THE STORY – A young boy called Lubicchi is filled with sorrow after losing his best friend, Poupelle. Then he accidentally wanders into a mysterious realm that governs time. In this world, any clock that stops ticking is immediately discarded. But one strange tower remains standing despite its clock being frozen at 11:59. Lubicchi discovers that the only way to return to his own world is to restart this stopped clock. Together with his companion, Fluff, he begins to unravel the mystery of the clock tower. During his journey, he encounters Gus, a man who has kept the faith and waited for a hundred years, and Nagi, a tree spirit who once took human form. When Lubicchi finally regains the courage to believe, a miracle occurs on Halloween night.
THE CAST – Yuzuna Nagase, Masataka Kubota, Megumi, Koshiba Fuka, Yoshihara Mitsuo & Tsuchiya Anna
THE TEAM – Yusuke Hirota (Director) & Akihiro Nishino (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 98 Minutes
In the wake of the once smoke-covered Chimney Town, where the starry sky is finally revealed, a boy named Lubicchi (Yuzuna Nagase) finds himself in the quiet, poignant aftermath of a miracle. “Poupelle of Chimney Town” was a nationwide sensation in Japan, grossing 2.7 billion yen, and its legacy has been captured in everything from kabuki to ballet. So naturally, a sequel was written in the same stars that now shine above the town. Yet, for Lubicchi, the clear skies only reveal the depth of his loss.
“Chimney Town: Frozen in Time,” directed by Yusuke Hirota and written by Akihiro Nishino, is a compelling journey through grief and the resilience required to believe. Lubicchi is still waiting for the return of Poupelle (Masataka Kubota), his friend made of trash who vanished after their first adventure. He still keeps pieces of Poupelle in a trunk in his bedroom, and while he cleans chimneys and sits upon the rooftops, the memory of Poupelle and their time together haunts the space like a residual imprint. As Lubicchi’s friends point out, he doesn’t talk about Poupelle anymore; he keeps it all inside. He has tried to rebuild his friend, but without a soul, it is just a mountain of scraps, and he has lost all hope of seeing him again.
You quickly get the sense of the importance of time to this sequel—the time that has passed and the time yet to come. Lubicchi explains that a clock has two hands that repeat their hellos and goodbyes. They overlap once an hour, but never during the 11th hour. No matter how much they run, they’re always alone. They overlap next at 12:00, the time of the bell that celebrates the reunion of the two hands. It is an eloquent allegory for Lubicchi and Poupelle. Lubicchi is currently at the 11th hour, asking himself if they will ever find each other again.
The narrative shifts when Lubicchi accidentally wanders into a mysterious realm that governs time: the Millennium Fortress. The world-building here is a masterstroke of production design and a wondrous interpretation of the soul’s next journey. Boats rise from the water, steered by animal couriers who carry glowing clocks. These are not merely timepieces; they are lives bearing a specific inscription of their owner. This imagery suggests that the light of life is synonymous with the light of time itself. At the center of this mechanism is Hora (Tsuchiya Anna). As the arbiter of these destinies, she decides the delivery of these lives—a role that becomes tragically ironic when she reveals that the fortress’s own primary clock has ceased to function. It stands frozen at 11:59, the last minute before the hands meet again.
Hora tasks Lubicchi with fixing this clock as a ticket to return home, and this is where the film pivots to an intimate reflection on the characters of Gus (Yoshihara Mitsuo) and Nagi (Koshiba Fuka). Gus is the keeper of the clockmakers who has waited a hundred years for Nagi, a tree spirit who once took human form. However, there is a missed opportunity for depth here as the presentation of their romance is less interesting than Lubicchi navigating his own monumental task. The love that Gus and Nagi once shared and the weight of Gus’s loss aren’t felt as deeply as they could have been because the relationship doesn’t have enough time to truly evolve.
“I can’t repair what’s not broken,” Gus says. You realize it isn’t the clock that’s broken; it’s its keeper. Lubicchi eventually confronts Gus with the truth: that he is a man stuck in the past, waiting for someone who will never come back. But the irony is that Lubicchi has been doing the same. Lubicchi’s personal struggle is the film’s most compelling draw, and through Gus’s story, he has to decide whether to give up believing or keep waiting.
The film transitions from a quest to repair a broken clock but one to repair a broken self. Lubicchi needs to repair himself before he can repair anything else. “Chimney Town: Frozen in Time” is an adventurous tale of friendship and love that leaves the audience with a joyous feeling in the heart. It captures the truth that even when the hands of the clock are separated, the 12 o’clock bell eventually rings for those who wait. It’s the story of anyone who’s never stopped believing.
