New Trailer For Mamoru Hosoda's BELLE

Eleven years ago, Japanese writer-director Mamoru Hosoda made what is in my opinion one of the best films of this century, animated or other: Summer Wars. In it, he showed, with flair, a fairly prophetic tale of the impact widespread social media were about to have on our lives. It told of the value of both traditional and modern networks, choosing neither over the other, and wrapped it in an adventurous package with a romantic ribbon. I love it and still consider it to be his best film (though The Wolf Children and Mirai may have picked up more awards).

So I eagerly await his new film, as he returns to the world of social media platforms. In Belle, a schoolgirl suddenly becomes a popular performer on a sprawling global platform, but soon finds out her virtual fame can lead to real danger. This time Hosoda seems to focus on influencers and their followers, and by the looks of it he's pulled all the stops. For this production his studio teamed up with several animation giants, like Tomm Moore of Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers fame, and Jim Kim who worked on Frozen.

There's a new trailer out so you can see for yourself how great it looks.
Belle will see its world première in Japan on July 16th.