The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)
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The Place Promised in Our Early Days Movie Review
The Place Promised in Our Early Days is a 2004 science fiction romance anime film directed by Makoto Shinkai. It’s one of the director’s lesser works.
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“Sawatari. This time, for sure…
let’s go to the promised place“
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In an alternate history where Japan is controlled by the US and Russia, three teenagers decide to uncover the mystery of a tower in Hokkaido. However, things take a turn when the girl disappears under bizarre circumstances. When it comes to storytelling, this is one of the director’s messiest efforts. Shinkai has always been more adept at animating and directing than writing and you can see that is the case here as well.
For his first feature, this was surely a stellar debut. But when you compare it to some of its successors, it will become clear that this was just the beginning for him. The central romance is pretty good, though the movie is nowhere near as emotional or as romantic as ‘5 Centimeters’. But it’s not a trite romance, so it worked for the most part.
What was problematic here was the overall SF narrative. The movie was overly complicated, full of inconsistencies in its plot and way too out there in its third act that was quite crazy. It’s such an odd script. The movie featured such an original idea, which I clearly appreciated, but I would still say that it was not a concept that ultimately worked as a story, though I again admire Shinkai’s ambition. A more streamlined and polished script would have done wonders for it.
The Place Promised in Our Early Days is gorgeously animated. Shinkai was given a strong budget after he produced a couple of wonderful shorts and the results were splendid. The animation is polished, artistic and meticulously crafted. The landscapes and the weather conditions were per usual stole the show.
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The best reason to see the movie, however, is for the atmosphere, which is effectively nostalgic, strange and pervasively melancholic. The beautiful, elegant score is a staple for Shinkai and here it elevated the story to greater heights. I just wished that the screenplay was more confident and that the characterization was better, though the voice acting was reliably strong.
The Place Promised in Our Early Days is one of Shinkai’s weaker efforts, but this was still a pretty solid debut for this anime director. The gorgeous animation, beautiful score and a pervasively melancholic mood elevated what was a rather chaotic and messy script. It’s an overly complicated movie in its plot, but one that is an undeniable audio-visual delight.
My Rating – 3.5
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