never trust a Mari Okada project involving flowers.

不要相信岡田麿里有關花的作品。

Iron-Blooded Orphans, Hanasaku Iroha, especially Anohana,

《機動戰士鋼彈 鐵血孤兒 》、《花開物語》，尤其是《未聞花名》。

if it's got her name on it and it involves any kind of flower symbolism, especially in the title,

如果在她參與的作品裡，尤其是當標題裡有關花的形象時。

you just know it's gonna deliver a precision targeted strike right to your feels.

你就會知道，她會精準地挑起你的情緒。

As a writer, Okada has a remarkable talent for making her characters suffer in the most beautiful ways

身為作家，岡田最擅長讓她的角色以最淒美的方式受苦。

and for translating concepts and experiences that are clearly rooted somewhere deeply personal

以及用具有強大情感影響力的故事。

into stories with broad emotional power.

去傳達心靈深處那最私密的想法與回憶。

It wouldn't be fair to reduce her talents to just one aspect -

只講到她這一部分的才能是低估她的。

she's shown phenomenal skill at writing action and comedy

她展現了全方面的能力在寫動作片和喜劇。

and at world-building -

以及系列構成。

but when Mari Okada wants to make you cry,

但是，如果岡田要讓你哭。

BY GOD, I WILL CRY.

你絕對會哭。

A lot.

大哭的那種。

Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms proudly continues that tradition.

《於離別之朝束起約定之花》自豪地延續這一傳統。

Its last few scenes took me from tearing up to bawling uncontrollably

它最後幾幕讓我不受控制地嚎啕大哭。

and the ride to that end was an emotional rollercoaster in the best sense of that cliché.

而到這最後一幕的情感升梯大概是這類老套劇情的最佳典範。

It is, perhaps, the most pure example of Mari Okada's vision ever put on screen,

這大概是岡田理想電影中最純粹的例子。

which was apparently exactly what P.A. Works president Kenji Horikawa wanted

這正是 P.A. 工作室的董事堀川憲司請她當編劇時所想要的。

when he asked her to write and - for the first time in her career - direct her own film:

這也是她職業生涯中第一次執導自己的電影：

a 100% Okada anime.

百分之百岡田的動漫。

It's unusual, to say the least, for a writer to make the jump to directing anime.

從編劇跳巢到導演是很不常見的，至少以編劇來說。

Studios tend to want people with animation experience in that demanding role.

工作室通常希望有動畫經驗的人來做編導。

But Okada isn't your usual writer -

但是，岡田可不是尋常的編劇。

she's one of the most prolific and respected writers in her field,

她可是最受尊敬且多作品的編劇。

and with her excellent autobiography having just been optioned for a film,

有著這卓越的動畫紀錄。

she's about to become an anime character herself.

她自己就像是動畫角色一樣。

And she's not your usual director, either.

她也不是尋常的導演。

At a time when anime films are clearly trending towards surreal, sad tales of contemporary teenagers,

現今的動畫電影明顯偏向夢幻且悲傷的現代青年。

Okada has chosen to make a decades-spanning hard fantasy epic,

岡田決定做一個貫穿年代的奇幻史詩。

set in a remarkably well realised world,

故事設定在一個完美設計的架空世界。

thankfully free of any super obvious Tolkien influences,

幸於免受托爾金奇幻故事的影響。

with an equally well-thought-out and original plotline.

它有著精密且獨創的劇情。

Fittingly, Maquia tells the story of Maquia,

《道別的早晨就用約定之花點綴吧》講述了瑪奇亞的故事。

a lonely young girl from Iolf, a legendary clan of immortals who stop ageing as teenagers

她是孤身一人的伊歐夫居民，伊歐夫是個長生的傳說種族，大概在青少年時期就停止生長。

and who record the histories of their long lives by weaving their stories into special cloths called Hibiol.

他們編織著叫希比歐的布以記錄著自己的長生。

One night, dragon-riding soldiers from a neighbouring kingdom attack Maquia's homeland,

一晚，鄰國的龍騎士攻擊瑪奇亞的國家。

hoping that one of the immortal maidens can bear their prince and equally long-lived heir.

