[FILM]
BELLE
She’d always been a fan of florals.
★★★★
OUT 4 FEBRUARY
CERT TBC / 127 MINS
DIRECTOR Mamoru Hosoda CAST (VOICES) Kaho Nakamura, Takeru Satoh, Kōji Yakusho
PLOT Troubled teen Suzu (Nakamura) struggles to express herself among her peers, and embraces the online virtual reality of ‘U’. There, she becomes ‘Bell’, a pop star and immediate viral sensation. One day she runs into the mysterious ‘Beast’, and finds herself drawn to this reclusive outcast.
THOUGH CENTRED ON a teenager seemingly content to fade into the background amongst her peers, Belle itself is hardly lacking in ambition. It’s at once an homage to Beauty And The Beast, and a recollection of its creator’s greatest hits (Wolf Children, The Boy And The Beast, Mirai); a largescale fantasy as well as a small-town coming-ofage drama, reflecting on the intertwining of teen anxiety and social media; an innovative piece of CG animation that blends with a more traditionally hand-drawn style. But it’s never overwhelming, as director Mamoru Hosoda arranges all these moving parts into a precise, exciting symphony.