To be fair, I was already sympathetic to this film. I love animation and I love the concept of diving into the concepts in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. There is such depth to the ideas but after watching the movie, I fell in love with the reimagined Hamlet with a gender swap and lush, gorgeous animation. Even subtitled, this film is too beautiful to miss.
Scarlet is an animated fantasy action film written and directed by Mamoru Hosoda. It was animated by Studio Chizu. Inspired by Hamlet, the film follows Princess Scarlet (Mana Ashida) who fails the mission of avenging her father’s death. She finds herself fatally injured in a surrealistic world and encounters an idealistic young man from our era, Hijiri (Masaki Okada), who not only helps her heal but also shows her the possibility of a world free from bitterness, rage and war. But when confronted by her father’s killer, can Scarlet break free of the cycle of hatred and revenge?
In this film, the first thing that caught my attention was the gorgeous animation. Everything is lush, layered and full of subtle references and meaning. The scenery is sweeping and the characters are well designed. The designs come alive with different cultures represented as the story is meant to be from across time and space. Even the modern scenes with Hijiri are beautiful, sleek designs. There are also some incredible creations like dragons and storms that just catch the eye and are breathtaking.
The story leans heavily into its inspiration, with the name of the characters being direct references like Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for reference. Scarlet, while gender swapped, clearly is meant to represent Hamlet, although her father bears the name Amlet. The story brings alive the themes of Hamlet, revenge versus forgiveness, war versus peace but also reflects on life and death and can we experience peace in death or fight the same battles over and over?
The voice acting is more than a match to the story, emotional and captivating. Even subtitled and in a different language, the emotions of the characters are clear. The acting of Mana Ashida and Masaki Okada who play Scarlet and Hijiri are intense and layered performances, full of beauty but also pain and grief. The rest of the cast is equally impressive in their ability to convey the complex emotions of the characters and the rich storyline.
Perhaps the only thing that detracts for me are the subtitles. I wish I understood Japanese. And enough of Hamlet is used that the storyline is very familiar. That said, there are a couple twists in the story, including the gender swap, that make the story brilliant and the ending is one of the most beautiful that I have seen.
If you love animation, gorgeous design and a story inspired by Hamlet, this one is well worth taking a look at. The voice acting is complex and rich, the designs are beautiful and the story is full of depth, surprise twists and interesting themes on revenge and forgiveness. I loved both the story and the animation.
Rating: 4.5 storms.
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