他們希望其中一位長生的女子能夠為王子誕下一個長生的子嗣。

Maquia is forced out into the wider world of mortals,

瑪奇亞被迫闖進寬闊的凡人世間。

and shortly afterward finds an abandoned human baby who she decides to adopt as her own,

隨即，她找到了一名棄嬰，她便決定收養他。

naming him Ariel.

並取名為艾瑞爾。

The film follows this found family throughout their entire lives,

電影便隨著這個即時的家庭以及他們的一生。

as Ariel gradually ages and Maquia stays ever young.

當艾瑞爾逐漸成長，而瑪奇亞則保持著年輕的樣貌。

As time goes on we see small moments that reshape the dynamics of their relationship

隨著歲月的推移，我們看到兩人之間的關係一直重建。

and larger ones that reshape the very world we live in.

而影響較大的關係則重塑著我們對這世界觀的認知。

It's rare to see a fantasy film that feels at once so intimate and grand in its scope,

在奇幻電影裡很少見到一段感情能夠駕馭私人的貼近感也能夠掌握宏大的世界觀。

concerning itself with both the daily lives of the world's people

這關係到每個人的日常生活。

and events as monumental as the fall of ageing empires.

也關係到這衰落帝國的每個歷史事件。

Though there's a lot going on here,

雖然很多事情在故事裡發生。

and it would be very easy to lose the narrative thread between all of the timeskips and high-fantasy concepts,

隨著奇幻概念以及所有的時間軸，我們很容易在故事線之間迷失的。

Maquia is held together by a tight focus on the core theme of motherhood.

《朝夕之花》將故事的主軸緊繫在母親主題上。

The film's long time scale allows it to thoroughly explore what it really means to be a mother and all that that entails.

電影較長的尺度使它能夠徹底探索成為母親的真正意義以及其所需要的一切。

From protecting and providing for your child when they're young

在你年輕時，保護以及供養小孩。

to the bittersweet experience of watching them grow into adulthood and ultimately become their own person.

到苦樂參半的看著孩子長大成人，以及最後成為一個獨立的個體。

And that Hibiol cloth that I mentioned earlier acts as a sort of metaphor for the legacies that people leave behind.

而我早些提到的希比歐的布，則是隱喻人們所留下的傳奇。

It's heartwarming, heartbreaking and a little bit Freudian,

他很窩心卻也很傷心，也有點心理學的掙扎。

but only just Freudian enough.

但，這正剛好惆悵。

Which is good, because this is an anime specifically about a mum who stays 15 forever

這很好，因為這動畫主要是講一個永遠十五歲的母親。

and it could easily go WAY too Freudian.

而這可以很容易地被佛洛伊德過度解釋。

Thankfully, while this rollercoaster hits a lot of emotional peaks and drops,

幸運的是，雖然它的情緒波動有著高峰也有低谷。

it never takes an Usagi Drop,

但它從沒有步上「白兔糖」的後塵。

and if you don't know what I'm talking about, do yourself a favour and never ever look it up.

如果你不知道我在講什麼，幫自己一個忙，永遠不要知道它。

Not only does this underlying theme make me really, really want to call my mum,

這內在的主題不只讓我很想去找我媽媽。

it also helps to ground the film's more fantastical and alien elements in very relatable, emotional territory.

這也讓這奇幻而疏離的題材變得相當有共鳴且充滿情緒的。

And as we see echoes of motherly moments that we've experienced with Maquia in the lives of other characters,

我們看著瑪奇亞和其他角色許多充滿母性的畫面。

specifically her kidnapped childhood friend Leilia, who is kept apart from her daughter,

尤其是她那被綁架的兒時玩伴蕾莉亞，她被迫與女兒分離。

we're able to understand some of their emotional journeys through that context

我們不需要真的在畫面上看到他們的愛，

without actually having to see it on-screen.

也能夠透過上下文感受到他們的情緒波動。

And this helps Maquia's story move along quickly as well.

而這幫《朝花夕誓》的故事快速地推移。

Reincorporating and twisting the meaning of prominent plot points and key lines

它重新組合並改變故事的情節和重要台詞。

such as Maquia's repeated comments about how Ariel "smells like the sun"

像是瑪奇亞總是說艾瑞爾的頭髮「聞起來像太陽。」

allows us to quickly grasp where the characters are emotionally every time we jump to a new location or time.

