Fantasia 2010: MAI MAI MIRACLE Review

[Our thanks to Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau of Panorama Cinema for the following review, and Maude Michaud for the translation.]

Many people have mentioned it: Sunao Katabuchi's style is incredibly reminiscent of Japan's animation master, Hayao Miyazaki. The comparison is not accidental; Katabuchi has worked as a scriptwriter and assistant director for Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli before directing his first film in 2001, Princesse Arete, produced by 4°C (Mind Game, Tekkon Kinkreet). There are many similarities between the two filmmakers: the drawing style that is both minimalist and refined, and the choice of colors that are slightly faded, but immediately recognizable. However, Katabuchi and Miyazaki are not only aesthetically similar; Mai Mai Miracle is also highly reminiscent of the 1988 classic Totoro. Both films chronicle childhood adventures and the "magic" that resides in this naïve outlook. In the former film, nature becomes fantastic; in this film it is the story that resides beneath the surface that has a life of its own as it is so aptly represented using animation.

In this feature film, we follow the many adventure of Shinko, a whimsical young girl living in a small country town South-West of Tokyo; her outlook of life becomes ours in this film as the screen becomes the designated space where her wildest dreams come true. It is 1955, but Shinko can't help but imagine what her land was like thousands of years ago. Both eras coexist in her mind: history blends with the present. When Kiiko, a shy young girl, moves to town with her father from the big city, Shinko's world will be slightly shaken up. It's only a matter of time before Shinko initiates Kiiko to her different way of seeing the world, which ends up helping Kiiko adapt to her new life. As the girls explore the surrounding fields, rivers and caves, the film reminds us of a nostalgic time from our childhood when the real could easily merge with our imaginary desires.   

However, despite its good intentions and beautiful moments, Mai Mai Miracle does not manage to completely convince us. Too many elements become intertwined without really having a clear connecting thread. Many small details in the form highlight this problem; narration keeps switching between the two characters, thus reinforcing the idea that the filmmaker does not seem to know where the focus of his story is. A great directing style, which visually shows the dreams of the main character quickly drawn on a classic canvas, disappears halfway through the film only to reappear one last time during the last act without apparent reason. This lack of consistency, even if it seems quite banal, undermines the screenplay and doesn't manage to convince us of the importance of linking the past to the present. The idea might be moving, but feels a bit forced. 

The concept of the film might spark complex reflections about reality; however the discourse is reduced to a simplistic moral explained by one of the characters in the conclusion. "Everybody is nice" in the universe of Mai Mai Miracle and the music serves to reinforce that idea with its piano melodies and soft vocals. Darkness is not allowed in this world: the father is nice, the class' lout is nice, the prostitute who pushed a cop to commit suicide has a nice side, the violent yakuza is also nice... Only life itself seems cruel: the mother is dead, the gold fish dies and the grand-father will die when winter comes. This summary also denotes the episodic nature of the story which never fully achieves the desired fluidity between past and present. It seems there are pieces missing in Katabuchi's film, and that what was meant to be ethereal and poetic ends up coming across as strange disruptions in the film's narrative structure.

Punctuated by melodramatic moments, Mai Mai Miracle has an overall bittersweet tone that becomes slightly tiresome as the story unfolds. The constant repetition of the "sad, but nice" motive tests the limit of our appreciation of the film, which is a shame because if he refined a bit his skills, Sunao Katabuchi could have proved to be a worthy heir of Miyazaki's style. Despite its undeniable aesthetic qualities, Mai Mai Miracle feels more like a demo of professional skills than a vibrant cinematic experience. It is an undeniably good and moving film; but still feels like it's too caught-up in its own quest for human resonance that it lacks honesty. Even if the directing plays down the tragic elements of the script, we are still left with the slight feeling that we have been manipulated; which is something that Miyazaki, as a master of his art, would have never allowed.

Review by Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau