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Showing @ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Wed 17 Oct only

Goro Miyazaki / Japan / 2012 / 91 min

Studio Ghibli’s latest film, From Up on Poppy Hill, is a showcase of what they do best: a marvellously observational anime. Director Goro Miyazaki, son of long-term Ghibli helmsman Hayao Miyazaki, has found his stride after his rather disappointing debut, Tales from Earthsea.

Japan prepares for the 1964 Olympics. Young Umi lives in Yokohama, a port city, where she raises a flag each morning to greet passing sailors and to her father, who passed away in the Korean War. Umi’s mother, a professor, is in America, leaving Umi to maintain a busy household and her school studies. When Umi meets trouble-making boy, Shun, her domestic ritual is quickly disrupted. Shun writes for the school paper, and Umi soon finds herself helping out in a plot to save the clubhouse (one of those locations that anyone would wish they could visit in person) from demolition. The story feels small and self-enclosed by Ghibli standards, with signature fantasy elements absent. What we get instead is a beautifully executed drama. The latter part of the film feels perhaps somewhat hastily concluded, leaving you wondering what happened to Umi’s family. Maybe this is one of the greatest traits of a Ghibli film: a story which lingers long after viewing like a really sweet dream.

Showing as part of Scotland Loves Animation 2012.

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