Originally published October 4, 2017. Updated July 1, 2018.
The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl, 2017.
Directed by Masaaki Yuasa.
Featuring the voice talents of Kana Hanazawa, Gen Hoshino, Aoi Yūki, Hiroshi Kamiya, and Junichi Suwabe.
SYNOPSIS:
The animated story of a girl and her admirer as they spend a surreal night of drinking, partying and searching for each other…
A wild ride through a strange and surreal dream landscape, Night is Short, Walk on Girl is a beautiful and compelling viewing experience.
Masaaki Yuasa’s (Mind Game, The Tatami Galaxy) first theatrical release for fourteen years is a wild ride indeed. Following the graceful and determined Girl with Black Hair (Kana Hanazawa) as she artfully navigates the abstract absurdities of Kyoto nightlife, the film is a joyful lesson in extremities. Extreme drinking, extreme eating and extreme visualisations of life at play all show up in a seismic bolt of anime.
Powering her way through drinking contests, pub crawls and often incorporating the ‘sophism dance’ – blending philosophy with outlandish dance moves – the Girl displays absolute glee at the wealth of experiences on offer. At the margins of this life however, there is the Senpai (Gen Hoshino), a young man enthralled and overwhelmingly in love with her. The main question of the story is can she recognise that the reason he keeps appearing nearby is not mere coincidence but is because he is truly enamoured of her?
The masterfully fluid and striking animation will appeal to fans of Yuasa and newcomers alike, but the story itself adapted from a novel by Morimi is also memorable. With its cast of players such as Don Underwear who could never bear to change his pants until he is reunited with the love of his life, a wizened old money-lender convinced of the meaningless of life and a carp farmer desperately flogging erotic art to clear his many debts, the plot is an odd sideways examination of life on the edges. It is also a sweet, funny and psychedelically weird story that brings layer upon layer of different things to discover about anime and Kyoto itself.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert W Monk is a freelance journalist and film writer.
