The Colors Within is full of the same soft, pink harmony that a rosebud exudes while opening – in its initial scenes, there is a flower on the chapel floor, and then we watch a girl's braids as she talks to God. In just these seconds, as protagonist Totsuko prays for peace, I knew that A Silent Voice director Naoko Yamada's latest film was about to become one of my favorites, but I couldn't have predicted how sunnily it refreshes the retread topic of coming-of-age.
In hindsight, I should have. The movie, which is out now, is as sweetly original as the gum-wrappered insides of a high school student's locker; Catholic school girl Totsuko doesn't quite have synesthesia, but she sees people's colorful auras. Kind, spiritual, and a little bit of a dummy, Totsuko is lost until she starts a band with her blue-green friends Kimi and Rui, a "music otaku," Yamada said through a translator at The Colors Within's New York premiere, who happens to play the theremin – teen stuff.
