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heartbeats) wrote2010-06-23 12:25 pm
heartbeats) wrote2010-06-23 12:25 pm
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well the sun rose with so many colors it nearly broke my heart.
Summer Wars is a 2009 film produced by Madhouse, the same people who created The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. The movie is set in a universe which is essentially identical to our own; the only real difference is the existence of OZ, a massive computer-simulated virtual world that acts as a combination internet/cell-phone/personal and/or business network. The film focuses on Kenji, a timid eleventh-grade math genius who is a low-grade moderator of OZ. At the beginning of summer vacation, he is asked by Natsuki, one of the most popular girls in his school, to help in celebrating her great-grandmother's 90th birthday. Although Kenji does not know the details of the plan, he agrees and goes with Natsuki to her grandmother's estate in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture. Much to Kenji's surprise, he is introduced at the Jinnouichi clan's family house as Natsuki's fiancé.
As Kenji tries to act the part, he receives a mysterious e-mail with a mathematics code. He cracks the code and returns it to the sender but finds himself at the center of a developing news story the following day. Overnight, OZ has been hacked and he is the prime suspect, as his account has been stolen by a mysterious online entity known as "Love Machine." With the aid of Natsuki's family, Kenji must deal with the fallout when the real and virtual worlds collide, and ultimately must fight to save the world... USING MATH!!
Like all Madhouse films, Summer Wars is visually stunning, with scenes of everyday Japanese life rendered in loving (and, if you're depressed about how much you miss it, intensely depressing) detail. More than that, however, the movie is about love and about duty and above all else about the importance of family. I laughed until I cried, I bawled until I couldn't breathe, I felt good at the end of everything. If you haven't given it a watch yet, I can't stress enough how much you need to!
Madhouse films rely pretty heavily on mood, so I tried to do the same with this fst, meaning that I chose songs that I felt "felt" like the movie instead of focusing on matching lyrics to the events of the movie. It's pretty much chronological in terms of events; it'll make more sense if you've seen the movie, but I have been assured you don't need to have to enjoy the music. There will be some spoilers for the plot of the movie in my commentary; I'll try to be oblique, but if you are really spoilerphobic I suggest you stay away from the meta until after you've seen the movie. Zip file of the whole thing is at the bottom; alternatively, right after this section there is a link to my 8tracks page, where you can listen to the whole fst online. Summer Wars belongs to Madhouse, all music belongs to their respective artists.
LISTEN ONLINE?!
1. "a hill with no name (名もなき丘)", yoshida brothers
[Instrumental]
Just a brief instrumental introduction; this movie has a love affair with old Japanese houses and the Japanese countryside, and I am all over it. Kenji gets hired for a four day long part-time job with Natsuki, a popular upperclassman. The job is pretty simple - go out to Natsuki's family home in Ueda and help out with her grandmother's 90th birthday. Cue a really, really lovely sequence in which they ride the varied types of transportation necessary to get from Tokyo to a huge-ass samurai-era house on the edge of a mountain.
Should you go home? There's something starting; don't know why. And in a house so cozy, few words are spoken; let's take our shoes off and unwind when there's minuets off in the background drowning out. Eyes off, ears off: test the kiss goodnight. Don't keep my loving on my mind.
More starting songs; the movie is still warming up, and Kenji is introduced to Natsuki's grandmother as her lover. Uncomfortable maiden feelings ensue, and let me assure you it is not Natsuki who's all confused and girlish.
[Instrumental]
Lol so Kenji is really good at math, he almost qualified for math Olympiad before he choked like a little girl, this is a recurring theme. He also has it really, REALLY bad for Natsuki.
And then tonight I'll dive into your eyes; will we feel like this for the rest of our lives?
Okay, I am still just warming up. The Jinnouichi clan is really, really boisterous and really, really close, and you will never remember everyone's names. The movie takes a long time setting them all up, and so am I.
It's cool it's cool to love your family. I know because I love them more and more.
IT'S A REALLY BIG, REALLY SPRAWLING, REALLY INTRUSIVE AND INTERROGATES YOUR NEW BOYFRIEND FAMILY, and Kenji is pretty much thrust straight in the middle of it.
[Instrumental]
KING KAZMA vs. Love Machine.
Is it so wrong to crave recognition? Second best, runner up. Is it so wrong to want rewarding, to want more than is given to you?
Wabisuke.
Some days aren't yours at all; they come and go as if they're someone else's days.
Tragedy strikes, my heart is broken.
[Instrumental]
[Natsuki and Kenji are sitting next to each other on the side of the house, looking out over the morning glories. Natsuki has a single tear in her eyes; suddenly, she speaks.]
NATSUKI: Stop them. The tears. [She inches her pinky finger toward Kenji, not looking at him.] Hold me here. Please stop them. [Kenji looks first at her, then at her finger, before tentatively reaching out and gripping her pinky. At the contact, Natsuki begins to sob. Kenji pulls his hand away at first, then takes her hand in his. Natsuki sobs harder and harder as their fingers intertwine.]
On the walls of the day, in the shade of the sun we wrote down another vision of us; we were the challengers of the unknown.
"No, what you said was correct. 'You have to protect others in order to protect yourself.'"
"Is that the motto of the JSDF?"
"No, a line from 'The Seven Samurai.'"
I can tell you how this ends; we're going to win this.
SHOWDOWN IN UEDA CASTLE, SANADA YUKIMURA-STYLE
Stare so deep into the laptop light; sip your coffee and stare like you got somethin to say, but you can't say it 'cause it just ain't there anymore.
"Family should never let go of one another. You should never admit defeat in life. And although you may have hard and painful times, I want you all to sit together and eat dinner as a family. The worst things in the world are being hungry and being alone."
Well the sun rose with so many colors it nearly broke my heart, and worked me over like a work of art and I was a part of all that. So go ahead, push your luck. Say what it is you've got to say to me. We will push on into that mystery, and it'll push right back, and there are worse things than that, 'cause for every price and every penance that I could think of, it's better to have fallen in love than never to have fallen at all. 'Cause when you live in a world, well it gets in to who you thought you'd be. And now I laugh at how the world changed me; I think life chose me after all.
MEGAUPLOAD MIRROR