這讓我們每次都能夠迅速地體會到角色的情緒不論他們是在新的地點或時間。

The narrative feels perfectly coherent and tightly paced

故事完美地呼應著，也緊湊地進行著。

when by all accounts its unconventional structure should make it a stilted mess.

即使從各方面來看，它獨各的架構本該讓它變得混亂。

It takes really clever writing to pull that off.

這需要精巧的編劇手法去讓一切完美進行。

But of course the script was gonna be phenomenal, this is Mari Okada we're talking about.

但是，想當然，劇本定是相當非凡的，我們可是在討論岡田呢。

The real question is how everything else holds up.

真正的問題是一切要怎麼容納一切。

While first outings this ambitious have felled lesser directors,

首次做出這遠大的作品已經拉倒了不少導演。

just look at Goro Miyazaki's disastrous Tales From Earthsea,

看看宮崎吾朗損失慘重的《地海戰記》。

I am happy to report that Okada knocked this one out of the park in every respect possible.

我很高興岡田在各項表現上大獲全勝。

The film features breathtaking shots and animation cuts,

電影有著驚人的鏡頭還有動畫的過境。

tender scenes of subtle - and not so subtle - emotions,

精細而柔美的場景–但也微妙地有著豐富的情緒。

all of which hit almost perfectly.

全都在適當的巧合點醒人。

I'm particularly impressed by the way Okada uses lighting and colour to punctuate the steps of Maquia's emotional journey.

岡田使用燈光和色彩來解釋瑪琪亞情感旅程的經歷，給我留下了特別深刻的印象。

From the almost pure white innocence of her life with the Iolf

從在伊歐夫純白而單純的日子。

to the more complex palettes that we see as she begins to mature and Ariel begins changing her world,

隨著自己開始成熟，以及艾瑞爾開始改變她的生活，她的人生有了更為複雜的色調。

the film does a great job of using colour to set the tone and emotional context of each scene

這部電影很好地利用色彩來設定每個場景的基調和情感背景。

without those choices ever feeling forced or unnatural.

而這些選擇並沒有使之感覺被迫地或不自然地。

And you've been staring at clips from the film for long enough at this point

此時你已經看著電影剪輯一段時間了。

that I don't need to tell you that generally speaking,

一般來說，我不需要告訴你。

the characters, the CG backdrops and the shot composition are all beautiful.

角色、電腦繪製的背景還有畫面組成都很漂亮。

The CGI allows for some really powerful, dynamic camera moves

電腦生成影像能夠做出一些非常厲害的動態鏡頭。

although thankfully they use those sparingly so we don't get that Hand Shakers effect.

但是，好在他們謹慎地使用，所以我們不會有太多手持的晃動效果。

And for those of you who like complaining about CGI character models,

對於那些喜歡抱怨電腦繪製角色的人。

you'll be happy to know that for the most part, when they're used you don't even notice.

你會很慶幸在很多時候你根本不會注意到他們是電腦繪圖的。

In general, the compositing in Maquia is really well done,

大致上來說，《朝花夕誓》做得很完美。

and its world feels cohesive despite using disparate visual elements that could very easily clash with each other.

儘管使用了非常容易相互衝突的不同視覺元素，但它的世界仍然具有凝聚力。

If there's one criticism that I could levy at Maquia,

如果我至少得給《朝花夕誓》一個批評。

it's that it doesn't quite have its own visual identity

那就是它沒有自己獨特的視覺效果。

the same way that a Miyazaki, Shinkai, Yuasa or Hosoda production does.

就像宮崎駿、新海城、湯淺政明和細田守那樣的特色。

It feels like a proper fantasy anime,

它看起來就像個中規中矩的奇幻動漫。

and the rounded character designs and soft colours and lighting suit its setting and tone well.

圓潤的角色設計、柔和的色彩和燈光適合其設定和色調。

But its visual style doesn't really stand out that much, either.

但是它的視覺風格並沒有特別突出。

And while that's to be expected, to an extent -

雖然這是預期的，但在某種程度上 -

Okada comes from a writing background

畢竟岡田來自寫作背景。

where those other directors define their styles as animators first and foremost -

而其他導演首先以動畫師定義自己的風格。

I can't deny that it kinda holds the film back.

不可否認的，這有點拖累整部動畫。

Beautiful though Maquia may be,

雖然《朝夕之花》很漂亮。

nothing really left my jaw on the floor like a Shinkai wide shot or a bombastic Yuasa cut can.

