Fireworks / Hanabi (A brief review)

I actually saw this movie twice. Once in Sub, later in Dub. It had been my intention to only watch the Sub version, via Fathom Events, at AMC 24, but the day of the Dub screening, the projectionist was late and the show started a full 20 minutes after the published time....and my heart sank when I heard the Japanese dialogue begin. I complained loudly to AMC 24, loudly to Fathom Events, etc. AMC 24 gave me a free movie pass for a future event. Fathom Events promised to follow up with AMC Corporate and with AMC 24 Theater management to make clear their expectations for Fathom Events screenings.

Anyway, all that aside, I did manage to watch the DUB of this film the last day of Delta H Con at the new Alamo Drafthouse La Centerra in Katy, Texas. It was on at 10:10am on a Sunday morning, and I was the only customer in the theater. I munched on Breakfast Tacos (Yay, Texas!) and used my Victory Rewards for $2 off a basic Pepperoni Pizza, and I sampled a few craft beers on Draught as well.

I love the new Alamo Drafthouse La Centerra location, but I'm sad its opening meant the closure of Alamo Drafthouse Mason Park.

At any rate, the Dub was perfectly serviceable. I recognized Stephanie Sheh immediately as the main male protagonist's mother. The female lead was voiced by Brooklyn Nelson, whom I mistook for Jad Saxton at first. The male protagonist in English legitimately sounded like a 15 year old boy, which was actually a little jarring since he definitely sounds older in the Japanese version. The female lead is definitely a product of SHAFT, with the SHAFT Head Tilt (tm), etc. She's beautiful to behold and looks like she wandered in from a lost episode of the Monogatari franchise. Indeed the film itself almost feels like a lost episode from the Monogatari universe.

The Dub goes as far as covering the songs in English throughout the movie. The female lead has a beautiful singing voice, so my brain accepted her English cover version. Daoko also sings an English cover version of her own work at the film's end for the dub.

Even though I'm one who typically prefers an English dub version if it exists, if I'm honest this time I think I did actually enjoy the sub performance just slightly more. There were some odd translation choices in the Dub that took me out of the film a couple of times, and the main male protagonist sounding so young took my brain awhile to accept. But all in all I enjoyed the movie, both times.

I elaborated about the plot already on my Tumblr, but to summarize briefly it is a movie about the question of "If" in our lives. About possibilities. About roads taken, and those not taken. And what would we do if we could have multiple "do-overs" in life. This is a film of magical realism that explores these possibilities in ways only a fictional narrative can manage. It is basically a fine representation of how you would adapt a visual novel (with all its branching choices) into a feature film. I applaud its experimental nature, though perhaps a straightforward romantic drama without all the supernatural hooey would've been a better film altogether. But it is what it is and I can say it was money well spent on mildly interesting but definitely beautiful eye candy.