Country : Japan
Language : Japanese
Duration: 1h33
Miss Hokusai can be summed in two words: disappointing, and underwhelming. Let me divide this review in 2 segments : first, the disappointing aspect relies on many apparent discrepancies between the movie (and manga as its source) on one side, and the biographical details I can find…
*** note : this might spoil a bit of the movie for you... but for the moment, I'm not going to promote watching it as you shall see***
Part 1 : this movie is disappointing
Indeed, this movie is classified animation (that it is), drama (yes) but as for biography (no). After watching it at the cinema yesterday, we came back and read details about Oei Hokusai, the heroine, and her father Katshushika Hokusai. There are too many differences between what is really known and what is depicted in the movie, to call it ‘’biography’’. Had I known this, I would’ve saved my cash for another feature…
Instead of basing the movie on the real life artists, it was adapted from a manga which was written by Hinako Sugiura, a woman supposedly expert in the period this movie is set in (starting in 1814). This and the trailer interested me greatly as I like art in general, and am a pro-feminist and there aren’t enough movies with heroines.
Apparently, the movie is a great adaptation of this ‘’carefully researched 1983-87 manga’’, and that’s has to count for something… however, it seems that they changed many details; so many that I wouldn’t call this a biography, but ’’loosely based’’.
I believe that making a biopic shouldn’t rely on fictionalised tales of the people, but on their written biographies – or be clear about it from the start and don’t call it a biography. If this movie had been a total fiction, with different names, I’d accept it more… If it were a more accurate biopic, I would’ve loved it a whole lot more…. But to mix the two bugs me to no end.
For instance, the movie starts in 1814 and O-ei’s already 23 years old. This isn’t possible, as she’s Hokusai’s youngest daughter from his second marriage from 1797 and believed to have been born in 1800. She should therefore be 14 when the movie starts, not 23. This changes completely the timeline, and what O-ei as a character would go through at this time of her life… Why this change? They could’ve easily started in 1814 when she was 14 and follow several years, growing up from a teenager to a woman – that actually would’ve been my first choice if I had to make it.
Option b would be simply to start in 1823, and to center on her character as a young woman: that could also be a great movie.
I cannot find anything about O-ei’s real-life siblings, and certainly nothing about O-Nao, nor if O-ei had a blind sister. Keiichi Hara’s choice to focus on their relationship eludes me…
Where did Hinako Sugiura find the information for her manga is beyond me… over 30 after her research, we have more tools, yet fewer results… I sure hope that most of the story is indeed biographical, but at this point I cannot confirm any of the movie (and hence the manga).
Certain elements felt slanderous to Hokusai (Katsushika, the father) – if indeed the few changes I could find are true, he’s depicted quite coldly… I do know, however, than many artists weren’t good people, out of touch with other humans, and maybe, just maybe, these elements in the movie weren’t too far from the truth…
Part 2 : this movie is underwhelming.
It feels like ‘Miss Hokusai’’ had potential to be a masterpiece, but the director didn’t quite dare to push the envelope, as if success frightened him.
The art was alright, nothing glaringly amazing, but overall well drawn. I liked the shadow/light balance, and especially the red dawn and dusk lights seen through the windows, but also and more rarely shown, in the sky.
The blue, clear skies were well done, just not wow… the clouds were more interesting and intricate ; they were better than the clear skies but still not making it to a masterpiece level such as Miyazaki’s, for example. His art really raises the bar so high that ‘’well done’’ makes it ‘’not enough’’.
The female characters were drawn better than the male, showcasing, maybe, misogyny, or plain laziness…
The music was horrid, way too loud and too rocky for the mood, and totally out of touch with the sentiments the ending should’ve created…
I didn’t like the very childish fight between two male characters…
We both (my wife and me) could tell where the movie was going quite early on. Yet, when events unfold, the movie never moved me. It had no emotional impact whatsoever – even when it should’ve stirred them quite deeply. It just hastened into the next segment.
There are SOME good parts. the animation if fluid, fantasy depictions of Japanese real beliefs of the times are well done, as well as animating real Hokusai paintings as if they were coming to life...
If part 1 is ever nullified by more biographical details to match the majority of the movie’s depiction, and I’m left to judge it on the animation level only, I’d have to rate this a 6/10.
However, as long as my findings contradict completely the timeline told in this (fake) biopic, I currently rate it 4/10, because I just cannot agree with the mere choice to fictionalise real characters and distort the image one gets from them.
I don’t think many people will go and also research details about these two Hokusai’s, and if all or most of isn’t true, then it’s misinformation and slander instead of the main goal : depicting real life characters both with their qualities as well as their flaws, remaining truthful to their lives and in the case of O-ei Hokusai, to portray an artist, a woman artist, in her own right – which this movie tried to do and managed to a certain degree.
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