it is spilling into major Hollywood productions. As far as the Japanese are concerned, they have always had ancestor veneration in their culture and it would naturally spill over into their art. Mirai, the latest from Mamoru Hosoda, is another in a line of films to discuss the importance of family and it ranks as one of his best.

We're absolutely delighted to reveal that Mamoru Hosoda's latest film MIRAI is coming to cinemas across Australia August 23! Blending time-travel antics with delicate family dynamics, MIRAI is a brilliant film that tells the heartfelt story of a child struggling to cope with the arrival of a new sibling.

           While the trailers tell us that the story involves a very young boy, named Kun, having his younger sister from the future (the titular Mirai, a name that means future in Japanese) visit him in order to help him change his behavior, the story is more complex, far reaching and poignant. It also extends to the theme that your parents and your grandparents and their hardships growing up, whether they directly affect you or not, make up who you are and that you belong somewhere. Kun is taken on a journey in stages to different points in his family’s life from his Mom to his Great-Grandfather and even to the dog that they keep in the house to understand that his feelings of insecurity and resistance to change may not be so different from that of his family at various stages of their lives. But the biggest part of that journey for Kun is accepting that he is the older brother of Mirai and he must be good to her.

           The film captures how children behave very well. From Kun’s temper tantrums, random bursts of playfulness to other endearing traits present in very young children, Hosoda captures them perfectly and likely because he has own children or just understands them very well. But even the adults are given a great opportunity to shine. The conversations between the Mom and Dad (they’re not given names as Kun doesn’t know them), the grandparents and other adults feel authentic to give you enough information about them as individuals and give glimpses as to what their upbringing was like to make them the kind of parents they are. The mother’s in particular is pretty revealing.

           The narrative is akin to Hosoda’s 2012 Wolf Children where it is a slice of life tale involving a family and the challenges that come with growing up that just happens to have supernatural elements to it. And like Wolf Children, the fantastical elements don’t choke out what the film is trying to convey, nor does it exhaust the audience with a constant barrage of images. The structure feels loose as in it doesn’t follow a traditional dramatic structure one would find in other films animated or otherwise but there is still a natural progression of events as it follows what Kun learns and as he learns so does the audience.

           It goes without saying that the film is gorgeous in just about every department imaginable and further established Mamoru Hosoda as a true master in the realm of animated storytelling. Hosoda manages to merge hand drawn animation with CG to where it doesn’t stick out or become too distracting. He also avoids the clichéd troupes commonly found in Japanese animation and makes the audience forget they are looking at cartoons fabricated in ink, paint and CGI and we begin to see them as characters. We grow to care about them and that is hard to pull off but Hosoda does it so naturally he makes it look easy. It also helps that while his films focuses on families, he’s not repetitive. He looks for new ways to tell stories about families in both visual and narrative departments.

           I have avoided talking too much about the story because I want everyone to see this themselves and get form their own thoughts on it. I saw this with my sister and Mother and we all discovered that we thought about this film more and more a day or so after the viewing and it got better the more we thought about it. The film’s themes of one’s place in their family and how it shapes who they are (in good ways) is needed today and although in short supply now, there seem to be more coming. Last year’s superb Coco is a great example of that. Studios like Studio Ghibli, Studio Chizu (which is Mamoru Hosoda’s studio), Pixar (who have had a few misses but have an otherwise superb track record) and even Cartoon Saloon are providing superb alternatives to the stale Disney formula that can not only delight children and adults but also have them leave the screening with something to ponder.

Mirai earns my highest recommendation and is one of the best of 2018.

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