From Up on Poppy Hill (2012)

Brilliant art, nice soundtrack and a simple story make this a nice film without being a must-see

Set during the 1960s, this Studio Ghibli production focuses on a teenage girl who helps her peers save a clubhouse from demolition while falling in love with a shy classmate. The animation is beautiful as per Ghibli par and the film benefits from a great music score as well as some catchy songs; as a narrative though, the film is not much more interesting than it sounds. Conflict arises as she begins to wonder whether she could be related to her new crush, but the mystery of his parentage is never particularly enticing and the fixing up of the clubhouse feels a little too much like an 80s comedy subplot; it even comes with an 80s style montage sequence as the teens clean and sweep the place. The setting is certainly interesting though with lots of excitement and uncertainty in the air regarding the impending Tokyo Olympic Games and it is hard not to wonder whether the film may have worked better with this theme more in focus. Those who do not mind slow-paced, leisurely dramas will possibly find quite a bit to like here; those who appreciate the magical creatures, imaginative tales and zany humour that Ghibli is best known for though should probably approach with some caution.

Gorō Miyazaki's sophomore effort finds the new director in better control of his craft and is a much improved feature that is brought to life with fine elegance, patience & composure. And while there are a few things that could've been better executed, it is a delightfully sweet & engaging movie for the most part.Set in Yokohama, Japan during the 1960s, the story of From Up on Poppy Hill follows a high school girl who one day meets a member of the school clubhouse and learns that their building is going to be demolished, following which she suggests renovating the dilapidated place in order to persuade the school's chairman to reconsider.Directed by Gorō Miyazaki, the film does benefit from Hayao Miyazaki's input in the screenplay, as its story has a more rigid structure, a better sense of where it is headed, and the arcs of two leads is wonderfully progressed. The characters are believable, their inner struggles are aptly portrayed and the high school ambiance evokes a nostalgic feel too.Production design team does a stellar job in recreating the 1960s scene while its lush camera-work adds more colours to the frames in order to intensify its vibrant tone. Editing is skilfully carried out for the most part although a couple of scenes did feel unnecessary. The background score further uplifts the entire experience and the voice actors do a fabulous job in their given roles.On an overall scale, From Up on Poppy Hill is by every means a sincerely crafted tale but it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. Its theme of long-lasting effect of war on future lives as well as the importance of preserving the past while heading into the future is effectively addressed but where it leaves the most lasting impression is in the gentleness of its narration & rich details of its period setting.

Directed by Studio Ghibli's Goro Miyazaji, son of master animator Hayao Miyazaki, "From Up on Poppy Hill" tells the story of Umi Matsuzai, a high-school girl living in 1964, Yokohama, Japan."Poppy's" first act finds Umi locked in a world of rigid ritual. With her father dead and her mother abroad, Umi spends her days taking care of family members and tending to various domestic duties. Umi's life takes a turn when she meets Shun Kazama, the cute kid who runs her school's newspaper club.From this point onwards, "Poppy" resembles Yoshifumi Kondo's "Whisper of the Heart" and Isao Takahata's "Only Yesterday". Umi and Shun flirt amidst gorgeous landscapes, bicycling through bustling cities, strolling along walkways and attending dinner parties at Umi's picturesque home, perched high above the Japanese coastline. And if his father's films tend to be preoccupied with air-planes and airships, Goro's "Poppy" is awash with ocean-liners, freighters and tug-boats, which seem to perpetually glide across the film's many distant horizons.Like ships in the night, Umi and Shun similarly, tentatively, approach and avoid one another. The film's later acts then find our puppy lovers joining forces to save a school clubhouse which is set for demolition. They hope to restore it, to prevent its demise, a restoration project which points to a rejection of Japan's process of post-war modernisation. "We can learn from history!" Shun says, but nobody's listening. With the 1964 Tokyo Olympics on the horizon, Japan seeks a clean break with her past, but it's this past which Shun and Umi hope to preserve. They advocate a careful conservation of tradition, culture, and historical memory, a project which, ironically, requires them to appropriate the language and tactics of pre-WW2, nationalist, Imperialist Japan.It is here where Umi and Shun realise that they may in fact be brother and sister. The past, then, prevents the couple's present love affair. It taints, makes things impossible and exposes horrors which subsequent generations rather keep buried. Umi and Shun's inability to make sweet incestuous love is then mirrored to their own parents' rejection of conservative values; their mother and father came from upper and lower class families, and so are themselves emblematic of a love which was once forbidden.Of course no children's film is going to advocate incest. As such, "From Up On Poppy Hill" eventually reveals that Umi and Shun's consanguinity was just one big misunderstanding. The duo are granted love, but history remains a messy mine-field which threatens to explode and disrupt at any-time. Avoiding its pitfalls always means familiarising yourself with your forefathers."From Up On Poppy Hill" eschews the fantastical elements typical of Studio Ghibli productions. This is a simple but not simplistic melodrama, beautifully animated, at times heart-wrenching and filled with atmospheric locations. Like his father's work, Goro's lines are clean, his facial expressions subtle, his landscapes overly idealised and perhaps too steeped in nostalgia.8.5/10 – More very good, recent, Eastern animated films: "Whisper of the Heart", "Only Yesterday", "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", "The Sky Crawlers", "The Secret World of Arriety", "The King of Pigs".