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| Grave of the Fireflies (1988) |
I don't want it to sound like I'm an anime virgin, because I'm not. I was a big viewer of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime as a kid, and I was a massive fan of the lesser well-known Crush Gear Turbo. Granted, those aren't good examples of 'traditional' animes, and in terms of those long-running anime series like Dragon Ball or One Piece, for example, I'm not a fan. Every time I hear a description for one of these super popular shows, it all sounds the same to me, and the fact that they've been going on for so long really turns me off, especially when not a lot happens over the course of so many years. It's that kind of prejudice that's turned me off almost all anime in the last few years, even though I know it's a really big generalisation for me to make about an entire medium of storytelling. I like the general anime art style, if my tastes in video games like Professor Layton and Ace Attorney are anything to go by. I think it's just a specific kind of anime that I don't like, and I should really consider lifting my embargo on all things anime, since that's a huge facet of pop culture I'm overlooking for the sake of a simple grudge. Anyway, enough backstory for something that really doesn't matter for the purposes of this review; let's just get on with it.
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| Tsutomu Tatsumi as Seita |
It's really hard to believe this movie is over 30 years old. It's absolutely gorgeous. There are moments, like when the faces sort of disappear in the middle distance, that do seem a little behind the times, but that's a part of the charm of a movie like this that I'm willing to overlook. It's not particularly varied in terms of its visuals, I mean, it all takes place in the one city, but it never felt stale. It's the levels that really impressed me. Like when there's a fire and it's in the foreground but you can still see characters moving behind the fire in the background; little touches like that go a long way. The music was also really good. There's no background music for a majority of the movie, but when they use it, it's super effective. I also really enjoyed the bond between Seita and Setsuko. It's the entire driving force behind the plot, and the whole thing falls apart if you don't care about either of the characters. Admittedly, there are a couple of moments where Setsuko got under my skin, but they were few and far between. I also really enjoyed the arc that the aunt had, and how gradually her resentment grew over the course of the movie. I appreciate that they never went for a 'Seita snaps at the aunt and then she dies in a bombing before he gets a chance to apologise' trope, they just leave and she's out of the movie. It's weird, but it felt really natural, and surprisingly worked for the story.
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| Akemi Yamaguchi as Aunt |
Speaking of the story, it's just such a compelling narrative. I was expecting a frantic fight for survival in the ruins of a bombed city, with a heart-pumping sequence where Seita can't find Setsuko, but it's a lot calmer than that. It's just the slow and bleak turn of events that follow their home being destroyed and mother killed. And bleak is a good word for the story in general. Right from the beginning, you're made perfectly clear that the story does not have a happy ending. What's great about this bleak tone, though, is they find time for the odd moment of levity, which honestly helped the otherwise constant downer tone not feel like so much of a drag. Unlike other movies I've brought this up with, 'levity' never meant 'using a joke to undercut the emotion'. It's more a case of them taking time to have fun and just be kids and all that good stuff. Moments like that really went a long way to not only reinforcing how young the two of them are, but also juxtapose the lives they should be having with their depressing reality. Because, yeah, this movie gets downright depressing by the end. And I loved it. This isn't a movie I'd recommend to absolutely everyone, since it deals with some pretty heavy themes. And it pretty much nails them all for the most part. There were a few tears shed by the end, and since I'm not typically one to have big emotional reactions to media like this, take that how you will.
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| Ayano Shiraishi as Setsuko |
I do have a problem with the movie, and it's not a huge one, but it did have me confused by the end, and that's its structure. First of all, opening right with that pivotal air raid feels like a bit of a misstep to me, as just a little time being spent showing the family's lives before it was torn asunder would have really helped us get a good idea just how s***ty things took a nosedive for them later on, as well as building up more sympathy for when the mother eventually died. More than that, though, is the film's ending. If you don't want hardcore spoilers, skip to the wrap-up paragraph now. Basically, Setsuko dies, gets cremated and the movie basically ends right there. At the beginning of the movie we see how Seita dies and his spirit reunites with Setsuko and they take a train journey back through the events of the movie to eventually lead them to modern-day Kobe, the city the film was set in (which was an excellent narrative moment to throw in a glimpse of hope at the end). Basically, I don't think the movie should have started that way. You can have the spirits popping in every now and then, but imagine this as a structure: begin with the family being normal and happy, the attack happens, the events of the movie happen basically they way they already do, Setsuko dies, we see a montage of Seita struggling after her death and using up all his money, then we see him die, and then we get to see their spirits reuniting and taking the journey to Kobe. Seeing the spirits reunite at the beginning feels like a narrative misstep, as it would have been so much more effective to see them come together again after having watched both of them die. Not only that, but the way the movie currently is, it ends far too quickly. Having the spirits' journey function like a short epilogue would have been a nice way to add some bitter-sweet levity right at the end, which really would have helped the movie since there's not enough time to get over the horribly depressing ending before the spirits arrive at Kobe. I don't know, that's just how I would have done it, and I didn't not love the movie as a result of how they did it, I just feel like it could have been executed a little better.
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| Yoshiko Shinohara as Mother |
But, anyway, Grave of the Fireflies (1988) is still one of the most heart-breakingly beautiful movies I've ever seen, and I'm certainly glad to have seen it. I guarantee I'm going to be getting a bunch of anime requests after this, especially after outlining my history with the genre earlier on. Ah, well, if everything else is as good as this, you certainly won't see me complaining. 9/10.
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