BELLE (2021)

Japan. Direction: Mamoru Hosoda. Production: Yuichiro Saito, Genki Kawamura, Nozomu Takahashi, Toshimi Tanio / Studio Chizu. Screenplay: Mamoru Hosoda. Animation direction: Hiroyuki Aoyama. Music: Ludvig Forssell, Yuta Bando. Edition: Shigeru Nishiyama. Running time: 127 min.

LANGUAGE: Japanese / SUBTITLES: Spanish

In 2004 the Ghibli Studios commissioned Mamoru Hosoda to make Howl's Moving Castle. But the whole thing went to the dogs. Hosoda didn't give up and gradually created a universe with Wolf Children (2012) and The Boy and the Beast (2015). Presented at Cannes, its creator says that Belle is the movie he dreamt of and was able to make thanks to the success of those earlier reels. He wanted it to have action, suspense and romance, and to explore life and death. Here we have the story of a girl with a broken heart who meets a strange creature in the virtual universe. In Time Out they called it a "cybernetic fairy tale". You'll think it's a new take on Beauty and the Beast and you'll find yourself face-to-face with The Matrix (1999). You'll find it as astonishing as you will savage. Oh yeah, and Hosoda founded the Studio Chizu ten years ago.