I find that films that are highly stylized can easily alienate their audiences. Their stylized elements push the audience away and keep them at a distance. Because of how apparently different the film looks, feels, or sounds, there is a struggle to keep attention on anything but that, making it difficult to fall into the film’s world and pace. For Night is Short, Walk on Girl, the exact opposite is true. Both the art and animation are highly stylized, yet the very apparent and distinct style actually serves to welcome and comfort the audience.
But even on its own, the art style is simply pleasing to look at. The backgrounds, settings, characters designs, color palettes, everything and all of it is beautiful in an almost simple way. Similarly, the animation is fluid and dynamic and lively. It makes everything and everyone feel like they are bursting with life and character.
The tone of the film also helps it be so approachable to its audience. At the same time, it approaches all things with both humor and an intense earnestness. It suggests a carefree attitude, yet at the same time takes people, their situations, and concerns seriously. Though it is night, everything is bright.
The story follows a university student, a young woman, as she experiences a night on the town, enjoying the early days of adulthood. She enjoys a night of drinking, parties, festivals, and everything else the night has to offer, letting herself be swept along with the current. All the while, she interacts with a cast of…unique characters. The plot is almost episodic as she drifts from one place to another, each with its own set of characters and its own problem to help work through. Competing in a drinking competition, attending a book festival, following a guerilla theater troupe, visiting all of the people she’s met along the way who have all, except her, caught a cold. Meanwhile, an older university student tries to follow her around so that he can confess his love for her, but constantly finds something getting in his way while she continues moving forward, completely unaware.
Night is Short is a film about combating loneliness. It is a film about the interconnectedness of all the people we come across and the joy of those connections. However, even though those themes are there, the film is not heavy or heady or complex. This is not at all a criticism of the film. Part of what makes it so charming is the simplicity and sincerity that it presents the themes with. By no means does Night is Short offer any new or profound or nuanced insight or take on any of this. But it doesn’t want to, either. It’s not going for groundbreaking revelation. Instead, it is a reminder of simple truths. If anything, intellectualizing the movie in this way doesn’t do it justice and goes directly in the face of what makes it so pleasurable.
Most of the people who know me might be surprised I speak so highly of a film like this. I am not a fan of anime. I’m a pessimist and a cynic, and my film taste often follows suit; most of what I take time to interact with feels like a punch in the gut. And yet, here I am, utterly enchanted with the work. A friend of mine, the one I heard about the film from, called it, “One of the best good vibes movies ever.” Really, that’s one of the best ways to describe it. It is brimming with joy and a sense of wonder that even I can’t help but fall in love with. Nothing more or less than a pleasure to watch, and it doesn’t want to be anything more or less.
