NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Makoto Shinkai was never the same filmmaker after the .
When the tsunami and quake ravaged the T艒hoku region of northern Japan and prompted a nuclear meltdown, Shinkai, a now 50-year-old director and animator of some of the most popular anime features in the world, could feel his sense of storytelling crumbling.
鈥淭he shock to me was that the daily life that we had become accustomed to in Japan can suddenly be severed without any warning whatsoever,鈥� says Shinkai. 鈥淚 had this odd, foreboding feeling that that could happen again and again. I began to think about how I wanted to tell stories within this new reality.鈥�
The three blockbusters that have followed by Shinkai 鈥� and the new release 鈥淪uzume鈥� 鈥� have each tethered hugely emotional tales to ecological disaster. In 鈥淵our Name,鈥� a meteor threatens to demolish a village, an event that dovetails with a body-switching romance. In 鈥淲eathering With You,鈥� a runaway teenage boy befriends a Tokyo girl who can control the weather, spawning fluctuations that mirror climate change.
which opens in U.S. theaters Friday, returns to . Suzume, whose mother perished in the tsunami, years later meets a mysterious young man responsible for racing to close portals 鈥� literal doorways that appear around Japan 鈥� before they unleash a giant, earthquake-causing worm.
鈥淲ith these three films, I didn鈥檛 set out to make a disaster movie. I wanted to tell a love story, a romance, a coming-of-age of an adolescent girl,鈥� Shinkai said on a recent trip to New York, speaking through an interpreter. 鈥淎s I continued to make the plot, this idea of disaster kept creeping in. Suddenly, I felt surrounded in my daily life by disaster. It鈥檚 like a door that keeps opening.鈥�
Shinkai has emerged as one of cinema鈥檚 most imaginative filmmakers of contemporary cataclysm. His movies aren鈥檛 just about surviving apocalypse, though, but living with its omnipresent threat. And it鈥檚 made him one of the biggest box-office draws in movies.
After it was released in 2016, 鈥淵our Name鈥� became the then-best-selling anime of all time, dethroning Hayao Miyazaki鈥檚 beloved 鈥淪pirited Away鈥� with nearly $400 million in ticket sales. 鈥淲eathering With You鈥� made nearly $200 million. Before opening in North America, 鈥淪uzume鈥� has already crossed $200 million, including $100 million in Japan and nearly that in China. It鈥檚 easily the biggest international release of the year so far in China, more than doubling the sales of 鈥淎nt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.鈥�
Much of that success is owed to Shinkai鈥檚 earnest grappling with today鈥檚 ecological upheaval in sprawling epics that are filtered through everyday life. National trauma mixes with supernatural fantasy. While Japan has been home to many extreme geological events, it鈥檚 a tension that most in the world can increasingly connect with.
鈥淚t can be anything: earthquakes, climate change, the pandemic. Russia and Ukraine, for an example,鈥� says Shinkai. 鈥淭his idea that our daily life will continue to maintain the status quo should be set aside and challenged.鈥�
Shinkai, who writes and directs his films, has become convinced that young people shouldn鈥檛 be pandered to with stories where the natural world is heroically returned to balance, calling such approaches 鈥渆gotistic and irresponsible.鈥� Instead, his disasters take on metaphorical meaning for young protagonists who learn to persist, and find joy, in a world of perpetual danger, shadowed by loss.
His latest, which was l in two decades, is a road movie where the 17-year-old Suzume (voiced by Nanoka Hara) travels from the the southwestern island of Kyushu with that mysterious young man, Souta (Hokuto Matsumura), who happens to get transformed into a three-legged chair while closing a portal.
As a wooden sidekick, Souta recalls a Miyazaki side character like the hopping scarecrow of But Shinkai, who鈥檚 often been cited as among the heirs to Miyazaki, says his film is no homage. But he grants Miyazaki鈥檚 influence is so pervasive in Japanese society that it seeps into everything. He imagines Suzume, herself, grew up on his films.
Shinkai liked the symbolism of a chair, something we use every day. His father made him one as a child. While promoting 鈥沦耻锄耻尘别,鈥� just like the one in the movie, , bringing it with him on stage and occasionally taking pictures of it at places like or the
鈥淚鈥檝e picked very daily items 鈥� a door, a chair 鈥� that are perhaps relatable to a wide range of audiences,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his symbolism of the door, I think people are able to translate to their own story. We start thinking about: How do we maintain our daily routine?鈥�
Shinkai is known for photorealistic panoramas of glittering splendor. As much as doorways make up the iconography of 鈥沦耻锄耻尘别,鈥� the most indelible image is one he uses at the beginning and end of the film. Suzume rides her bike on a steep hill with a sparkling ocean set behind her. The waters below, which to her could signify the tsunami that left her an orphan, are at once gorgeous and perilous.
鈥淚n a weird way, I feel that with 鈥榊our Name鈥� and 鈥榃eathering With You鈥� and 鈥楽uzume鈥� that I鈥檓 creating this sort of folklore or mythology,鈥� Shinkai says. 鈥淚n mythology or these ancient legends, what they鈥檙e doing is taking real-life events and transforming it into a story that can relayed to others.鈥�
Whether Shinkai will continue on this quest in his next film he doesn鈥檛 know. It鈥檚 a blank slate, he says. But he doesn鈥檛 close the door.
鈥淎s I continue to make more stories,鈥� he says, smiling, 鈥渢hat door might start creaking open again.鈥�
___
Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at:
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
