Chihiro (2023)

No se gana tu tiempo

Un 5/10 me parece un raspado impecable para lo que ofrece. Es la nota justa para una película que técnicamente está bien hecha, bonita en lo visual y con una actriz que cumple, pero cuya narrativa se queda flotando en una burbuja de autoindulgencia.
​Al final, cuando una obra intenta ser tan "profunda" a fuerza de silencios y frases filosóficas sobre la soledad, pero se olvida de construir personajes de carne y hueso con los que de verdad puedas conectar, se queda a medio camino de todo. Ni llega a drama humano real, ni se sostiene como puro entretenimiento. Un aprobado por la fotografía y la música, y poco más.

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You're wonderful just as you are regardless of what planet you come from

Call Me Chihiro reminded me of Mary Poppins, if Mary Poppins had been an ex-sex worker. Like a warm breeze on a cloudy day, Chihiro brought kindness and healing to the people she came across whether it was a mischievous little boy or an ant helpless on its back. Short on plot and long on healing human interactions this film is one you experience with your heart, not your mind.

Chihiro works at a Bento shop handing out warmth and food often with a gentle sense of humor. She makes friends with a small boy whose mother works nights, a high school girl whose father is at a minimum verbally abusive, a homeless man, and the blind woman married to the Bento boss. Despite her work background she never hides it from any of the people she helps. We don't know much about her except that she had a painful childhood and a traumatic experience that caused her to flee her massage parlor job.

Even though Chihiro helps the abused and downtrodden, she cannot always feel the warmth she gives. Without a second thought she buries the dead-both human and animal-afterwards taking a shower and then eating ramen. With her trans friend she explains that if love is about owning and being owned she wants no part of it. She reaches out to others yet cannot bring herself to truly feel and be open.

This film was filled with sweet, touching moments showing how kindness and healing are passed on. As the circle of people she has thrown a life vest of acceptance to begin to interact and support each, the story feels stronger and more interconnected. Yet as profoundly as Chihiro touched others she was filled with an "air of loneliness" and trying hard to run away from it; though near the end, the sun began to break through the clouds in her eyes.

One of my favorite parts of this movie is when Chihiro tells the high schooler about a client she had. He believed that people were actually aliens in human suits. The reason people don't get along is because everyone is from different planets. She and the high schooler always have their eyes open for someone who might be from their planet. What she really wants is for someone to validate her feelings and see her worth. When she thinks she's finally found someone from her planet it clearly touches her that this person thinks she is wonderful just as she is, even if she can't see that in herself.

Call Me Chihiro is a film for when you need a feel good story that doesn't require much brain power. Watching these disparate people begin to find a sense of belonging and someone who cares about them was heartwarming. It may also motivate you to see others beyond their physical appearance and faults and to discover how far one good deed can spread.

2/23/23

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