Tag Archives: Night Is Short

Review Night Is Short, Walk On Girl by Jonathan Evans


 
 out of 5 stars (4 / 5)
 
This movie is greedy in it’s concept and gratuitous with it’s execution, however I don’t mean any of those as insults. It is greedy because it excessively wants to pack so much into the movie and it is gratuitous in the way that it gives more than is necessary. It wants to  create as many images and scenarios as it can and have you feel as many emotions on the spectrum as you can.

The Night is Short, Walk On Girl opens on a marriage ceremony where two of the guest Senpai (Gen Hoshino) is smitten with a girl who he goes to college with who we will simply know as The Girl with Black Hair (Kana Hanazawa). He has strategically coordinated himself so that they constantly run into each-other so she will believe they are meant to be together. She is of age to drink and wants to earn her adulthood so she drinks at the celebration and then goes out for the night, he then peruses in an attempt to push the destiny idea.
From here on it is a case of The Girl with the Black Hair walking around in the nighttime and encountering people and their scenarios and getting involved with them. Meanwhile Senpai is in some way deterred by another story or in his efforts to aid her.
The drawing style of this movie is certainly not like typical Western animation of Disney but also not like other anime movies like Ghost in the Shell or the works of Hayao Miyazaki. The lines are thin and very little detail is used. Eyes are represented with a few lines and a coloured dot underneath. You can squint and still understand nearly everything onscreen because it is comprised of simple shapes and vivid colours.
This movie plays non-stop. When you watch it be prepared to read the subtitles fast and suck in the visual information onscreen. Luckily the image is so clear and accessible. If you have ever viewed FLCL then you will have an understanding of this movies sprinting pace.
This movie is a comedy if nothing else and has an extremely simple plot which allows the creators to put in as many different character, plot points and setups as it can. From a chase, to a drinking contest, to a few musical numbers, all are displayed with as many transitions emotions and levels or ridiculousness that it possibly can. It cooks up a wide buffet of animation and movies and allows you to be stuffed and very happy by the end.