mattkerr-73017 An often underutilized element when it comes to rating a film is its length. A lot of critics (official and self-appointed internet forum nerds) would happily sit through films that push over 3, 4, or 5 hours long and not blink an eye. Usually, this is because the directors that make films that push these running times are out to make a magnum-opus. Very often, the product of the art is enough for not only the length not to be criticized, but praised in a manner that these films would not have the same impact without them (see Napoleon (1927), Gone with the Wind (1939), Ben Hur (1959), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), and many more). However, a good amount of these critics would also be more than willing to say that your average film pushing above as little as the two-hour mark is overlong and bloated. On the flipside of the above arguments for a longer viewing, if the content of the film does not justify anything more than a short afternoon pastime, then most people aren't happy about it invading upon the rest of their day; sure, you COULD spend 2 hours watching the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice directors cut (2016), however do you really want to waste an extra 30 minutes of your day when the original is already wasting a whole 2 and a half hours of it? The same thing could be said about even some anime that has a strong following and community. Sure, I COULD try and catch up with One-piece, and finally be in the loop about what some of my friends and other fans mean when they reference it, but am I willing to sit through *quick google search* 848 episodes of it?! (a feat that clocks in at just over 339 hours of my free time).However, as often discussed the ambitiously lengthy runtimes may be, people tend to neglect the effect the runtime plays at the other end of the spectrum with short films. Take The Garden of Words (2013) as a case and point; clocking in at around 48 mins, its around the length of an average episode of any drama show you can find provided Netflix or the like. This is easily one of the most beautifully animated films I have ever laid eyes upon. Every single frame of this movie could be taken out of context, framed and hung up on a wall and it would most likely catch the eye of anybody passing by. The backgrounds of urban Japan that give way to the green trees that provide the backdrop for where much of this movie is set - which plays into the plot by providing private security to our characters as they spend their rainy days together - are beautiful. Even the way that the raindrops hitting the ground are breathtakingly beautiful to watch. This level of consistency is rare in any animation, which often can have beautiful moments but can be standard outside of these. If movie anime tends to blow TV anime out of the water on this point, then this movie is another tier beyond that.Surely with a longer running time, these elements would be spoiled, correct? With the painstaking effort and time that must have went into each of these frames, surely making a longer film would compromise on these points? What could one gain from doing so? I'm going to be harsh and say, probably a lot more in terms of the characters and the plot. I often think that one of the very few advantages a TV show can have over a film is the amount of time that can be put into characters and their development, if not also lending way if done correctly to a richer plot. The plot is... fine, from the standpoint of delivering a story. Not much beyond the conversations between the two main characters and their own thoughts when alone are really shown for the first half of the film. In the second half (trying hard not to spoil anything so here we go), we are given a twist, and then we are given the elements of the plot that really drive the changes that bring about forward momentum to the plot. These elements do open us up to one of the characters more, however I don't think it was precisely necessary to do it the way that the movie did... though maybe, again, I'm being harsh. Overall there is just not as much going on here as I may have hoped. Which is fine, because we have all the interactions and dialogue between the main cha...For a "Garden of Words", there aren't all that many words that we get to hear. We get some introductions, a lovely haiku (yes, I know these are the titular "words"), and then some more dialogue, but a lot of what should be bonding that we see is merely shown quickly in montage. This doesn't work to the effect of the film, and means that we don't have as strong a connection to the characters as we maybe could have by the end of the film. I think this is my main gripe with the film; that if we had maybe been shown a bit more of these two bonding, then maybe by the end of the movie we would feel the sympathies of the characters some more. HOWEVER, doing this would lengthen the film, which means that the animation may have went downhill, or at least we would not be given the same amount of great backdrop for the plot.So do I think the movie could have been longer? When rating this, do I take the length into account and ignore some of the elements that I feel are missing, or do I rate this the same way I would any other film, including those that extend beyond the three hour mark? Honestly, it would be harder to do the latter; while I have some issues with the way that the film is presented, I don't think that it could have been presented in any other way. If it became more plot and character focused, and hence longer, we may have ended up with a mid-length average to good movie, rather than a shorter-length good to great one. And that doesn't sound like a good trade to me.Viewed 21/07/2018

kingzomp When I saw this film, sorry, work of art, I was lost. I thought that I was the only one really falling in love for my 15 year old student back home. I really related to the main protagonist (shiro) and I loved it. if you want your tears flowing, watch this movie guys and gals of all ages. Oh by the way, is the director like really into feet? I mean there's like 60 shots of feet, and toes, and I was like D. I like feet but cm-on guy. Just one foot is enough floor me I say. Anyways, have a good night as always. catch you all on the flip my dudes

ashild-blovvig Within the first few seconds, you know you're in for a treat for your eyes. The animation in this movie so well done and pleasing to watch. It's one of the better animations I've seen, at least when it comes to the environment (the people are animated pretty much just like most other anime movies). There are so many details and work put into this.We meet the boy Takao quickly through his narration. It's both beautiful to listen to and at the same time kind of funny, since he is only 15 and he makes it sound like an angsty diary entry. He like the rain, and shoes. He skips school to go to the park when it rains, where he meets a woman. They seem to have the same idea of going to the park on rainy days. He finds out eventually that he wants to design shoes for her.The movie is unintentionally funny in its fixation in shoes and feet. In one way, it almost framed in a fetishized way, on the other hand, its very sweet and beautiful to watch.The movie is very short, so there is not much time for character development or to let the story unravel in a slow pace. I don't know myself why Shinkai didn't make it longer (time or money or both probably), but if he could've made it longer, he should have. It has lots of promise, and would be way more interesting if it could tackle their relationship more, especially based on the massive taboo on age difference in Japan. It misses out on some really good opportunities for telling a deeper story.There's a climax where there is a lot of feelings and crying going on and it is, unfortunately, bombarded with really loud emotional music. The dialogue is intense and almost violent, and at the same time kind of silly in a strange way. The music almost drowns out the dialogue and there is anger and sadness and love and it all happens so fast and in an intense way it's hard to know what to feel.I really wanted to like this movie more than I did. It has a lot of potential, the animation, again, is gorgeous, the story is cute, but with not much substance (of course it has some, it tackles some issues of the woman, Yukari, for example, but not deeply enough. Everything is told so fast you'll almost miss it). I do want to see more of Shinkai (this is the first one I see), because I have no doubt he has made things better than this, and I look forward to see it.

Robin WeinGuard With it's short length of only 45 minutes, it's hard to call this a full movie - although don't let that deter you, as it's still better than most that I have seen, anime or otherwise.When you hear about this movie one of the things that get repeated mention is it's visuals, and I concur. It's probably the most well made anime from a visuals standpoint. The story isn't bad either, for only 45 minutes it sets up and tell a surprisingly deep and moving story. It is simplistic storytelling, but still very powerful. It is somewhat reminiscent of one of the director's previous films, 5 Centimetres Per Second, in that it uses a similarly "simple" story but one that relates strongly to emotions and situations felt by normal human beings. I also think this is a great movie to show people who normally don't like anime, as anime very often have different storytelling than I think many are used to. This one is more grounded without many of the "fantasy" elements that most anime's have.The plot summary on IMDb do just fine setting up the story so I wont bother explaining it, it would just be redundant.