Forum - View topicREVIEW: From Up On Poppy Hill BD+DVD
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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This film's reputation will probably rise over time when people have enough time to see how it looks in the rearview mirror. I'm always wary of people rating a new Ghibli in comparison to its past catalogue prematurely. Unless, of course, Goro has another disaster later on and people look back and say "Well OBVIOUSLY you could see all the signs of this in Poppy Hill ANYWAY!"
That said, this film indeed has a standout soundtrack, the most attention grabbing soundtrack of almost any Ghibli film made, IMO. |
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aisuru113
Posts: 19 |
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I can't believe the subtitle portion got an A- rating. I found that to be the most lacking part of the whole DVD. Half the time what was on the screen text wasn't matching up to what was being said.
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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You sure you didn't have the closed captioned subtitles on instead? I thought the literal subtitle track seemed to be fair. |
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pachy_boy
Posts: 1335 |
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Flawed as it may have been, I love Tales from Earthsea and hope for a domestic Blu-ray. Having said that, Goro apparently came a long way and had to go through the stress he did in order to improve as a filmmaker, and in the end we get From Up on Poppy Hill. I've heard him saying he's working on a third film, and I'm definitely looking forward to it.
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Echo_City
Posts: 1236 |
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Why was the kindhearted nature of the industrialist "unexpected"?
I can't say that this film was one that I enjoyed as I don't care for movies that have precious little substance once you get past their attempts at manipulating your emotions; once you step off the emotional rollercoaster you realize that it was the only ride in the theme park. Those sort of movies feel cheap to me, that they use emotional ploys to cover their lack of substance in the same way that Michael Bay use explosions or fight/action choreography tends to use rapid camera cuts.
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pachy_boy
Posts: 1335 |
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Probably because that's not how one would describe the industrialists in Princess Mononoke. Eradication is not what I'd call kind-hearted, anyhow. |
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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This film is hardly Spielbergian level in its emotional manipulativeness. I mean yes, there are a few melodramatic or soapy elements here, but I didn't feel like it was aggressively trying to manipulate the audience's emotions, at least no more so than the average Ghibli anime. It's definitely nowhere near as histrionic as the majority of anime on TV. Characters didn't scream or shout their emotions like a badge of honor, and when they cried, they cried in private. Was that crying scene too manipulative? Well, Ozu used that tactic in the endings of nearly 90% of his movies. In fact, the most common accusation was that the film was too restrained. That said, about your last comment, there are actually a number of people I know who felt that Goro took a pretty mediocre Hayao script and actually made it better. How much of that can be attributed to Goro is hard to say, though. |
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wonderwomanhero
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I'm curious, how do the other actors fare? (Isabelle Furman, Aubrey Plaza, Christina Hendricks, etc)
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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Most of them are really minor characters with a few walk-on scenes. The only one of those three who stood out aurally was Aubrey Plaza, mostly because of her patented deadpan line reading. It fit for her character though. I didn't even know who Christina Hendricks played until I checked google after watching the film. |
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Penguin_Factory
 Posts: 732 Location: Ireland |
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I haven't actually seen this yet, but I just wanted to say the box art they made for the US release is absolutely kick ass. Love the title treatment and the image they chose.
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14886 |
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IIRC that's been on the movie posters and image promos. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4157 |
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Ok, I just saw this, um, "film" and all I can say is:
"Hey, a complete stranger to us said spoiler[Dad's beyond reproach and we can do it!]" The End. With that swept under the carpet, our main pair-ing are free to live a life of eventual regret. I'm not as rose tinted in my view of the past and I would like to think that this was intentional, that there are good things painted over, like the Latin Quarter, and there are bad things painted over, such as war time, not even not their war at that, spoiler[ trysts]. Thank you, Japan, for making us accept spoiler[incest]. Again. And if anyone thinks this is incorrect, please consider the scene prompting this "last act reveal" was Umi's mother visiting Shun's adoptive father. spoiler[She'd already would know the third party involved, there should be no need to a have a meeting to concoct a plan of action to placate their children.] But having them get together to talk to Umi and Shun wouldn't be ... good enough? So they brought in a third party. Which, I have to stress this, doesn't involve a person they've known their entire lives in a meeting that was less about the kids lives but their father's honor. Fathers', Fathers'. spoiler["He looks just like Dad" indeed...] I hope in time, people will look on this and ... look away. |
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5528 Location: Mexico |
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This movie had a simple, kind of cute story to tell but I overall found it dull. There were cute things here and there, but I was disappointed with how they resolved the supposedspoiler[ incest conflict]. At first I thought they were taking a leap and showing this spoiler["incestual" relationship and how they shouldn't feel bad about liking each other in spite of being blood related because they were never raised as siblings. I found it was a mature and more realistic take on the incest genre, as opposed to the imouto wave of recent years that's played for fanservicey laughs. Thus I was disappointed when they took the easy way out and were like "Oh, but they aren't really blood related after all so everything's fine and dandy". It felt like a cheap cop-out and the writers lacking the guts to stick with their own story].
