Mirai

In just four weeks the Oscar nominations will be revealed, but I still have some nominees from last year I need to catch up on. One of them is in the Best Animated Film category, Mirai, from Japan, directed by Mamoru Hosada.

Mirai is an interesting, if not always successful, mixture of the realistic and the fantastic. It is told from the point of view of a four-year-old boy, Kun, who is big brother to a new baby, who is named Mirai (the Japanese word for future). As one might expect, he is both excited by this and appalled that he doesn't get all the attention any more.

When he's in this latter state he finds that the courtyard of his home is a portal that bends time. He meets members of his family in different time periods--he sees Mirai as a teenager, he visits his mother when she was about his age, and he spends time with his great-grandfather, who built his own motorcycles. Each of them has something to teach him about growing up and accepting his family.

Some of this is very touching. His father, who is a stay-at-home dad, doesn't figure in his time traveling, except for one brief shot of him as a boy, struggling to learn how to ride a bike. This was a major issue for Kun as well, and that little glimpse of his father was very poignant. On the other hand, in this day and age, can we accept slapstick humor built around a father not being able to do things as simple as making toast or washing a dish? Mirai seems to borrow these elements from a '50s sit-com.

The animation is amazing. I marveled at how snowflakes are depicted, and the climax, which is set in a Tokyo rail station, is stunning in how it captures how overwhelming it would be for a small boy.

Mirai says a lot about family that is worth listening to, and is thoughtful entertainment for any age.