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Ocean Waves, a review by dfmorgan

Title: Ocean Waves
Original Title: Umi Ga Kikoeru
Year: 1993
Director: Tomomichi Mochizuki
Rating: PG
Length: 72 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Nobuo Tobita
Toshihiko Seki
Yoko Sakamoto
Yuri Amano
Kae Araki

Plot:
Rarely seen outside of its native Japan and never before released within the U.K, Ocean Waves (also known as Umi Ga Kikoeru and I Can Hear The Sea) is one of Studio Ghibli's most obscure and sought after titles. Directed by Tomomi Mochizuki (Princess Nine) and based upon author, essayist and playwright Saeko Himuro's most popular, best selling novel, Ocean Waves is one of the most poignant and unsung masterpieces within Studio Ghibli's legendary creative output. Wonderfully detailed and incredibly subtle, there are very few films in the histroy of animation that have managed to capture so well the joys and drama of adolescence and teenage alienation.

Kochi is your average coastal town on the sleepy, idyllic island of Shikoku and young Taku is definitely your average high school student. But soon his quiet life will be turned upside down with the arrival of Rikako: a beautiful, female student recently transferred fromTokyo. By the end of term Taku will have learnt a valuable lesson in love and friendship.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers


I only watched and reviewed this in February so my thoughts are still much the same. At heart a sweet and gentle love triangle. Taku and Yutaka have been friends since starting high school. Yutaka as the class representative is asked to show a transfer student, Rikako, around. Rikako has transferred in from Tokyo following her mothers separation from her father. Taku realises that his friend has feelings for Rikako but tries to not get involved. However fate has other plans and stirs things up until the friendship starts to strain. As a short film there isn't a lot of character development and some bits of the storyline appear rushed. It is obviously not a Miyazaki film as most scenes featuring trees, plants, fields, the sea are static images but then again it was also a low budget film.

A bit of background as, like Only Yesterday, this film has not been released in the US. Apparently, as a made for TV film, Disney decided not to accept this as part of the overall Studio Ghibli catalogue it wished to promote. Optimum Releasing, from the UK, had the opportunity to take this film in 2009 and did so. They released the film to DVD in its original Japanese language with subtitles as part of their Ponyo promotion in early 2010.

Overall still an enjoyable film but I'll drop the 4 rating down to 3 now that I've watched this following other Studio Ghibli titles

Dave

(From dfmorgan's Studio Ghibli Marathon on July 7th, 2010)

Only Yesterday, a review by dfmorgan

Title: Only Yesterday
Original Title: Omohide poro poro
Year: 1991
Director: Isao Takahata
Rating: PG
Length: 114 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English

Stars:Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Bonus Trailers
Featurettes
Storyboard Comparisons


It is 1982 and Taeko, a 27 year old office worker from Tokyo, has always dreamt of traveling to the countryside for holidays like many of her school friends did every year. She managed it for the first time last year, by staying with her sisters in-laws at their farm, and is to do the same this year. Whilst packing she reminisces of her time at home and school in 1966 when she was ten. The memories continue during the journey and after she has arrived and is working on the farm. Some of the memories tell of trials and tribulations she had and are told to her brother-in-laws friends and family to highlight an event, others are to give a background to Taeko. Memories of first love, disappointments etc. All the while they are helping her to discover herself.

A nice gentle tale of a young woman and how she finds herself. Not too everyones taste but I find this to be well told and enjoyable. The memories are highlighted within the film by having a slight pastel colouring to the scenes rather than the bright colours that are used for the current day Taeko.

As I stated in my My Neighbour Totoro review this film is the only film from the initial agreement with Studio Ghibli that Disney have not released. My understanding, from the interweb and places such as nausicaa.net, is that Disney have a major problem with a sequence within the film. Disney apparently asked permission to cut the sequence out completely but Studio Ghibli reiterated that the agreement clearly states No Cuts. Disney then asked whether they could reword the sequence and Studio Ghibli said that it was part of the agreement that Disney could reword sections to allow for the difference in cultures but they could not change the meaning. Disney therefore decided not to release this title. That is the background and the problem sequence is:-

In one of the reminisces Taeko goes back to a Sex Education class the girls had where they were taught about Periods and Menstrual Panties. The boys find out about this lesson and take the mickey out the girls and look up their skirts to see what panties the girls were wearing that day. The boys also expressed fear of catching Periods if the girls who were missing PE touched the ball.

As a "family" company Disney felt that they couldn't show this sequence. It has been pointed out that Disney, if they so wished, could release the film on one of their more adult lines, e.g. Touchstone, but Disney have so far chosen to keep this film from the American public. There is an on-line petition, links at nausicaa.net, but in 5 years nothing has come of it. The television channel Turner Classic Movies has shown the film a few times in America and it apparently is high on their request for repeats charts. Luckily Madman Entertainment, Australia, and Optimum Releasing, UK, also had an agreement with both Disney and Studio Ghibli to take whichever version was available and Madman obtained a version from Studio Ghibli that they and Optimum had subtitled, deciding that dubbing to the standard of Disney would cost too much and they both released this version in their respective countries.

My rating is a gentle 4

Dave

p.s.
In fact there is another film that Disney have yet to release but that wasn't part of the initial agreement and the lack of release was out of Disney's hands. Tales from Earthsea hasn't been released because The Sci-Fi Channel owned the TV, film and video rights to Earthsea. These rights have now expired and Disney should be releasing Tales from Earthsea to cinemas in the US this August.

(From dfmorgan's Studio Ghibli Marathon on June 30th, 2010)

Firefly Marathon, a review by Tom

06. Our Mrs Reynolds
Writer: Joss Whedon (Writer)
Director: Vondie Curtis Hall
Cast: Nathan Fillion (Mal), Gina Torres (Zoe), Alan Tudyk (Wash), Morena Baccarin (Inara), Adam Baldwin (Jayne), Jewel Staite (Kaylee), Sean Maher (Simon), Summer Glau (River), Ron Glass (Shepherd Book), Christina Hendricks (Saffron), Benito Martinez (Boss), Erik Passoja (Bree), Bob Fimiani (Elder Gommen), Alex Stemkovsky (Bandit #1)

My favorite Firefly episode. It is just a lot of fun. Like the reaction of the crew of finding out that Mal is married. The teasing. And of course Jayne trying to trade is favorite gun for Saffron. Also Inara insistance of having hit her head to hide the fact she kissed Mal's poisoneous lips.

Rating:

(From Firefly Marathon on February 27th, 2010)