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The gloomiest weather would seem like rain. It’s wet, cold, and unwelcoming. A setting like that brings despair in many films. Weathering With You utilizes the rain not only to drive the story, but to bring a tense atmosphere that the audience can only notice once the sun comes out.
Weathering With You follows an adolescent named Hodaka, heading out for Tokyo to follow his dream of freedom and opportunity. Already, this setup could seem like a young mind heading for the big apple for opportunity, only to realize it isn’t as thrilling as they once believed. Hodaka discovers this through money shortages, unwelcoming people, and time on the street. His ray of hope comes from a girl named Hina: the Sunshine Girl. The downpour of rain throughout Japan has lasted for almost a year. However, there have been sections of sunlight, made possible through Hina’s prayers.
All this information can be found through the trailers online, so I will keep quiet about the lore of this beautiful film. What had caught my attention in the first place was the beautiful visuals. Never before has rain and a gloomy atmosphere invoked beauty, mainly through lifeforms made out of rain or a spot of sun breaking through grim clouds. This movie is a love story between two young teens and their difficult decision that changes the world of the film.
Unfortunately, the film faltered in the west due to its origins and locations. Many theaters were not showing the movie. The film was released January 17th of 2020. By the middle of February, the movie has disappeared from Pittsburgh theaters. It became an effort to find the correct theater.
Despite the lack of footage, there is a book of Weathering With You by Makoto Shinkai in Barnes and Nobel. It is an engrossing tale between growing youths. While the art of film expresses this more effectively, the literary form thrives through the unfiltered thought process of Hodaka.
