Kin no Kuni Mizu no Kuni (金の国 水の国) actually premiered in Japan last week, but I didn't managed to catch it until today.
The movie itself is 117 minutes, almost two hours. It started with a brief narration about the setting: two countries that have not been on good terms with each other for a thousand years, waging wars countless times. An ancient sign of goodwill is for Country A to send its most beautiful girl to Country B as a wife, and for Country B to send its most intelligent youth to Country A as a husband. Instead, Country A sent a kitten to be the wife of Naranbayar (a young architect from Country B), and Country B sent a puppy to be the husband of Sara (the 93rd princess of Country A, born by one of the king's concubines). Naranbayar and Saya kept their spouses' true identities a secret, knowing that their respective kings would be enraged and go to war again.
Country A is rich due to trade but lacks
water, while Country B has tons of water but is otherwise poor due to
the lack of trade routes. This is why Country A is the land of gold,
while Country B is the land of water. Country B
has a Persian/Arabian look, something that makes you think about
Arabian Nights. Meanwhile, terms of architecture and clothing, Country B
seems to be Oriental, with something of a northern Chinese + nomadic
Mongol look. They have been fighting each other hoping to get what each
needs through force.
As luck would have it, Naranbayar and Sara ended up bumping into each other, and along the way, realised that the other person is the one who was supposed to have received the bride/husband from his/her own country. To keep up the facade, they posed as each other's spouse, and this white lie was used to further propel their stories forward.
I shan't go much further into the story, but it is mainly about a win-win alternative to war. The music by Evan Call alone makes it worthy to go watch this movie. Actually, that was what brought me to the cinema in the first place. Evan Call composed the music used in this movie, as well as the three songs: 優しい予感 (Yasashii Yokan), Brand New World, and Love Birds. All these songs were performed by 琴音 (Kotone) and you can hear them here.
The movie has only been showing for a week, but it probably hasn't drawn much of a crowd, and is not expected to do so, since the local theater is showing it at one of the smallest screens it has. And the movie is just barely into its second week...
I watched the movie at lunch time on a Saturday (it only has two
screenings today, a weekend!) and the smallest screen at the cinema was
not even half filled. Actually, I wonder why. I mean, one of the main character is being voiced by a popular actress, and the movie is produced by a major TV network. One would think that it would be expected to do better at the box office. By comparison, the special screening of Demon Slayer (which is basically episodes 10 and 11 of the Entertainment District arc that aired last year, plus episode 1 of the Swordsmith Village arc that will air later this year) had a ton of people...
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