“Shino Cannot Say Her Own Name” The light called “music” illuminates the clumsy youth *Note! Contains spoilers.

"Shino Cannot Say Her Own Name" Synopsis

Shino, a first-year high school student, has trouble fitting in with her surroundings because she can't speak the language well. While living a lonely student life, by chance he becomes friends with his classmate Kayo. Kayo, who loves music but is tone-deaf, is captivated by Shino's singing voice when she unexpectedly hears her, and invites her to join the band. Intense practice for the school festival has begun. Kikuchi, a male classmate who teased Shino, ends up joining the party...

Index

• Genealogy of music films that confront the difficulties of life
• The “music” that Shuzo Oshimi put into the original work
• The organic nature of the songs in the play, the role of the accompaniment
• Magical masterpiece disguised as simple “Magic”

Genealogy of music films that confront the difficulties of life

Director Hiroaki Yuasa's feature-length commercial film debut, ``Shino Cannot Say Her Own Name'', which is based on the manga of the same name by Shuzo Oshimi, is at the same time a youth film that depicts the life of two high school girls for about six months. It also has the appeal of a music movie. There are many feature films in which young characters develop friendships and grow spiritually through singing and musical performances, but not all of them are bright and joyful. In fact, in recent years, there has been an increase in the number of films with bittersweet and sad stories about young people who find life suffocating and difficult in their daily lives, encountering music as if it were a lifeline, and becoming devoted to it. I think it has come.

For example, Runaways (2010) is a biopic about a female rock band that was active in the 1970s. At the beginning of the film, there is a scene in which Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), as a high school student, stands on stage wearing make-up imitating David Bowie and is heckled. This scene shows that at a time when it was common sense that ``rock music was something men did,'' she was seen as something out of the ordinary.

“Runaways” preview

Or FRANK (2014), with Michael Fassbender in the title role. In the film, Frank is a bandleader who suffers from mental problems due to his experiences as a teenager, and who constantly covers his face with a giant headgear. The character was inspired by British comedian Chris Seavey's head-wearing Frank Sidebottom, as well as several real-life musicians.

“FRANK” preview

In Japanese movies, the 2015 animated film `` My Heart Wants to Scream.'' ” is still fresh in my memory. The heroine, high school girl Jun (played by Kyoko Yoshine in the 2017 live-action version), is traumatized by being the cause of her parents' divorce when she was young and is unable to talk to others, but she has problems when it comes to singing. He discovers that he can sing without hesitation, and begins working on a musical production with his classmates.

In these films, music is not just a hobby to be enjoyed, but it is also inappropriate to position it only as a means of artistic expression or a skill that should become a vocation. Music exists as an urgent medium for people who have some sort of problem and don't fit in with their surroundings to cling to, as if escaping despair, and to connect with others.

The “music” that Shuzo Oshimi put into the original work