I have to come clean with you, dear readers. I’m pretty unfairly biased towards this film, because this is how I experienced the opening scene:
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It’s honestly hard for me to believe that this movie, made in 1995 and released in North America in 2006, just happens to feature “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” by John Denver, and that I just happened to watch it in 2018, when Country Road fever is at an all-time high after high-profile uses of the song in media such as the Kingsman sequel, Logan Lucky, and the Fallout 76 trailer.
Anyway, fantastic songs aside, this really is a great movie, and one that surprised me. It’s the first Studio Ghibli movie not to be directed by Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata, with Yoshifumi Kondō at the helm instead and Miyazaki retaining screenwriter credit. Kondō, who was a first-time director but who had played a significant role in Kiki’s Delivery Service and Only Yesterday, really knocked it out of the park here. |
In addition to having a new director, it also departs from the Ghibli norm by eschewing fantasy elements, which I did not know going in. This didn’t go over so well with me in Only Yesterday, but Whisper of the Heart tells a much more cohesive story than that movie — or than most Ghibli movies, for that matter.
Whisper of the Heart tells the story of a young girl, Shizuku, as she learns to embrace her natural talent for writing. It feels less like a short story compilation than some of the other movies I’ve reviewed, but it’s not necessarily because it doesn’t take any diversions. There’s an excellent subplot involving middle-school romances, and a lengthy (and deeply relatable) scene of Shizuku chasing a cat across town. Instead, what helps the film feel more cohesive is that each narrative thread is given a satisfying resolution. |
I’m not sure yet if it’s a bug or a feature of Studio Ghibli, but many of their films don’t bother with what your average Hollywood movie would consider a denouement. It was jarring, to me, at first, to go without. The more I watch, the more I appreciate the way they stand apart from so many other movies I see, but I also can’t help it if the sense of resolution in Whisper of the Heart makes it one of my favorite movies from the studio so far.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that this movie does continues the trend of Ghibli movies being willing to tackle concepts that are more complex than those found in your standard kid’s fare. Like Kiki, Shizuku isn’t trying to save the world: she’s just trying to figure out her place in it. What I said about being unfairly biased towards this film goes beyond Country Roads — it would’ve been pretty hard for me to dislike a film about a kid who:
At the start of Whisper of the Heart, Shizuku is content to enjoy her summer chasing her book-reading goal, but things change when she befriends Seiji. Seiji wants to be a violin maker and has already put in a lot of work towards achieving this goal; next to him, Shizuku feels unambitious and talentless. Still in middle school, he knows exactly what he wants to do with his life, and Shizuku has no idea.
Besides being relatable to a 26-year-old who still isn’t sure what to do with his life, it’s captivating to watch the carefree, insouciant Shizuku get fired up with the desire to prove herself. She decides to take inspiration from Seiji’s drive and write a story before he returns from his apprenticeship. Though she sacrifices time, sleep, and her grades, the movie doesn’t grant her a perfect victory. Again, like in Kiki’s Delivery Service, Whisper of the Heart doesn’t try to sell kids on a world where hard work pays off instantly, or where following your dreams is as simple as one moment of epiphany. Besides an engaging story and great soundtrack, Whisper of the Heart also features some of the most true-to-life family dynamics I’ve ever seen on screen. At first, Shizuku’s family almost comes off as rude, but then you realize that it’s because they aren’t acting like they know they’re on camera. There’s a tendency in movies and television for family members to fit into one of two categories: caring and thoughtful, or angry and troubled. Shizuku’s family just feels … real. In our day-to-day lives, we don’t carefully consider each word that comes out of our mouths. Yoshifumi Kondō understood that a complaint here or a nag there doesn’t always signal some unresolved family drama; it’s just how people talk when they aren’t paying attention. Shizuku’s parents are supportive without coming off as overly sweet, and anyone with siblings will see some part of themselves in her relationship with her older sister. Each family member feels fully realized, and they make a fantastic backdrop for Shizuku’s journey.
I may not have known what I’d think of Whisper of the Heart going in, but I do now: it’s one of my favorite Ghibli movies so far. I think it’s tied with Porco Rosso for Best Dialogue, it’s the clear winner for Best Family, and it’s message is right up there with Kiki’s Delivery Service. It ends on a slightly odd note, but otherwise there’s not a thing I would change. I guess you could say it’s … almost heaven. Next up: Princess Mononoke, which I am definitely not smart enough to review. Good luck, me! Check below the Alternate Review Titles and Stray Notes for the brand new, fresh-out-the-oven Spoiler Zone! Alternate Review Title:
Stray Notes:
Spoiler Zone Speaking of Shizuku's family, I especially loved how her dad handles her declaration of a secret project. He acknowledges that perfect grades aren’t the only path to success, but essentially tells Shizuku that if you follow your own path, it’s all on you if you screw up. It would’ve been just too sweet and out-of-character if he had simply smiled and told Shizuku to follow her heart; his paired support and warning feel more true to life. To me, the ending was a bit weird and came totally out of left field. A lot of this movie feels very middle-school, but in a great way that makes you smile; the ending feels middle-school in a way that makes you cringe and want to forget it happened. It’s a shame the movie has to end on such an odd note; I even watched it in Japanese with subtitles on, to see if it was a translation issue. It’s not. A couple other parts of the movie are a little clearer with subtitles (for instance, it makes much more sense to have Shizuku be translating Country Roads into Japanese than just re-writing it in English), but the ending is basically the same. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ |