Listening To A Silent Voice
Sometimes, anime strips a story down to its emotional and narrative bones, and does it beautifully. A Silent Voice is one such film, a moving bildungsroman that uses vivid characters and beautiful animation to showcase the struggles of adolescence.
Shoya Ishida is a popular student who bullies a deaf classmate, the gentle newcomer Shoko Nishimiya. As Shoya continues to bully Shoko, his friends begin to reject him.
Shoko transfers and Shoya grows up as an outcast. Now regretful, alone and depressed, Shoya finds Shoko to make amends.
Legendary anime director Makoto Shinkai called the film a “fantastic piece of work” and a “polished and grand production” which even he is unable to replicate.
It won Best Animation of the Year in the 26th Japan Movie Critics Awards, where director Naoko Yamada also received praise for her work on the film.
Rotten Tomatoes rates the film at an astonishing 93%, saying it is “...as beautifully crafted as it is powerfully written.”
A Silent Voice looks at teen bullying from a soberingly hard-hitting perspective that’s uncommon for the animated medium.
And unusual for an anime film, The Who’s classic “My Generation” opens the film.
A Silent Voice screens this Thursday evening at 7 p.m. at both East Ridge 18 and Hamilton Place 8.