但是它沒有什麼像是新海城的廣角鏡頭或是湯淺政明誇張的剪輯一樣能讓我感到新奇的。

Perhaps if Okada can keep working with character designer and animation director Yuriko Ishii on future films,

也許在未來的作品裡，岡田可以繼續擔任角色設計，而讓石井百合子繼續擔任總作畫監督。

she'll be able to refine the stylistic elements on display here into something more striking and unique.

她將能夠將這裡展示的風格元素細化為更引人注目和獨特的東西。

But, failing that, my one concern for her moving forward is that her films won't have the same immediate visual draw

但是，如果不這樣做，我對她未來一個擔憂就是她的電影。

as her contemporaries and competitors do.

不會像她的同齡人和競爭對手那樣立即獲得視覺效果。

Likewise, while the film's score by legendary composer Kenji Kawai is powerful,

同樣，雖然傳奇作曲家川井憲次讓電影得加分很多。

especially during its big emotional climax,

尤其是在情緒高潮的時候。

it's not particularly unique.

但是，這並不是什麼特別的事。

You've heard this sort of dreamy mix of woodwind, strings and percussion in fantasy films and JRPGs a dozen times before.

你大概好幾十次在科幻電影和 JRPG 中聽過這種夢幻般的木管樂器、弦樂和打擊樂器。

It definitely works, but it's nothing special.

它確實有效，但沒什麼特別的。

And that's a little disappointing coming from the guy who composed the OST for Ghost in the Shell.

以一個為《攻殼機動隊》作曲的人來說，這樣的成果有點失望的。

Ultimately, Maquia thrives on the strength of its storytelling,

最後，《朝花夕誓》成功在它的故事。

not its spectacle.

而不是它的畫面。

It's impeccably edited and shot to convey information and emotional context to the viewer effectively

它無可挑剔的編輯和拍攝，有效地向觀眾傳達信息和情感故事。

and on a script level, everything just works.

以劇本來說，每件事都很到位。

Both the lore of this fantasy world and the characters who inhabit it are fascinating and remarkably fleshed out.

這個幻想世界的故事和居住在這個世界的角色都是迷人而且非常充實的。

And the film definitely has its moments that can grip you and leave a hell of an impact,

這部電影肯定有某個片刻可以抓住你的心，並留下一個巨大的影響，

they just come from your investment in the story,

他們來自你對故事的投入。

not the raw technical prowess on display.

而不是超凡的技術展現。

This is one of the best stories that I've ever seen a director tell with their debut film.

這是我見過所有導演的出道電影中講述的最好的故事。

As a piece of cinema it's a triumph.

以電影來說，這是場勝利。

But those looking for stunning anime spectacle may be a little bit disappointed.

但是以精美的動畫畫面來說，這有點令人失望。

Still, on the whole, I can't recommend Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms enough.

我怎麼推薦《道別的早晨就用約定之花點綴吧》都是不夠的。

This film swept me up in its world

這部電影席捲了我的世界。

and ultimately got me to cry even harder than the last episode of A Place Further than the Universe.

最後它也讓我哭得比《比宇宙更遠的地方》的最後一集更厲害。

Which is saying an awful lot.

這解釋很多。

I'm giving this film a gold medal rating,

我會給這部電影一枚金牌。

which is an honour that I reserve for films and shows that I would personally force a close friend to watch at gunpoint.

這是我為電影和節目所預留的榮譽，即使要拿著槍逼我朋友，我也會親自強迫他們去看。

If you wanna take my recommendation and see Maquia for yourself,

如果你接受我的推薦想看《朝花夕誓》的話。

Eleven Arts, who provided me with the screener I watched for this review,

Eleven Arts 提供了我這次影評所用的篩選器。

are bringing it to select theatres across the United States and Canada for one-time showings toward the end of July.

它會在七月底以前在美國以及加拿大影院進行一次性放映。

Check the link in the doogly-doo to find out where and when it may be playing near you.

點閱 doogly-doo 的網址以找到他們在你附近的播放和時間。

And pro-tip: bring a box of tissues.

過來人提點：帶一盒衛生紙。

I'm Geoff Thew, professional shitbag, signing out from my mother's basement.

我是 Geoff Thew 職業廢人，從我媽的地下室退出。