The Garden of Words

Makoto Shinkai's 2013 animation follows a high-schooler who skips school on rainy mornings and sits in a garden. He meets a woman there. Neither of them says what they are escaping. The film is made almost entirely of rain; the narrative makes two solitudes crossing for one short season its real subject. It runs forty-six minutes. The drawing of water and plants became its most discussed quality. It is seen as a forerunner of the director's later films. Who it's for: those who like quiet, visually driven animation. Who it's not for: viewers who will find the closeness between a teacher and a student uncomfortable; the film places that bond in a romantic frame.