Makoto Shinkai's six-minute short film titled Someone's Gaze, or Dareka no Manazashi in Japanese, beautifully reminds viewers of the familial love that they may sometimes forget. It's a story about a young woman named Aya who moves out of her father's house as she starts to get into the working world. Through this significant life event to become more independent, she becomes incredibly lonely and depressed. It turns out that she isn't doing very well with her work life and misses her father dearly.
Someone's Gaze first premiered on February 10, 2013 at the Tokyo International Forum. It was also later shown at Makoto's The Garden of Words premiere on May 31, 2013. It's an excellent heartfelt film to watch on Father's Day, or just to remember and be thankful for the love and care that families can offer.
Narrated by Aya's mother, the short film starts out with Aya on a train heading home from work. On Aya's long journey home, she's clearly exhausted from work and tired from being on the train. She initially holds the train strap with her right hand, but then gets tired and switches to her left, eventually switching to both hands. This shows how far Aya's work is from home. She closes her eyes, as she doesn't want to see her own reflection. This could be because of shame or lack of self-esteem.
Aya makes it home and immediately relaxes on the bed when her father suddenly calls to find out how she's doing. Aya replies with, "Good," although viewers learn that she is lying, as she's had an especially stressful day at work. In fact, audiences are shown that she got a scolding at work that day, which made her miserable. Her father tells her that he and the family cat have been doing well too. However, this likewise turns out to be a lie, as her father also received a scolding at work, and their cat is getting old and unwell. Her father asks if they can go out to eat, but Aya lies and says she's at work. The reason that both characters lie could be that neither Aya nor her father wants the other to worry about their life, or because they would feel ashamed for the other to know of their troubles.
The movie then goes into remembering the good times that Aya had together with her family. Aya used to be a very happy girl with her father and mother. Her mother then had to leave for work, and it became just Aya and her father at home. Her father eventually bought her a cat, which they named Mii. Aya quickly became best friends with Mii. However, Aya's relationship with her father and Mii grew farther apart as she became older. The more independent Aya became, the less she cared about her father and Mii. This independence tore down each other's feelings and made everyone far more lonely.
Mii suddenly passes away, and this brings Aya back to her father, the death of the family cat bringing them closer together again. Viewers find out how much her father loved Aya and cared about her. The first time Aya moved out, they both cried out tears of loneliness. Aya spends time at her father's place after the death of Mii, and she gradually becomes much happier. She remembers how much she loves her family and being around them. Eventually, her mother comes home, and the film ends here.
Someone's Gaze provides a reminder about how much family can really mean. The things they've done to take care of one another as children can be forgotten as those same children grow older and become independent. It's a brilliant short movie that strikes hard at the audience's emotions as the memories of Aya and her father are played through the film. Familial love can help people in times of loneliness and despair, and the movie concludes that true happiness is long-lasting. Someone's Gaze posits that there's always a chance for loving familial relationships of the past to be rekindled.