{"id":36035,"date":"2019-12-12T14:37:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T14:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=36035"},"modified":"2019-12-12T14:37:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T14:37:35","slug":"weathering-with-makoto-shinkai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/weathering-with-makoto-shinkai\/","title":{"rendered":"Weathering with Makoto Shinkai"},"content":{"rendered":"

BFI Southbank held an early screening of the Japanese animated film Weathering With you<\/em>, followed by a Q&A with Makoto Shinkai, who directed and wrote the film\u2019s script.<\/p>\n

Weathering with You<\/em> is set in a Tokyo that is experiencing months of non-stop rain. A teenage boy named Hodaka runs away to the perpetually rainy megapolis to escape the monotony of rural life. He discovers and befriends an orphan girl who has the magical ability to summon brief spells of sunshine at will.<\/p>\n

Makoto Shinkai is best known for being the director and scriptwriter of the widely acclaimed Japanese animated film Your Name<\/em>. Your Name<\/em> was the highest-grossing anime film of all time at the time of its release in 2016, and was only knocked off its perch to 2nd place in 2019 when Studio Ghibli re-released its 2001 classic Spirited Away<\/em> in China. Your Name<\/em> remains the 8th highest grossing traditionally animated film, outgrossing traditionally animated classics like Disney\u2019s Bambi<\/em> and Cinderella<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Weathering With you<\/em>, which has already been released in Japan on the 19th of July this year, is also on track to become an international blockbuster hit. Weathering with You<\/em> is currently the 6th highest-grossing anime film of all time and the 28th highest grossing traditionally animated film. Weathering with You<\/em> is also the Japanese submission for the 92nd Academy Awards International Feature Film category.<\/p>\n

During the Q&A, Shinkai confirmed rumours that Star Wars J.J. Abrams will produce a live-action version of Your Name<\/em>. Shinkai mentioned that he visited J.J. Abrams about \u201ctwo months ago\u201d. Abrams told him that he \u201ccouldn\u2019t believe that\u201d the two directors were \u201cdoing a simultaneous release around the world in two months time\u201d. Shinkai said that Abrams’ comment was \u201cvery reassuring\u201d for him because \u201cwe\u2019re all the same\u201d.<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HIUb8aaL8xw&w=560&h=315]<\/p>\n

When asked if he trusts Abrams with the responsibility of producing the live-action remake of Your Name<\/em>, Shinkai replied that Abrams and his team are \u201ctalented people\u201d and he is \u201clooking forward to seeing what they do with it\u201d and see how it turns out as a live-action film\u201d Shinkai added \u201cI don\u2019t know if it will turn out well or not\u201d but he is \u201cinterested to see the outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PXTJxjX2Vk4&w=560&h=315]<\/p>\n

As Weathering with You<\/em> is set in a Tokyo that experiences non-stop rain, Shinkai was asked if London\u2019s notoriously gloomy weather served as an inspiration for the film, as the Japanese director had lived in London for a year in 2008. Shinkai replied that he didn\u2019t remember London’s weather being this \u201cdark and cold\u201d since he last visited 3 years ago.<\/p>\n

Shinkai did say that the main inspiration for the film is the current climate crisis, as Japan gets heavier rains and more flooding every summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past the seasons in Japan has always been gentle and beautiful, and you\u2019ve always looked forward to the next season, but I feel like in the last few years rather than looking forward to the next season, you have to prepare yourself for it, you have to prepare for the cold, you have to prepare for the heat, or for the disasters that it might bring.\u201d<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Sk5VI0FmAIY&w=560&h=315]<\/p>\n

However, Shinkai insists that he was not trying to send \u201ca political message\u201d about global warming. Rather, he wanted to \u201cshow young people today living in this crazy world where things have gone out of control that they are not just sitting there and complaining about it, but are getting on with their lives, laughing and loving\u201d.<\/p>\n

Weathering with You will be released in the UK on 17 January 2020.<\/p>\n

Words, pictures and video by Nicholas Foo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BFI Southbank held an early screening of the Japanese animated film Weathering With you, followed by a Q&A with Makoto Shinkai, who directed and wrote the film\u2019s script. Weathering with You is set in a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":36055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,23,42,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-celebrity","category-entertainment","category-film-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}