Club Ghibli #21 - When Marnie Was There (2014)

How wet were your marshlands?

  • 10

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 9

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 0

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5

Diddy

愛してるって 言わなきゃ殺す
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Messages
67,604
Location
Osaka, Land of Fire
OK NOW we are at the final three movies in our voyage, and now one that has a special place for me, even if I still don't totally understand the story yet.

In 2014, Ghibli was in an uncertain period in its life. Its two artistic founders had completed what could easily have felt like swansongs: Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises" feeling like the ultimate Miyazaki legacy movie (and WAS intended as a retirement piece), and Takahata's "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya" a long-gestating labour of love that would turn out to be the final work before his death in 2018.

The new generation of producers, including Miyazaki's son Goro, had more-or-less competently carried the torch - in fact Goro spent 2014 producing the animated TV version of Ronja the Robber's Daughter for NHK. But it seemed that the studio was on the wane. Against this backdrop we come to "When Marnie Was There"

They really love their adaptations of western authors, don't they? How many is it now? Anyway, Joan G Robinson's novel of the same name was given to "Arrietty" director Hiromasa Yonebayashi.

Anna, an introverted teen living in Sapporo city, develops health issues and is sent to recuperate with her foster parents' relatives in the wetlands of Hokkaido. Feeling even more isolated, she meets Marnie - a mysterious and vivacious young girl - and develops a deep friendship. But what is the mystery about Marnie?

I said this was a special one for me, it was the first (and so far only) Ghibli movie I watched in Japan in the cinema. I couldn't really understand it without subtitles, but it is very tied to that time of my life, my first few months living here. And I had a strong reaction to the film's English-language ending theme too, which probably says more about my angst at the time than anything.

It was a creditable success, making triple its budget back and snatching the studio's fifth Oscar nomination. But a month after release, Ghibli's hiatus was announced. Would Marnie be the final Ghibli movie?



HOW THIS WORKS

In a semi book club format, the films will be announced, and over the course of about 2 weeks we can watch it and let everyone know what we thought. We are in the last third of the movies now, so I have decided to curate the last run and not pick the last big ones too soon - we've been really restrained I think so far, so thank you!

I was thinking 2 weeks should be enough time for most people to fit in a viewing at some point, but it's not strict so please come back when you have a chance, no pressure!
@Christian @Gangsta Nancy Lam @jivafox @COB @Haiku @ZenGiraffe @Lucille @KindaCool @Eyes @Queen of the Bay @RaspberrySwirl @RJN @Beverley @big ron @ButterTart @Mats (let me know if you don't want to be tagged any more)
 
We are almost there guyz

I’m going to watch this now I think, instead of editing YouTube videos because who cares
 
I took a +60 friend of mine who has now sadly passed away to see this film at the BFI. His reaction was WTF is this children's cartoon :D

That has perhaps coloured my impression of this film. I think there is a good idea about past and present meeting buried somewhere but it never actually quite manages to catch the lofty nostalgia heights of Only Yesterday, for example.

Also, minor gripe but the way the main character calls for MAAAH-NI every five minutes in the original dub got REALLY TIRED REALLY FAST.

I think it's a generous 7 for me.
 
A generous 7 from me too, I think.

I'm worried how much I should say if people haven't watched it yet so
I think the main issue for me is that Anna wasn't a particularly strong lead. I understand WHY she is depressed but it's all over the place - she's totally blank, then she's crying, then blank, then calling someone a fat ugly pig out of nowhere. I can't say I really got the idea of "well nobody loves me because child support exists, despite my foster mother obviously being very kind". She's repeatedly shown kindness but she won't accept any of it. Again, I'm sure that's a real reaction people have sometimes, but then it all just disappears near the end of the film.

All that is before you get to the ghost story side of it - I mean that's some kind of premise but it's just narratively incoherent. She just has hallucinations about her grandmother and then wakes up in the bushes? I'd be somehow more open to it if she was actually having these experiences but Marnie just ends up being a ghost, but it just feels like she's nuts. And she can't/won't make friends, but after a few meetings and a slow-dance she loves Marnie more than anyone she's ever met? Sure, good for you

I think Ghibli movies can get away with a lot by sort of whisking you into it, but I think it was just that initial buy-in with the character that doesn't happen and I just felt impatient. I mean Chihiro is a bit of a brat at the start of Spirited Away, but you can see her growth without it being spelled out.

The last act where the foster mum turns up, that should be a nice sign of love - but then you get this weird scene of "By the way I have to confess I receive a government subsidy I'm so sorry, I love you" which comes from nowhere considering Anna presumably told nobody (except her lesbian ghost grandma), and despite it being the main thrust of Anna's detachment she's suddenly "tee hee I know and it's OK", I mean !!!

Oh and also HOW many pairs of shoes is that girl going to SOAK with gross marsh water?!

It felt more Ghibli than Earthsea, but yeah... I didn't really get into this one as much as I thought I would.
 
I was going to feel sad that we are almost at the end, but then I realised I have a small clutch of additional stuff from Ghibli, as well as two more directors I really want to deep dive with, so it never ends!
 
I think my issue with this one is its all sentiment and no story. By the end I was felt feeling very
Keeping Up With The Kardashians Whatever GIF by E!
 
Ah, rural Japan, marshlands edition.

I liked this story, it was sweet. I hadn't seen it before and so the mystery of what was going on had me intrigued
even if it was blindingly obvious that past and present was involved the moment they mentioned foreigners lived there in the past, its decrepit and then the blonde girl shows up.
It's more I wanted to find out the details of whatever this ghost story had to hand and love stretching across time isn't the worst theme out there, plus it ending up being her grandmother at the end was really sweet - even if it never really hid its cards very well.

Anna I got along with, actually. I know what it's like to feel bound by social pressures and severe crippling shyness, and they're things you have to work past and teenagers generally haven't yet. Especially she's got a lot of insecurities and distance from her family at the start of the film. The child support thing felt weird to me too but does Japan perhaps not have such a rigorous system/it would feel embarrassing to accept that money regardless? The mother bringing it up at the end was definitely odd.

As to what I really liked, the scenery, beautiful as ever and we don't often get a Hokkaido setting in anime, the various side characters throughout the village and especially the scenes with Anna and Marnie, or Anna and Sayaka. That was the real strength of this one I thought, just some really feel-good positive reinforcement and cameradarie, going down across the generations. The memories of Marnie (I like the Japanese title better than the English one), that makes it powerful.

Perhaps not among the very best of Ghibli, due to a few plot weaknesses, but pretty solid entry into the canon, I had a good time.
 
I've never seen this one. I didn't even know it EXISTED. Should I give it a go?? My fave Ghibli choices are always Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away cause I'm basic.
 
I've never seen this one. I didn't even know it EXISTED. Should I give it a go?? My fave Ghibli choices are always Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away cause I'm basic.

You should watch them ALL :oi: (well maybe not all) - does that mean you’ve seen a load? WHERE WERE YOU PEEPS? I’ve been doing threads every two weeks for EIGHT MONTHS!

There’s nothing basic about loving Spirited Away
(howl tho.. :eyes: )
 
Oh well, for the most part it looked like a coming of age ghost tale of an emo lesbian girl sent to live away in a mesmerising landscape. If they kept it that way I could have easily went for a 9. But no, by the time the painter lady starts telling the story of Marnie it becomes clear they're going to go full telenovela for the finale plotwist. A shame really, there was so much potential with the ghost romance.
No Way Goodbye GIF
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom