Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011)

Children Who Chase Lost Voices: Directed by Makoto Shinkai. With Hisako Kanemoto, Miyu Irino, Kazuhiko Inoue, Junko Takeuchi. A coming of age story involving young love and a mysterious music, coming from a crystal radio left as a memento by an absent father, that leads a young heroine deep into a hidden world.

“This is a nice little movie notable primarily for its visual beauty. The story is loosely constructed but engaging, the mythical creatures are imaginative, and the whole thing is, while not especially memorable, generally enjoyable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn the other hand, I felt the movie kept implying things and then just dropping them. A mysterious boyu0026#39;s statements to the girl seem fraught with meaning, suggesting some back story that is then never revealed. A strange crystal also must have some sort of history, but what? Itu0026#39;s as the movie has unplumbed depths.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis may be the reason that at the end I didnu0026#39;t have the feeling of satisfaction I experience at the end of other movies (like the films of Miyamota). There is something absent from this one. But itu0026#39;s still a nice movie.”