The Place Promised in Our Early Days (Kumo no Mukō, Yakusoku no Basho, lit. "Beyond the Clouds, the Promised Place") is a 90 minute Japanese anime film created and directed by Makoto Shinkai, following his previous work Voices of a Distant Star. As in the previous film, the soundtrack was composed by Tenmon. Unlike the previous film which was largely created by Makoto on his own, Kumo no Mukou was a full scale production as reflected by the better animation quality and the longer overall length. It has been broadcast across Japan by the anime satellite television network Animax.Directed by Makoto Shinkai
DVD REVIEW
By Bailey Z. Rose (Orlando, FL)
While 'The Place Promised in Our Early Days' left me with an empty feeling, ended without the conclusion for which I'd hoped for over half the movie, I still have to give it five stars. 'Promised...', in my opinion, fell into the vast category of anime movies with enormous imagination, incredible animation... and a plot so exotic that it simply didn't permit a satisfying and complete story.
So much of 'Promised...', such as the majority of the plot and personality development/establishment for all characters, isn't supplied by the movie. In fact, the plot seems so incomplete, the characters so flat, that it's almost too much to bear. But through the almost instant bewilderment the viewer is bound to experience, and through the frustrating lack of real character substance... the overall dreaminess of the movie and the purity of those simple characters' motives shines so brightly as to obscure 'Promised...'s shortcomings
Visually, the movie is breathtaking. The scenery is always incredible -- surreal and super-real at once, vibrant and vast and absolutely gorgeous. Emotionally, the protagonists' story and its presentation through snatches of flashback/daydream/real-dreams, speaks to the viewer on some level too deep to be hindered by critical thoughts.
This movie left me muddled, and awed. I don't quite know what to say, other than that while I was in some ways disappointed, I still felt... enriched... on some indefinable level. Get the movie! You need to watch it to know what I mean.Photo Gallery
The Place Promised in Our Early Days Movie Trailer
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3 comments:
I watched this movie two times and I had even bought the DVD.. and I still think it's great as the first time I watched it.
I totaly agree with your review. I bought the dvd, tried to watch this at least 5 times before i did finaly managed to watch it and this movie left me feeling a bit empty because the ending was not what i was expecting it to be, but at the same time i agree with the five star review because this is one of those rare movies that stay with us long after we finish watching it. So i guess there really is something special with it. I didn´t thought the characters were empty at all, their emotions are really the core of the movie, but on the other hand actualy i thought the technological babble was what made it look more empty than it needed to feel.
Nevertheless i think this is one of the most poetic and beautiful animes out there and one of those that must be seen for there´s no way we can describe the feeling it conveys.
And visualy is another masterpiece. Simply incredible.
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