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GWOtaku
 Posts: 678 |
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Crossposting some impressions expressed at Toonzone a ways back. I still need to explore the extras more, but yeah, this is great release for a movie that very much deserves it. I really do think this compares to Whisper of the Heart, which you absolutely should see if you enjoyed this movie.
_____________ Saw the movie last night and I am in love. The stories told and the leading characters involved are different, but I feel like this is absolutely a kindred spirit to Whisper of the Heart. I can't decide which coming-of-age story I like better, and that's saying a lot because I adored that movie too. It might be Poppy Hill on the grounds of Umi's grown-up, kind of assertive personality, and man does Sarah Bolger deliver 100% on the role in the dub. Umi's a pretty calm person but the performance is nuanced, and during "that scene" to paraphrase Larry spoiler[(By "that scene" I'm referring to the confession, incidentally]) the delivery was just too perfect. The emotion that's there, that catch in her voice...lord, that sold me on it completely. The entire dub is quality but Bolger just steals the show. If Ben is right on the movie maybe being seen as an "oddity" to some viewers, I don't think it'd be over references but moreso the way the story is set against this setting where Japanese society was in this place that we in the U.S. kind of haven't been in, at least not in the same way. But I think an element of nostalgia for the past "good old days" is fairly universal, and I think it's possible to relate to the theme of the past vs. the future & "progress" too. It might be easier as you get older I suppose, maybe the 18 year old me wouldn't feel quite the same way about all this? But ultimately execution is everything, and I think Poppy Hill handles things well and credibly. We root for the students from start to finish, but "progress" is not looked upon regretfully or as a negative thing in irreconcilable conflict with the past / tradition. The kids win not when the big shot denies the idea of a new building, but when he accepts the value of building in some other place in order to preserve the landmark. Incidentally, it occurs to me they would likely not have won if the female students, led by Umi, had not gotten involved in this giant boy's club and given them a massive push toward cleaning the old house and restoring it to the way it was meant to be seen. Left on their own, the boys were talking up the value of the old place while leaving it like a dump. Feminine influences, in the best sense of the term, are really indispensable to the movie. Naturally this was also an important part of getting the overall student body invested in the place, and I like the general message here also. After the students started treating this old place with respect, ultimately other people did too. Nice. There are a few fun parts in the movie too. My favorite of these by far is the rambunctious debate scene, where it's basically near-chaos (think British parliament, as executed by rowdy teenagers) and Shun gets up there and starts his fine monologue about the importance of remembering the past and how majority opinion is no excuse to avoid a debate or back down from a worthy principle...and for all this, at the first sign of incoming teachers they're totally prepared to get organized and sing that anthem and look like model students all so there's no risk the teachers will bother them or accuse them of behaving improperly. Heh. I've only just started on the extras, starting with the booklet and Miyazaki's remarks after the staff screening of the movie, but they look to be interesting. Definitely read the booklet. Goro's letter is an interesting read. In a rather introspective piece, he muses that he and his generation kind of lost sight of higher ambition in the post-boom economy & goes so far as to link this to what he perceives as a certain level of complacency when making Earthsea. Contrast to Poppy Hill, where he basically feels he maybe outdid himself because he had a fire lit under him to do well and "not be defeated" by his father's script. He reflects on a filmmaking process where he (over)worked hard, constantly questioned whether what he was doing was good enough, very badly wanted to avoid an outcome where the script was good but the movie itself was seen as only so-so. Well, mission accomplished. Quite a few things get called "slice-of-life anime", it feels like, but this is the real deal and I don't think anybody does it better than Ghibli ("as well as" is another matter - buy Wolf Children this November). Boy oh boy can this studio deliver authentic, fully-realized characters when it sets its mind to it (and "real" settings, for that matter). I really think this is something to be admired just as much as the fantastical stuff Hayao Miyazaki is usually so reputed for. GKids has included many trailers for their other animated fare in this release. Definitely check these out on the Blu-ray disc if possible. They all look AWESOME. Michel Ocelot's Tales of the Night is eye-popping in HD. It has to be seen on HD, you just can't quite get the full visual impact even if you turn up the settings on youtube. And yes, that is Steve Blum in a leading role for A Cat In Paris. No trailer for A Letter to Momo, but I don't think that's out yet anyway. I understand they're dubbing it and it should hit some theaters in early 2014, so the wait won't be much longer! |
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samsonium
Posts: 7 |
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Dear Carl,
This review was a delight to read. I haven't seen the movie yet I feel like I have seen parts of it already because of how you've conveyed some of that Ghibli magic through words. Thank you. I am looking forward to enjoying the film one day. Sincerely, A lurking reader |
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