Golden Time (Movie)

Golden Time is a 2013 film from Robot Communications. Yes, the studio behind Tsumiki no Ie. Is this as excellent as that film? Let's check.

Story:

We open with an old cabinet television being taken to the junkyard. After being dropped off, the television tries to escape the junkyard, possibly wanting to return to the family that used to own it. The cabinet meets a bunch of other sentient objects in the junkyard led by a broken clockwork rabbit but refuses to engage much with them.

The biggest narrative issue with the film is that the rift between the cabinet and the other junkyard denizens isn't ... resolved all that well. The cabinet has a moment with clockwork rabbit and that's kind of it. It's also a bit odd that a select few objects in the junkyard have sentience but the rest don't seem to.

On the positive side, there are some really funny moments in this. It's also effective at building its world and showcasing personalities of these sentient items without ever having them exchange dialogue. I also really like the ending. It has a bittersweet tint that really works.

Characters:

The major characters in this are the objects. The clockwork rabbit and cabinet are both well developed and have a good deal of depth in spite of not having any dialogue. The rabbit is pretty endearing as well. The other objects like the fan, chair and bucket are less compelling but you do get a decent sense of what they're like.

Art:

The artwork in this looks very nice. They make the objects move around in a way that seems very realistic. The style is pretty charming as well. The film also uses visual gags effectively.

Sound:

The music is pretty solid. There's very little voice acting. It has a little bit when the cabinet television turns on and it does sound like voices over an old, beat up telly.

Ho-yay:

There's no romance in this. It's about sapient objects.

Areas of Improvement:

The side objects could use stronger personalities.

We need some kind of explanation, even a heavy implied one, for why most of the junkyard objects are just normal objects.

The film could benefit from a little more time with the tell cabinet engaging with the other sapient objects after it comes out of its shell.

Final Thoughts:

Golden Time is almost as good as Tsumiki no Ie. It has charm, humour and effectively tells a story heavily rooted in animism purely through animation. My rating on this one is going to be an 8/10. Check it out if the basic concept sounds somewhat appealing.

What happens to us when we're no longer useful to society? In twenty minutes, Golden Time tells a touching tale of finding new purpose, the value of friendship, personal redemption and the cycle of life.

Story, 7: A TV set is abandoned by its owner in favor of a newer-style and attempts to escape its surroundings. The story is tightly-paced and fleshes out the junkyard as its own world extremely well, all without dialogue (an impressive feat).

Art, 8: A muted, classic style presumably to match our television protagonist's own visuals. The background art is nice and the minor touches to flesh out characters' personalities were appreciated ... (the little hop after the wind-up cat creature is revived, the bucket covering its "mouth" after surprise, etc.)

Sound, 7: A lush, orchestrated soundtrack, but with little variation in tune. The rough, clanging sounds and creaks of the junkyard all fit with the setting well.

Characters, 7: The television has a surprisingly satisfying character arc (which I will refrain from explaining to avoid spoilers), and the other characters are sympathetic, though not as explored as the protagonist.

Enjoyment, 7: I thoroughly appreciated the themes present in the film (namely the cycle of life, which I thought was beautifully executed) and was entertained throughout.

Overall, 7: For only a twenty-minute watch, I would highly recommend this short film. Fans of "The House of Small Cubes" will likely enjoy the animation and similar style of storytelling (this is by the same production company). A satisfying short that deserves more recognition.