One of my favorite animated films is Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (2002), where a scared little girl finds herself at a bathhouse for spirits. During her adventures, she learns to control an evil spirit and to save the boy she loves who is under an enchantment from an evil witch. Peopled with strange and delightful characters who would be at home in Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland world, the film has always enchanted me.
Unlike the previous film, From Up on Poppy Hill deals with a much more real world of everyday life in 1963 Yokohama, Japan, as Tokyo prepares for the Olympics to show the world how modern they are. The story is based on a 1980 serial of the same name.
The main character Umi lives in a boarding house and longs for her dead sailor captain and her mother who is studying in America. Each day she raises flags to the passing ships, hoping that her father will see them and find his way home. One day she learns that someone on a passing tugboat is answering her flags. She eventually meets the boy, Shun, at school and is attracted to him. Umi and the other girls become instrumental in trying to save the seedy building the school boys use as their clubhouse, Latin Quarter. As old buildings (and customs) are being destroyed, the kids show must show the adults how to refashion the past into a new present. One of the ideas of the film becomes the importance of protecting the old from destruction.
A major plot twist occurs with Umi and Shun's relationship, which feels a little stretched, but ultimately fits the themes and builds to a satisfying conclusion.
The graphics are lush watercolors with an accent poppy color appearing in each frame. Although not as memorable as Spirited Away, the film becomes a satisfying film experience.
From Up On Poppy Hill ****
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