Only Yesterday - Movie Review

Only Yesterday is a brand new Studio Ghibli film coming out this weekend for the very first time in the United States. Except it's not actually brand new. This film originally came out in 1991 in Japan. It was directed by Isao Takahata, who's made films like Grave of the Fireflies and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. And finally, over two decades later, it is officially getting a release in America thanks to GKids. Now why did it take so long? Well that's because Disney was a little bit afraid. Back when movies like My Neighbor Totoro was a big favorite amongst kids my age on clamshell VHS, this film was nowhere to be seen. And that is because of some aspects of its plot. A 27 year old woman is traveling to the countryside to relax. She really wants to just let go. She's going there to work in the fields. She really wants to work with her hands outside and she wants to feel as if she is adding something to herself and to her life. And along her train ride, she reminisces about her past as a young girl, all of her experiences in school, a lot of her firsts, her first crush, her first time trying pineapple, her first period. And that's where Disney got scared. There's a long sequence in this movie dedicated to her discovering her womanhood. And for whatever reason, Disney decided that's not good for the kids to see. We're not going to release this film in America. And it's taken this long to get to the shores of America. And I am so glad that I finally got to watch this movie because I'm not a big fan of watching films unofficially, like a fan sub or something. I like the idea of sitting down and watching it officially like I'm in a theater right now, watching only yesterday. And that is such a great feeling. I got to see this movie early. And although Studio Ghibli seems to have their brakes on at the moment, it was so nice to see another Studio Ghibli film, even if it is over 20 years old, because this film is truly remarkable. And for a lot of reasons, one of the biggest ones is its innocence. This film is so blissfully happy. It's a movie that you can watch and actually feel invigorated with warm feelings. How often does that happen anymore? Every movie has to be dark and gritty. It is so nice to sit down and watch a movie that was pleasant. When's the last time you watched a movie that was pleasant? Does that even happen anymore? But it's not just the vibe and the tone of the movie. The animation really impressed me. And I'm not just talking about it looks great because it's Studio Ghibli. Of course, the animation is going to look very good. What I loved about it are certain touches that Isao Takahata made. For instance, our character in the present day, this 27-year-old woman, all of the animation for these sequences looks crisp and clear and vibrant. It looks very now. It looks very realistic. Whenever she's reminiscing about her childhood, however, everything has a haze around it. It looks a little unclear, slightly blurry. The backgrounds aren't in focus. There isn't a lot of detail given to these backgrounds. Okay, so what? You know, who cares? The animation is different. Big deal. That's kind of what I thought for like five or six minutes until I realized that what they're doing with the animation is almost reflect what our own human minds do when we recall our past. Think about a memory from when you were like five or six years old. If you're 27, remembering that far back, things get hazy. Details aren't clear. You just remember certain moments. You remember things that you specifically saw right in front of you and maybe something that affected you deeply, but the rest is kind of a haze. It's brilliant. It's a masterstroke, I think. I think it's a genius way of telling this story, and it went over my head for a while. It's the kind of thing that you don't really pay attention to until you really start thinking about it, and it's just so awesome that a movie like this, even though some people might refer to it as a cartoon, is that deep. Throughout almost the entire film, my heartstrings were sufficiently tugged. This is a gorgeous, beautiful movie, and I truly, truly hope more people get to see it, finally, now that it's coming over to America. My one issue with the movie is so small. It's just basically going back and forth sometimes between these two time periods, youth to adulthood. It's not always very cohesive. Sometimes you feel as if you're in one story a little bit too long and you want to go back to the other one, and sometimes you're in the story not long enough and you want more. It's just, it's really the smallest little thing. It's like a nitpick, really. I'm gonna give Only Yesterday an A-. Thank you, GKids, for finally getting the rights to this movie. I've wanted to see it my entire life, and I officially got to watch it, and it was just so great. Thank you so much for releasing this movie in the United States, and I hope you guys get a chance to see it and it's coming to a theater near you because I highly, highly, highly, highly recommend it, and I hope you stay tuned for this Sunday. It's going to be a hilariosity Sunday, and that is going to be for Supergirl, not the new TV show, the 1984 movie. I just, I watched it. Yeah, so I'm going to talk about that if that's, if that's cool with you guys, because Sunday, Sunday, I'll see you Sunday. Guys, thank you, as always, for watching. Thank you very, very much, and if you like this, you can click right here and get Stuckmanized.