Only Yesterday
Director: Isao Takahata
Year Released: 1991
Rating: 0.0
Taeko travels back to her grandmother's house and along the way - and even while there - she reminisces about her own painfully unremarkable childhood "experiences" which included, among other things, eating pineapple (!), fighting with her sister (who does that?) and picking onions out of her food (gosh!). Studio Ghibli, for whatever reason, decided to unearth this dud and re-release it in 2016, but it should have stayed buried in the backyard: Takahata's idea of "artistry" is making his characters move like they're in slow motion and showing long shots of the countryside (I guess he's trying to mimic Ozu's aesthetic ... poorly). Anyone that truly believes this has any value should immediately screen all of Azumanga Daioh, which has the audacity to be surreal and frenetic and completely charming ... and cover the same topic (little girls growing up in Japan). There's only one mastermind at Ghibli, and that's Miyazaki.
