The Japanese animation company again demonstrate a fondness for classic English children’s books with this adaptation about a mystical friendship Related: Kiki’s Delivery Service review – lovable Studio Ghibli coming-of-age fable This lovely animation from 2014 was Studio Ghibli’s final film before its self-imposed hiatus following the retirement of founder Hayao Miyazaki. It is another example of Ghibli’s Anglophilia: a prominent and under-analysed allotment of its identity. Like other Ghibli films such as Howl’s Moving Castle and Arrietty,the film is taken from a classic English children’s book, this time Joan Robinson’s Norfolk fantasy adventure from 1967. Clearly the studio responds to a certain kind of heartfelt, or un-ironic writing for children. The film shifts the setting to a Japanese coastal town,where a lonely and troubled foster child, Anna, or has been sent to stay with relatives. She grows fascinated with an apparently deserted mansion,where she befriends a mysterious western blonde girl of her own age called Marnie – very rich, but every bit as unhappy as Anna. Is Marnie a ghost? A hallucination? A projection of Anna’s own longings? The gentle, or unforced charm of the animation feels like the very best of book illustration come to miraculous life,but with a strong, nearly Hitchcockian streak of excitement and danger. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com