QUICK’N DIRTY: LIVE FROM BERLIN

Stylistically, this is a genuinely inventive and exuberant movie blending countless techniques. The character are hand drawn, while the forests in the background look like Monet’s Water Lilies with watercolour paint. Stop-motion is thrown in for extra textures, often sharing not just the scene but also the frame with the other types of animation. Computer graphics help to render the fireworks more impressive. Real-life nature stills and a human hand add yet another layer of beauty. The music score is truly exceptional. It smoothly blends minimalistic electronica with multilayered sound effects and gentle strings.

On the other hand, the plot of this 76-minute anime film is so convoluted that it often slips into incomprehensibility. This is neither a non-narrative nor a wilfully ambiguous film. And this has nothing to do with language barrier and subtitling. This is the direct and unfortunate consequence of poor scriptwriting. It is extremely difficult to write an outline of A New Dawn without reading a long synopsis and/or press notes. The two following paragraphs are based on my own recollections of the film, however supported by external literature.

Map specialist Kaoru Shikimori (voiced by Kotone Furukawa) travels from Tokyo to her native Niura City, where the traditional Niura Fireworks Festival is held annually. There she meets with old friend Chicchi (Miyu Irino), who works for the city’s mayor. She learns that the Japanese government has scheduled the demolition of a disused fireworks factory. The business was fully operational for more than three centuries, and so the building is filled with figurative ghosts of the past.

Devoted employee Keitaro Obinato (voiced by Riku Hagiwara), which also happens to be Chicci’s bother, still lives and toils inside the impressive facilities. The environment is surrounded by verdant forests and splendid blue skies. He is preparing a major firework display entitled “shuhari”. But the authorities have other plans for the closed-down building, with Keitaro’d imminent eviction the well underway. Ultimately, it is the mighty forces of nature that prevail. The public institutions and the characters have to adapt their plans accordingly.

The topic of natural disasters is a recurring one in Japanese cinema. The final scenes of A New Dawn are evocative of both their destructive power and their inspirational potential. The images of the typhoon will linger in your mind. Sadly, the predicament of the Keitaro and Shuhari is unlikely to have the same fate. It is very difficult to appreciate a film in its full splendour if the story is so clumsily fragmented.

A New Dawn just premiered in the Official Competition of the 76th Berlinale.