Omohide poro poro/Only Yesterday (1991)

A few days ago, I read that director Isao Takahata died.  Takahata co-founded Studio Ghibli along with Hayao Miyazaki.  The article pointed out something that I hadn’t considered before: Miyazaki tended to direct more fantastical movies whereas Takahata tended to direct more realistic ones.

In fact, Only Yesterday seems like something The Hallmark Channel might air, even if only on a superficial level.  The movie is about a woman living in a big city with a comfortable job.  She goes on vacation to a small town, where she finds that small-city life isn’t so bad.  The events of the movie force her to confront who she really is.  She even meets a potential love interest that she spends most of the movie not being overtly interested in romantically.

Taeko is actually visiting her brother-in-law’s family.  She wants to get away for a while, but has no real plans of staying there permanently.  She’s just trying to get away from city life by helping out with a safflower harvest.  While there, a lot of memories from her childhood resurface.  She has no idea why.

The movie is a little unusual in that it doesn’t seem to be aimed at children.  Taeko seems like a normal young girl.  She has trouble with fractions.  She’s maybe a little awkward around boys.  She even stresses out at being one of the few children not going on vacation for the summer.

The unusual part comes in that the movie deals with puberty and the onset of menstruation.  It’s mentioned as something that a young girl would be concerned about.  It’s not really explained in graphic detail, but it is something for parents to be aware of.  From what I’ve read, that’s what kept Disney from releasing it in America.  (GKIDS had to be the one to distribute it here.)

I didn’t really feel uncomfortable with the references.  The story focused on Taeko and her trip, for the most part.  It seems to be about her coming to terms with her life choices.  She’s used to big-city life, but is it really what she wants?  She’s single, but doesn’t seem set against a relationship.  (She does resist a little when people bring up dating.)

I would say that the movie is more for adults.  It should be safe for those 13 and above, but there might be some uncomfortable questions due to talk of puberty and dating.  It’s nothing that would scar a child, but you might want to be prepared to answer questions on basic reproduction.


IMDb page

Yume to kyôki no ôkoku/The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2013)

Some documentaries are straightforward.  You’re presented with information meant to teach you about a given subject.  Others, not so much.  The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness takes a look behind the scenes Studio Ghibli Primarily, the movie focuses on the production of The Wind Rises, which was Hayao Miyazaki’s most recent attempt at a final film.  (He had previously announced his retirement several times before only to direct another movie.)

Another movie, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, is mentioned, only because it was in production at the same time and was supposed to be released at the same time as The Wind Rises, although The Tale of Princess Kaguya is shown as having too many delays.  Thus, the documentary focuses on The Wind Rises with The Tale of the Princsess Kaguya having a small role.

It starts with a meeting about how merchandising sales and not having released a movie in the previous year.  It shows storyboarding, animating and voicing the movie.  The parts showing the animating didn’t seem to focus on too many people, although you get the impression that there’s a much larger team at work.  Likewise, only the Japanese voice of the movie’s main character is shown.  Those producing the movie knew that they wanted Hideaki Anno to voice Jiro Horikoshi, although they weren’t sure if he’d be available.  No other recording for the voices are even mentioned.

The movie also has segments with Miyazaki talking about things like the Fukushima disaster.  In one scene, he responds to a letter from someone and talks about his father.  Other parts of the movie cover the history of Studio Ghibli, as well as Toshio Suzuki and Isao Takahata.

It comes across almost like a bonus feature for The Wind Rises, as there is a lot of behind-the-scenes footage.  This doesn’t mean that you have to have seen The Wind Rises.  If you’re a fan of any of the studio‘s movies,  you’ll want to watch this movie.

My mother once asked me if knowing more about a movie takes away from the enjoyment.  I have been known to watch the bonus features when I have a chance and will also read the trivia section on IMDb.  I don’t think this would take away from watching The Wind Rises at all.  Since you get to see some of Miyazaki’s opinions on certain topics, it does give you insight in to his personality.  It might affect your opinion of him as a person, but it didn’t affect my ability to watch his films in the future.

It is worth noting The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness doesn’t have many heavy spoilers, although some information about the movie is mentioned.  You see scenes from the movie being voiced and animated.  I don’t think there would be enough to ruin the movie nor does there seem to be any assumption as to whether or not the viewer has already seen it.

People unfamiliar with animation and Studio Ghibli probably won’t get as much out of this.  In fact, I could almost see the documentary being used for a class on animation.  We sometimes think of studios and directors being something mythical and we can forget that actual people are involved in the making of a movie.  There’s also the business side of movies.  Merchandising can bring in a lot of revenue.  (There’s a reason lunch boxes were so popular in the 1980s.)  If you’re interested in Studio Ghibli, I’d watch this documentary.

