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movie review - Belle

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-five years and one million words

Tonight for "movie night", my daughter and I watched a Japanese movie inspired by Beauty and the Beast. It takes place in modern Japan, where a girl with a traumatic childhood enters an only meta-verse called "U" and becomes a global sensation as a singer. She attracts the attention of a person with a snarling beast as an avatar, who manages to disrupt her big performance while battling the self-appointed security forces of the meta-verse.

Things develop in an emotionally resonant way until events in the real world and the meta-verse are colliding in unpredictable way. "Bell" is faced with being outed by security, the beast is clearly bringing his suffering from the real world into the game, and everyone else seems to floundering through various degrees of their own problems.

I found the tale to be so well-formed and the story so purposeful that I'd agree with the astronomical ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, where audiences and critics alike have given it a 95% at present.

Strongly recommended.