(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is a mix of sci-fi, fantasy and dramatic medieval adventure that tells a very special story about a single mother and her adopted son. The story is personal to screenwriter and director Mari Okada, who herself grew up with a single mother, and from the beginning she has expressed a desire for maximum control over the result. Finally, she made her directorial debut – and her debut leaves no doubt about a great talent, including on the front of the stage: Okada has written screenplays for over twenty Japanese anime films, including the very good ones The Anthem of the Heart og Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day.
motherhood
Maquia is the protagonist of the story. She lives in an isolated colony of (apparently) young, blonde girls. They all weave on the cloth Hibiol, which carries with it the memories of our lives. Everyone is also immortal, so even though the look should indicate that they are in their mid-teens, they can be hundreds of years old. They go by the name "iorpher".
At the cinema in Norway, Japanese anime has been dominated by films from the company Studio Ghibli.
Everyday life changes dramatically when attacked by forces from a nearby kingdom, Mezarte. Mechanical kites flying by soldiers capture among other Maquia. They are in search of the secret of the immortality of the iorphs, and they will find a girl for the prince of the land. Maquia flees and ends up alone in a large forest. The silence is broken by screams from a little boy. She goes after the sound and finds the boy locked in the arms of her dead mother. Maquia calls him Arial and takes him to him.
Arial is a normal deadly boy. His new mother is immortal and will always look like she is 15. The challenge of becoming a mother leads to a number of episodes: persecution, prejudice and lies – and, not least, gripping scenes that will leave many eyes on the audience.
Iorpher are immortal – and forever teenagers.
For Okada, the mother role itself is important, but so is the concept of time – the experience and feeling of it: Time is different for children and adults, and completely different for animals. And as we live, it will be different for each of us.
Creative group work
The animation itself has elements we know from Japanese anime: faces with big eyes. Lots of pastel colors, mostly blue. Strong contrasts in war scenes. Great wallpapers and moods. Forests, mountains, cities, castles and adventures in many varieties. Dazzlingly beautiful and poetic, with melancholy moments.
In cinema in Norway, Japanese anime has been dominated by films from the company Studio Ghibli, and especially from director Hayao Miyazaki. The Oslo Film Festival featured a host of anime films from several of the best in Japan, including Katsuhiro Ôtomo (Akira), Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers), Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Avalon), Hiroyuke Okiura (A Letter to Momo) and Keiichi Hara (Colorful). Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is reminiscent of Grave of the Fireflies and Colorful, but also of adventure movie series on TV and cinema.
The film music is composed by Kenji Kawai, known for having composed the music for the Ghost in the Shell films. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is the result of creative contributions from a large group for a long time, in this case three years. I'm already looking forward to more movies from Mari Okada. Likes her focus on time, and her free thoughts about the mother-child relationship. It can have different expressions, and no one is necessarily wrong – you can show love in so many ways. And finally: I love the scenes with large plains full of dandelions that bloom and die.
