Friday, May 31, 2013

Jason watches FROM UP ON POPPY HILL

Dang, I'm like a week and a half behind in my blogging. I actually saw this last week Tuesday. Anyway, it's a beautiful little anime from Studio Ghibli about teens in Yokohama banding together to save their building. That is, to save the students' "Latin Quarter" building where all of the most interesting students live or at least hang out. It's set for demolition so that Japan can show a clean, modern look when they host the Olympics (oh yeah, this is in 1964.) One girl leads the fight, but she's really doing it to spend more time with a cute boy who just might be connected to her father who died in the war. Oh yeah, it gets pretty soap-opera for a bit. But overall it shows the gentleness, cuteness, and humor characteristics of Hayao Miyazaki's studio, this time under the direction of his son, Goro.

For more Studio Ghibli fun there's a whole series coming up at the Pacific Film Archives. Info here.

Running Time: 91 minutes
My Total Minutes: 328,477

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