Liquid Sunshine

This movie is tricky for me, but not in the sense that it's something I don't want to do. The first couple of times I watched it, back when it was released, I remember being very confused. The cat corpse looked exactly like the rabbit corpse, but then... the rabbit was the cat, and that man's face... wasn't it his face? It wasn't until now, third time watching it, when I realized the specific details are not what are important, but what is important is for us to understand that this man is just as confused as us, but doesn't realize it.

The man is obviously in a coma, and wakes up from time to time. We're not told exactly how he got there, but it doesn't matter. This movie is about a journey through the distorted memories of this man, not what actually happened to him. It begins with a shot of the sun through an IV bag, and this shot really sums up the entire situation with the man and his memories. It's not a difficult image to figure out, I'm sure you all get it, so there's no need to go on about it.

The character himself is animated very well, facial expressions mainly. It goes perfect with the beautiful voice acting done by Jon Barton. The slight twitch of the eyebrow, or the opening and closing of his mouth; it provides life to the character and allows us to see him more as a human being and not a jumble of cylinders and spheres. One specific scene I truly enjoy, and it is the ending, so if for some reason you haven't watched it and you're reading one of my reviews (which, as was pre-warned, all contain spoilers), you'd best stop now. The end, in which the main character says, "At least I have the memory of that man's face to accompany the rabbit. That man's face is now my funniest memory." the facial animation is absolutely perfect. The way Jon delivers his line at this moment is just as perfect. That's all I can say to describe that few seconds: abso-fucking-lutely perfect.

I have to comment more on the voice acting. My god was it good. Jon does a wonderful job at conveying the emotions of the character within the story. I just... wow... thumbs up man.

The music is also a key piece in this film that helps it become one, perfect unit. The name has escaped me at the moment, Flower of Carnage I believe, but that doesn't matter. It's a soothing, emotional, Japanese (I think) song reminiscent of a lullaby of some sort. That mixed with the facial expression of the character, the voice acting, and the overall premise just makes this movie something of a painting, a piece of art, with all the colours and strokes working together to create a masterpiece.

The scenery also works in this movie. The use of the expansion to create some surreal suns really provides a unique feeling. It emphasises the distortion of the memories of this man. Though a bit plain at times, they still fit and work quite well. The hospital bed is well designed and nicely detailed as well. Yeah, good job on the scenery.

I have few complaints... almost none actually. Yeah, I really can't think of any complaints. The voices did overlap for a second at one point, but that is not a problem at all. I still can't help but feel that something is not right... I'm not sure what is it. The music did feel a bit slapped on, and at points there was singing and talking at the same time. Again though, this is not a big deal. This movie is wonderful, and contained a few comedic parts as well, all of which are funny, but not to the point of being redundant.

Good presentation, good flow, great everything... this is a damn fine movie.

9.5/10