Gauche the Cellist (Anime Film) Review


 

The early works of creators are things I'm always aware I need to be cautious about. It's an expectation as I go back in time, the preservation of media gets harder and some works can be rough around the edges or subject to flaws of the era. These are all things that made me more surprised when watching Gauche and noting both how well preserved this film is and beyond that, how incredibly breath taking it is.

At its core, the plot of Gauche is perhaps the messiest thing about it. A young person struggling to fit in to the classical music band he's joined and to be a musician that can match the expectations of his conductor. His angry outbursts and frustration as he applies himself to music in what he thinks is the correct way to do it follow, while somewhat flawed in explaining quite the sense of every situation a resolutely beautiful story about letting yourself connect to others you may be resistant to, about how we can forge connections through music and that in itself can inspire ourselves to create, to perform greater than we ever deemed possible even if it falls outside convention. So at its core, the plot though a little messy in small moments, serves a sweet narrative.

However, what is served best by this film is both its use of classical music as its score and its visuals. The gorgeous painterly frames of Gauche are the definition of resplendent. They explode with colour, with watercolour and vivid warmth. Even in its dark and stormy moments, the world is filled with deep and imposing dark clouds or the absolute majesty of space and the clear skies singing the Milky Way back to Earth. It is a truly audio-visual marvel, an eighties anime that staggers me with quality that whether for the better or worse, simply makes me sad to not see water colour visuals of this scale in art or animation I have recently watched.

Gauche needs to be remembered even if just for the beauty it brings to the screen. It's a treat I got to watch it and ultimately, it's a measure that the style and art that I would eventually associate  with Studio Ghibli is not locked to a studio name, to one person, and that the appreciation I have for the beautiful vividness of art in anime is ever growing, across a whole history of masterworks. Magnificent.

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