SIFF: Only Yesterday

Not Available On Video!

The films of Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli are known for their female heroines, from Princess Mononoke, to Kiki, to Pony. But with Only Yesterday, director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies) and producer Hayao Miyazaki delve deeper into the emotional experiences of young women than perhaps any animated film before or since. The number-one film in Japan in 1991, it has remained largely unseen in the U.S., where it is the only Studio Ghibli feature not yet released in theaters or on DVD. Realizing that she is at a crossroads in her life, bored 20-something Taeko heads for the countryside. The trip dredges up forgotten childhood memories that unfold in flashback to younger years—the first immature stirrings of romance, the onset of puberty, and the frustrations of math and boys. In lyrical segues between the present and the past, Taeko wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self. Only Yesterday is classic Ghibli animation, a double period piece that beautifully evokes both the 1960s and 1980s, and the quintessential drama of Japanese school-day nostalgia. Recommended for ages 9+