By Brian Pham
Writer’s Note: This review contains minor spoilers for “Belle”
Have you ever tried to reinvent yourself? For many people that could be a hard thing, but for the protagonist of ‘Belle,’ Suzu Naito, it’s a part of her story.
‘Belle’ (or ‘The Dragon and the Freckled Princess’ in Japanese) first aired at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival on July 15, 2021 and in Japanese theaters on July 16, 2021. The film has recently come to the US, releasing on Jan. 14 in theaters. The movie is directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who is responsible for other movies such as “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” and “Summer Wars.”
SUMMARY
Suzu Naito is a 17-year-old Japanese schoolgirl who has been unable to sing ever since the death of her mother, who died trying to save another child. Suzu’s relationship with her father has been rough ever since, and she doesn’t have many friends aside from her childhood friend/crush, Shinobu Hitasake, her popular classmate Ruka Watanabe, Shinjiro Chikami, a rower who is aspiring for nationals and her best friend Hiroka Betsuyaku. She’s also part of a choir with some other older women.
One day Hiroka sends Suzu a link to sign up for the “U.” The “U” is a virtual world that allows users to hide behind an internet persona. Seeing this, Suzu gains courage to start singing there, hiding under the name “Bell,” chosen as an English translation of her name and eventually was nicknamed by the citizens of the “U,” “Belle,” after the word for “beautiful” in French.
Suzu skyrockets to fame. Despite her hesitation due to some of the hate she gets online, her friend Hiroka encourages her to keep going. One day while she is performing as Belle, her concert is crashed by an avatar called “The Dragon,” which has been reeking havoc in the “U.” She and Hiroka try to find out more about him and who he is in real life. She is eventually able to find and connect with him a little, but this isn’t without the interference of the “Justices,” who wish to hunt the Dragon down.
At the same time in her real life, she deals with relationship problems such as her friend Shinobu worrying over her while she pushes him away and worrying about her friend Ruka having a crush on him, when in reality she has a crush on Chikami.
After the Dragon is nearly hunted down, Suzu is able to find his real identity as a 14-year-old boy named Kei, who is in an abusive family and has been trying to make a role model for his brother. Suzu eventually unmasks herself to the entire internet in order to gain his trust, and eventually goes to find him in real life, saving him from his father, who has been abusing him and his brother.
The movie ends with Suzu eventually opening back up to her friends and family and gaining the confidence to be herself again.
REVIEW
If you are familiar with Mamoru Hosoda’s work, you will know that the theme of a digital world is something that he has touched on before, especially with his movies “Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!” and “Summer Wars.” Despite this, he makes the concept unique each time.
“Belle” sets itself apart in many ways, one of which being its amazing soundtrack. The music in “Belle” is outstanding and evokes emotion. One highlight of this is the scene where Suzu unveils her true identity and begins singing. The trembling in her voice adds a hint of realism to the song that makes it very easy to connect to.
In addition, each frame of “Belle” is beautiful. Fitting its digital theme, almost every frame of the movie could be used as a screensaver for any device.
Touching back onto characters, the growth we see Suzu go through is both satisfying and relatable. Despite Suzu’s secret identity as a digital pop star, her true self is accident-prone and socially awkward.
However, Suzu is able to push herself forward despite wanting to stop at many steps of the movie. From unveiling herself to everyone online, to riding the train to Tokyo herself to saving Kei and his brother, her growth is tremendous and feels gratifying to the viewer.
Even with its emotional moments, the movie also has a great sense of humor. Some of the funniest scenes in the movie are at the beginning when Suzu has to deal with a dating rumor between her and Shinobu going on, and another when she has to get Chikami to accept Ruka’s feelings for him.
The side characters are also fantastic. Ruka provides a nice contrast to Suzu while Chikami and Hiroka provide good comic relief. While they don’t officially confess to each other, we can see how much Shinobu cares for Suzu despite his calm demeanor and they both hint at accepting each other’s feelings at the end of the movie.
Whether you like anime or not, give “Belle” a try!
