[Anilogue.]

Elemi is Hideto Nakata’s first movie, starring the voices of Tomoko Okumura, Kazushi Watanabe, Kyozo Kudu.

Plot:
Elemi (Tomoko Okumura) is a telephone pole in need of repair. When repairman Takahashi (Kazushi Watanabe) shows up, Elemi falls in love with him. In a complete breach of pole rules, Elemi actually contacts Takahashi (via telephone, of course) and they get along very well.

Elemi is very sweet. The story is pure romance and the (stop-motion) animation is very well done. It could have done with a bit more energy, though.

The movie has the odd length of 45 minutes. But 20 minutes would have probably served just as well to tell the story and would have made it seem a little more dynamic.

But in any case, it’s a sweet story and such a cute idea. I completely loved the character design, especially for all the telephone and other utilities poles. Each had its own, individual look, but it all formed a very harmonious world.

The council of the telephone poles was brilliant. It really gave you an idea of the pole society and how it worked. [Here’s a thing I thought I’d never talk about: utility pole culture.] And Mokubei (Kyozo Kudu), the elder of the council (basically) was great as well.

The ending (which I’m not going to spoil) was very touching and pitch-perfect.

Summarising: A very sweet, very watchable movie.