Highly original, creative, and emotionally effective

Rating: 10/10 (27 February 2019)

Your Name. starts off treading familiar romantic comedy grounds with a slight magical realism twist that anime fans would also find familiar. But the lighthearted love story that it promises takes a second-act left turn into Kafkaesque territory with sudden plot twists and reveals that create incredible emotional weight and dramatic tension. The characters are well developed, the story is sophisticated, and the themes of gender, trust, and love as a connective force are handled deftly if sometimes unsubtly. It's weird enough that it won't win over anime skeptics and others might criticize the way it plays with narrative structure, but it deserves consideration as the best film of 2016.