Director / Naoko Yamada (TAMAKO LOVE STORY, K-ON! THE MOVIE)
Stars/ The voices of Miyu Irino, Saori Hayami, Aoi Yuki and Kenshô Ono

First and foremost, A SILENT VOICE (or THE SHAPE OF VOICE, a literal translation) is not a Studio Ghibli production. This Japanese animation, following in the footsteps of the hugely successful YOUR NAME which grossed ¥10 Billion (about US$98 Million), has experienced some of its own success. Earning ¥2.3 Billion (US$19.56 Million) at the Japanese box office, it has also collected Film and Screenplay Award wins at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival.

Based on the award winning manga of the same name, A SILENT VOICE is about disability, bullying, guilt and redemption. Shōko Nishimiya (Voiced by Hayami) is a new student at an elementary school. Upon her induction, Nishimiya does something no other student at this school has done before – she politely makes a special request regarding the method of communication used to speak with her. Holding a note book, she asks for all spoken dialogue to be written in her book due to her hearing disability. As class commences, Nishimiya experiences exclusion and is soon being bullied by fellow classmate Shōya Ishida (voiced by Irino).

The meaningful intentions and importance of its themes are at first heard loud and clear in A SILENT VOICE. A tenderly rendered production, this is such a heartfelt film during its poignant opening act. It is shortly after crossing that wonderful first chapter of A SILENT VOICE that almost everything it has pitched is about to become unstitched.

With a total duration exceeding two hours, it later becomes known that A SILENT VOICE has absolutely no self-awareness. As the audience are bullied by excessive mundane detail surrounding the friendships of various characters on-screen, A SILENT VOICE finds itself caught up in a tedium-inducing whirlpool of meandering dialogue exchanges, sporadic melodrama and rigid storytelling. Sadly, the ability to feel genuine care dwindles the longer this far-too-lengthy film goes. The other obstacle that A SILENT VOICE will face here in Australia is finding an appropriate audience. As advised by its M classification, certain themes and the nature of their depiction are simply not suitable for a younger crowd. The audience age bracket that A SILENT VOICE stands it best chances at finding is from pre-teens and above, however its obvious needs to be profoundly felt often speak in a language that will likely be too foreign to most audiences here and therefore lost in translation.

By its own inadvertent undoing, A SILENT VOICE has ultimately silenced its own valuable voice.

2 stars

Viewer Discretion/ M (mature themes)

Trailer / A SILENT VOICE

Moviedoc thanks Madman and Cinema NOVA for the invite to this film screening.

Review by Moviedoc / “LIKE” on Facebook – Moviedoc

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