When Marnie Was There (15.)
Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi.
Featuring Sara Takatsuki, Kasumi Arimura, Nanako Matsushima, Susumu Terajima, Toshie Negishi and Ryôko Moriyama. 103 mins. Dubbed English/ Japanese with subtitles. Out on Blu-ray from Studiocanal.
Few films that have come out this year have the poignancy of this Japanese animation. The sadness comes less from its story of a lonely young girl finding friendship when she is sent to the country to recover from a bout of ashma, and much more from it being, as things stand, the final film from the legendary Studio Ghibli. The retirements of its two leading directors and co-founders, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, (this is the first Ghibli film that neither of them have contributed to) have left a gap that the rest of the company has failed to fill. When Marnie underperformed in Japan on its 2014 release it announced a “temporary” halt to production.
Of course, if you are banking the future of a company on a single film than maybe not go with a downbeat, pre-teen, supernatural, chaste lesbian romance. Or, if you are going to go with the downbeat, pre-teen, supernatural, chaste lesbian romance, make it one that is audience involving. Throughout the film I was constantly wondering what exactly I was being shown. We start off with a recalcitrant Anna at school, apart from the other kids, head buried in her sketchbook and confident that there a circle seperating her from the rest of the world, because she was adopted and doesn't know who her parents were.
When she is sent off to the sea she is drawn towards an empty mansion where she meets the blond haired Marnie. Now clearly Marnie is some kind of phantom figure, though Anna doesn't really acknowledge this. Anna is quite boyish, while Marnie is almost a parody of Barbie girlshness. She is Alice, but this is not Wonderland. Director Yonebayashi had worked in the company as an animator for two decades and had previously directed Arriety, but his film doesn't have the snap of their best films. To reflect Anna's state of mind he has replaced the white clouds and clear blue skies that were Ghibli trademarks, with overcast or dusky red skies to create a more oppressive sky that reflects Anna's state of mind. And even if you don't register the change, you really miss those beautiful open spaces and that sense of freedom.
Overall the images don't have the magic of their best films. The biggest problem though is that it isn't much fun, and it doesn't have the emotional pull to compensate for that. Often the best part of a Ghibli will be the closing credits, when the main character will revisit the main locations and characters, and are often the moment when the film's power really hits you. They do it here and it has no effect at all, other than to reinforce that sense of not having truly connected with this film.
In retrospect a certain air of gloom has hung over the studio's films for around a decade: only Ponyo was really upbeat and happy. The film has many of the traditional Ghibli traits: lots of greenery and fresh air, a sick character needing to convalesce, a focus on an uncertain young girl trying to find her place in the world. It is lovely in its way, as almost all Ghibli films are, but the film has more melodrama than real charm and its story is too arbitrary and contrived. It all makes for a rather mopey farewell.
Extras
Behind the scenes with the English voice cast
The Making of ‘When Marnie Was There’
Yohei Taneda creates the Art of ‘When Marnie Was There’
Original Japanese trailers and TV spots
Uk trailers
Other Ghibli reviews:
Grave of the Fireflies.
Kiki's Delivery Service,
Tales of Earthsea
Ponyo
From up on Poppy Hill
The Wind Rises.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi.
Featuring Sara Takatsuki, Kasumi Arimura, Nanako Matsushima, Susumu Terajima, Toshie Negishi and Ryôko Moriyama. 103 mins. Dubbed English/ Japanese with subtitles. Out on Blu-ray from Studiocanal.
Few films that have come out this year have the poignancy of this Japanese animation. The sadness comes less from its story of a lonely young girl finding friendship when she is sent to the country to recover from a bout of ashma, and much more from it being, as things stand, the final film from the legendary Studio Ghibli. The retirements of its two leading directors and co-founders, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, (this is the first Ghibli film that neither of them have contributed to) have left a gap that the rest of the company has failed to fill. When Marnie underperformed in Japan on its 2014 release it announced a “temporary” halt to production.
Of course, if you are banking the future of a company on a single film than maybe not go with a downbeat, pre-teen, supernatural, chaste lesbian romance. Or, if you are going to go with the downbeat, pre-teen, supernatural, chaste lesbian romance, make it one that is audience involving. Throughout the film I was constantly wondering what exactly I was being shown. We start off with a recalcitrant Anna at school, apart from the other kids, head buried in her sketchbook and confident that there a circle seperating her from the rest of the world, because she was adopted and doesn't know who her parents were.
When she is sent off to the sea she is drawn towards an empty mansion where she meets the blond haired Marnie. Now clearly Marnie is some kind of phantom figure, though Anna doesn't really acknowledge this. Anna is quite boyish, while Marnie is almost a parody of Barbie girlshness. She is Alice, but this is not Wonderland. Director Yonebayashi had worked in the company as an animator for two decades and had previously directed Arriety, but his film doesn't have the snap of their best films. To reflect Anna's state of mind he has replaced the white clouds and clear blue skies that were Ghibli trademarks, with overcast or dusky red skies to create a more oppressive sky that reflects Anna's state of mind. And even if you don't register the change, you really miss those beautiful open spaces and that sense of freedom.
Overall the images don't have the magic of their best films. The biggest problem though is that it isn't much fun, and it doesn't have the emotional pull to compensate for that. Often the best part of a Ghibli will be the closing credits, when the main character will revisit the main locations and characters, and are often the moment when the film's power really hits you. They do it here and it has no effect at all, other than to reinforce that sense of not having truly connected with this film.
In retrospect a certain air of gloom has hung over the studio's films for around a decade: only Ponyo was really upbeat and happy. The film has many of the traditional Ghibli traits: lots of greenery and fresh air, a sick character needing to convalesce, a focus on an uncertain young girl trying to find her place in the world. It is lovely in its way, as almost all Ghibli films are, but the film has more melodrama than real charm and its story is too arbitrary and contrived. It all makes for a rather mopey farewell.
Extras
Behind the scenes with the English voice cast
The Making of ‘When Marnie Was There’
Yohei Taneda creates the Art of ‘When Marnie Was There’
Original Japanese trailers and TV spots
Uk trailers
Other Ghibli reviews:
Grave of the Fireflies.
Kiki's Delivery Service,
Tales of Earthsea
Ponyo
From up on Poppy Hill
The Wind Rises.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
