Whisper of the Heart & Only Yesterday

Whisper of the Heart is typically brilliant Studio Ghibli. They have only made good movies at worst, and the best, which certainly includes this lovely film, are some of the most impressive movies of all time. I can't explain just how great their films are, and until you've seen them, you won't understand just how great they are. About the only problem with the movie is the use of Country Roads, which actually started to grow on me, and I never thought I'd say something like John Denver isn't all evil. Took a big man to say that. Maybe it was the fact that I feel very much like Shizuku in a certain way. But it's just an amazing film. It's very much more realistic than Miyazaki's films, but the biggest shame about it is that the director Yoshifumi Kondo died before being able to make another film. If you don't enjoy this film, you've no heart. I was close to tears throughout almost the entire film. While that isn't really saying that much for me, since I'm a big softie, I thought that the movie spoke to me, a mid-20s white guy.

Only Yesterday, for some reason, hasn't been released in the US on DVD. What's up with that? Is it the bit of nakedness from a preteen girl? If so, then that's just sick. What's the point of complaining about that? Or is it the sex education scenes? Or the extended bits about periods and the like? The difference between the flashbacks and the present day scenes were impressive, and the flashbacks were gorgeous in their almost watercolor backgrounds, compared to the more traditional present day scenes. Takahata's much more based in reality than Miyazaki, but his movies aren't any less impressive for being set in a real Japan. The best are usually the ones that just make me depressed and miss Duke. And miss what I had at Duke. Now I'm just going to go get really depressed. Well, I fell asleep in the middle, so I had to watch the end section again. Just as depressing when I'm actually awake, even if the credits did make me very happy. The crushing of young dreams is just not what I really expected. However, it feels much more like a Cinderella story than just a depressing one. You need the sadness before the happy ending gains the power that it has. And why must they use a Bette Midler song to make me feel sad at the end?