Voices of a Distant Star

Reviewed By: Mario Aguilar

ADV Films DVD

Rated 13+

What it’s (basically) all about: Teenage love interests Mikako Nagamine and Noboru Terao are separated after Mikako volunteers to fight the Tarsians (an alien race) as part of a U.N. Mecha space force.  Although Noboru is left behind on earth, the two keep in contact by sending each other messages on their cell phones.  As Mikako travels further into space in pursuit of the Tarsians, the messages take longer to reach earth, eventually taking years, and their relationship is left in the balance.

Nitty Gritty:  Voices of a Distant Star proved to be surprising on a number of levels.  First and most obvious is the short run time of the movie.  It turns out that Voices runs only about 25 minutes.  In fact, after viewing, it seemed as perhaps it should have been an episode of a series.  However, keeping in mind that the messages sent back to earth eventually took about 8 and a half years, it is probably best kept in one piece.  This is not to say that the film lacked substance.  It held its own with a typical teenage love story, albeit one that spanned across the solar system.

The animation was at times great, particularly the background scenery.  There definitlely has bee better animation out of bigger studios, but here is the kicker; the director, Makoto Sinkai, completed this film all on his own on his computer (see interview in special features)!  It took him about seven months, and for twenty five minutes, I would say he did a great job.  The vocals and music have been touched up since the original, but it is basically intact.

There are really no troublesome spots in the film.  It is devoid of cursing and nudity, and the only worrisome thing might be the battle scenes, but they are hardly severe.  The only blood (?) being spilt is that of the Tarsians.  The story itself is best suited for teens though.

The special features are about three times as long as the feature, coming in at a relative whopping 75 minutes.  They include three different versions of a monochrome short called She and Her Cat done by Shinkai before completing Voices.  The first version of She and Her Cat is a digest version, followed by a three minute version, and eventually the full five minute version.  It is wonderfully animated and is clean and mostly poetic in dialogue, which is something teens also might like.  Next is an interview with director and creator Makoto Shinkai.  This interview gives the story of the creation process and really adds to the appreciation of Voices.  Also included is a director’s cut of Voices, with alternate vocals.  Next up is the original production animatic which features storyboards and scenes from the film.  Last are four Japanese trailers of the film that have some great music that you will find yourself humming to yourself hours after watching them.  There are also six previews for other ADV releases that are free of any problems.

Survey says:  Although at its heart Voices is a love story, it has many battle scenes in which Mikako takes on the Tarsians in her Mecha.  These scenes include lots of blasting and Tarsian blood being spattered about.  The film also deals with some complex concepts such as your everyday time space continuum conundrum, and the love/cell phone messaging is just the soppy sort of “there can be no other person for me” romanticism that teens will eat up.  Verdict: This film is best suited for the YA collection for complexity and teen issues.

Personal Ad: I must say that I was surprised to find out the feature was only about 30 minutes long.  It seemed to be more of an episode than a full feature.  I was also thrown off by the scenes where Mikako is reminiscing and sobbing while simultaneously fighting Tarsians.  But, I guess such is the life of an in-love teen fighting aliens in the outer regions of the galaxy. 

While not one of my favorites, Voices is a testament to the creativity and talent of Japanese animators.  The animation is good and keeping in mind how Makoto created this work himself, I think it is worth a watch.  The interview with Makato, which is in the special features, made me appreciate the film much more than I would have otherwise.