At its heart a love story yet managing to encompass so much more

Rating: Null/10 (25 June 2017)

I was not familiar with Makoto Shinkai prior to this film, but having watched it I want to go and explore everything he has ever made. Because this film is easily on par with the best I've ever seen from Japan. The visuals, the characters, the depth of storytelling, the outlandishness of the central idea.
The story goes that two Japanese teenagers, one a country girl longing for Tokyo and the other a city boy searching for a direction in life, start to exchange places as they go to sleep. The girl inhabits the boy's body for a day and vice versa. And as they try to solve and understand this mystery, the oddest possible long distance romance starts to bloom.
And if that was all, it would be a lovely movie in its own right. The characters of Mitsuha and Taki are both excellently realized. They both act and react to this amazing situation very realistically and are both filled with personality. And it's not romance at first glance. How could it be? They clash, they argue, they mess with each other's lives. But from that fire an understanding starts to emerge and in the end you totally buy that these two would be perfect for one another. One of the best on-screen romances I've ever seen.
But the thing is, the movie is so much more than that. It's about the life in the rural Japan versus that in the city. It's about being young and undecided. It's about friendships and those long summers before a major shift in your life. They even throw in a great action mystery towards the end, without it in any way taking away from the central story. Quite the opposite in fact. The mystery actually explains and solves many of the seeming inconsistencies in the story.
Plus the visuals, the score, all the technicals. Superb, grand, majestic. Studio Ghibli will always be my favourite for its old time charm and the beauty of its hand-drawn craft, but Shinkai comes as close to that impossible standard as it is possible to come with computers.
Though, if I had to nitpick, I would wonder why the film needs a pop song number in the middle of it. But that's the only crack the film has. The only one.
Your Name is a wonderful film. It takes numerous strings, plots and characters and seemingly without effort weaves from them a story that is as true and will remain as true as the life it's imitating. Highly recommended for all.