Hosting
the 1964 Tokyo Olympics completed Japan’s post-war rebirth. It would announce the arrival of a new
democratic capitalist country on the world stage. However, as Japan prepares for the games in
1963, two high school students will come to terms with their past in Gorō
Miyazaki’s From Up On Poppy Hill (trailer here), the latest
animated feature from Studio Ghibli (co-adapted from a manga favorite by the
director’s legendary animator father Hayao), which screens as part of the 2013 NewYork International Children’s Festival, in advance of its Friday opening at the
IFC Center.
Umi
Matsuzaki is the perfect daughter, who studies diligently when she is not cooking
and doing chores for her family’s boarding house guests. Unfortunately, her parents are not present to
witness her hard work. Her mother is
studying in an American graduate program and her father was lost at sea—or at
least so she was told. Nevertheless,
every morning she raises signal flags in hopes of guiding her sailor father home
again. Her grandmother, siblings, and
boarders appreciate all her hard work, but there is still a void in her life.
Suddenly,
boys come into her life. Through an odd
chain of events, the bemused Matsuzaki falls in with the rabble-rousing leaders
of the Latin Quarter, a dilapidated fraternity house for her school’s
male-dominated academic clubs. As the
editor of the Latin Quarter’s newspaper, Shun Kazama has published his poems
inspired by Matsuzaki’s flag-raising. Although
the administration has decided to demolish their old building, the practical Matsuzaki
becomes instrumental in their campaign to save the Latin Quarter. In the process, she and Kazama fall deeply in
manga-anime style love. Unfortunately, Kazama
discovers a secret link from their family histories that apparently changes
everything.
At
least the first third of Poppy is solely
devoted to establishing Matsuzaki’s small corner of Yokohama and her various
relationships with family, boarders, and fellow students. One could say not much happens, yet it is
quite pleasant, in large measure due to the great likability of the virtuous
but down-to-earth heroine. When Matsuzaki
begins her sweetly awkward relationship with Kazama, while counseling his arrogant
but well meaning friends, Poppy takes
on the vibe of an upscale anime Archie comic. However, the past will continue to intrude on
their reluctant melodrama.
Visually,
Poppy is quite attractive, but its
backgrounds and cityscapes are not nearly as lush as Ghibli’s two previous American
releases, The Secret World of Arrietty
and Tales from Earthsea. Still, it presents an appealing protagonist for
younger girls, especially those who might feel self conscious about being
studious or sensitive. Indeed, the fillm’s
tone and characters are all quite endearing, propelled along quite nicely by
Satoshi Takebe’s lightly swinging themes.
