From Up On Poppy Hill

Alternate Titles: Kokuriko Zaka Kara

Kokuriko Zaka Kara
Studio Ghibli
Dir. Goro Miyazaki
Wri. Hayao Miyazaki, Keiko Niwa
Music Satoshi Takebe

Synopsis:

Umi Matsuzaki is a high school girl living in the Coquelicot Manor, a boarding house in Japan in the 1960s.  She meets Shun Kazama and they decide to clean up the school’s clubhouse: Quartier Latin.  But, a local businessman and chairman of the local high school Tokumaru decides to demolish the building and Umi and Shun launch into an effort to get him to reconsider.

Pros:
– Animation is beautiful. The interiors feel truly lived in. The kitchen of Coquelicot Manor and the Latin Quarter clubhouse are especially impressive. The exteriors are lush and warm. Very precise and detailed. Par for the course for Ghibli.
– Performances are subtle and nuanced. Actors give emotional resonance to their animated avatars.
– Music is mostly beautiful appropriate, but Joe Hisaishi is missed.
– Story is cute, if a little slight and predictable.
Cons:
– Nothing we haven’t seen before, story-wise. One plot point in particular feels a little too soap-opera-y.
– There are a few strange music choices that don’t feel emotionally compatible to the scenario.
– Feels a little too sentimental and
nostalgic. Like Makoto Shinkai by way of Hayao Miyazaki, two great tastes that don’t taste terribly good together.
– It’s biggest crime is that it’s kind of boring. It has the slice-of-life quality that Isao Takahata’s films typically bring to Studio Ghibli’s body of work, but isn’t nearly as entertaining as a Takahata film.
Rating: 3 signal flags out of 5.

[starrater]