A young girl moves to the country for the summer under the advice of her doctor. There she befriends a young girl with flowing blonde hair who she begins to build a close bond with. The two build a strong friendship, though the mysterious, ethereal Marnie clearly is more then meets the eye.
The movie When Marnie Was There, appears from the outset to be a coming of age story, with the focus being a young girl discovering her past in a far off place, through the mysterious Marnie. However to contrast the tropes of the coming of age narrative, there is an unshakable sense of passing in this story, from the ghostly appearance of Marnie, to the mysterious boatman and the frail condition of our heroine Anna, we have a tale which is as much a story of childhood as it is of eventual adulthood and death.
Much has been made of this movie for being the first Studio Ghibli movie post Miyazaki's and Takahata's retirement, both of whom were the founders of Studio Ghibli as we know it. Many have speculated as to whether this movie offers a glimpse of the future of Ghibli in younger hands, and from reading a few of the English language reviews already availible, many seem to contemplate whether this is a swan song for Ghibli or possibly a new dawn. Having just seen this movie, my overriding opinion is that Ghibli is alive and well and in the director Yonebayashi, they have a director who is a fitting heir to the masters Miyazaki and Takahata.
The movie When Marnie Was There carries all of the hall marks of great Ghibli, as you would expect from Ghibli there is; attention to detail, a strong narrative, well fleshed out characters, a great score, gorgeous visuals. This list reads as a standard for Ghibli animation, but what we should appreciate is that most movies failed to attain any of the points listed above, Ghibli achieves this with each and every one of their movies, and this is not attained effortlessly, but what we see when we watch a Ghibli movie are master crafts man at the peak of their creative powers striving for perfection in hand drawn animation. There is a creative vigor on the screen, one which screams both joyously and artfully. When Marnie Was There fits nicely into this bracket, and proves that Ghibli will endure long after Miyazaki and Takahata has left the building.
The movie When Marnie Was There, appears from the outset to be a coming of age story, with the focus being a young girl discovering her past in a far off place, through the mysterious Marnie. However to contrast the tropes of the coming of age narrative, there is an unshakable sense of passing in this story, from the ghostly appearance of Marnie, to the mysterious boatman and the frail condition of our heroine Anna, we have a tale which is as much a story of childhood as it is of eventual adulthood and death.
Much has been made of this movie for being the first Studio Ghibli movie post Miyazaki's and Takahata's retirement, both of whom were the founders of Studio Ghibli as we know it. Many have speculated as to whether this movie offers a glimpse of the future of Ghibli in younger hands, and from reading a few of the English language reviews already availible, many seem to contemplate whether this is a swan song for Ghibli or possibly a new dawn. Having just seen this movie, my overriding opinion is that Ghibli is alive and well and in the director Yonebayashi, they have a director who is a fitting heir to the masters Miyazaki and Takahata.
The movie When Marnie Was There carries all of the hall marks of great Ghibli, as you would expect from Ghibli there is; attention to detail, a strong narrative, well fleshed out characters, a great score, gorgeous visuals. This list reads as a standard for Ghibli animation, but what we should appreciate is that most movies failed to attain any of the points listed above, Ghibli achieves this with each and every one of their movies, and this is not attained effortlessly, but what we see when we watch a Ghibli movie are master crafts man at the peak of their creative powers striving for perfection in hand drawn animation. There is a creative vigor on the screen, one which screams both joyously and artfully. When Marnie Was There fits nicely into this bracket, and proves that Ghibli will endure long after Miyazaki and Takahata has left the building.