IMDb page

Grave of the Fireflies/Hotaru no haka (1988)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

There are some movies that seem to take on a life beyond what they were intended for. From what I understand, Grave of the Fireflies was originally written as a book by an author who needed to deal with some issues in his childhood. While I can’t really elaborate without ruining the story, I can say that the movie has become somewhat of an anti-war movie.

The movie takes place in Japan during the final months of World War II. Seita is a boy about high-school age. He works and goes to school, but both his school and place of employment are destroyed when Allied forces begin air raids on his home town. He’s told by his mother to look after his sister, Setsuko, and to make sure that they both get to the shelter safely. (Their father is in the Japanese Navy and is away at war.)

Both make it to safety, but are separated from their mother. After the raid, they find out that their mother didn’t fare well. She has to be taken to a hospital, but dies en route leaving the brother to look after his sister. Fortunately, there’s an aunt who can take them in, but she’s too strict for the siblings’ liking. Seita makes the decision to strike out on their own rather than live with the aunt.

This proves more difficult than he originally anticipated. While he can come across money and he and his sister get rations, enough food is scarce and they’re forced to live in an abandoned shelter. Money and food run out on occasion and Setsuko seems to be getting sick. Seita cares for his sister very much and hates to see her like this. He can go back to the aunt, and is urged to do so on several occasions, but is too prideful to honestly consider it.

I don’t want to say more than that for fear of spoiling the movie. I will say that you shouldn’t be fooled by the fact that this is anime. It’s a very adult movie and really shouldn’t be watched by small children. I don’t recall much death being shown on screen, but there is some gore and the effects of war aren’t something that many children would be able to understand.

There are also certain subtleties that many children may miss. For instance, the aunt may seem like an overbearing foster parent when in reality, she has hard choices to make. Seita doesn’t work and doesn’t seem to think there’s much for him. When he agrees to let his mother’s kimonos be sold off for rice, he thinks that he’ll be entitled to a better share than he and his sister actually get. The aunt points out that she and her husband contribute to the household and society whereas the two siblings don’t. As an adult, you can understand the aunt’s point of view.

If you think that animation is for children, this is a great movie to break you of that belief. Grave of the Fireflies is not only great animation, it’s a great movie. I’d say it’s even top-10 material. I’d give it five stars.

IMDb page

Heisei tanuki gassen ponpoko [Pom Poko] (1994)

In Japan, there’s a creature called the tanuki. (According to Wikipedia, there seems to be some variation on what a tanuki is, but the English translation has them incorrectly as raccoons.) The movie starts out in the 1960’s with the tanukis’ habitat slowly being taken over by development. They know that they have to band together to prevent this, but tanuki are basically lazy and playful. Life is just one big party for them.

Once food starts becoming scarce, they know that they have to get their act together and do something. The decide to declare all-out war on humans. Everything they try backfires. The problem stems from the fact that their only real skill is shape shifting. They’re able to scare off construction workers, but it isn’t long before new workers are found and the new workers aren’t as easily scared.

They manage to get help from a far-away colony of tanuki, but even this doesn’t help. They stage a parade that makes a lot of people fearful enough to shut down the construction, but this is undone by the owner of a local theme park that takes credit for it, saying that it’s a publicity stunt. This puts them in a real bind. Tanuki are dying and those that are still around end up in various factions, each having different ideas on how to handle the problem.

In the end, I felt that the movie was too long, even though it ran about two hours. I can’t find any particular point that the movie should have ended or any parts that could have been cut out, but there were several points where I found myself wondering how much of the movie was left. I could have seen the movie being split up into a miniseries or a TV show.

I’ve been watching a lot of Studio Ghibli films. Usually, I can be pretty certain that I’ll like anything with the Studio Ghibli name on it. Pom Poko has been the only one that made me step back and think. The primary reason is that the male tanuki have very obvious testicles, which are translated as ‘pouches’, and the females have breasts. This caught me off guard and may cause parents to question whether or not their children should be watching this. (The male tanuki use there are able to morph their testicles into various things like parachutes.) At first, I was wondering if I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. In retrospect, it wasn’t a big deal. Overall, it didn’t play a major part, but is probably responsible for the PG rating.

It’s hard to let that overshadow the fact that it was still a good movie with a great message. This is a problem going on around the world. The movie shows how animals need their habitat and are often forced to live in a human world. The tanuki are forced to do something while humans basically ignore them. I would recommend this movie, but would advise you to watch it before letting your kids see it. Even though the movie was directed by Isao Takahata, don’t expect a movie like Grave of the Fireflies.

Pom Poko | Disney Movies