Round Four Resurrection ReviewOnly Yesterday (Takahata Isao, 1991)
Won over Tokyo biyori (verdict by worm@work)Won over The Geisha House (verdict by ProperCharlie)Won over Dreams (verdict by Melvil)Lost to Farewell My Concubine (verdict by oldkid)Adult-at-internal-crossroads-haunted-by-childhood-self couldn't be more in my cinematic wheelhouse, and yet
Only Yesterday underwhelmed me, at least a little. I'm actually not sure if it's because the move drags a bit (as ProperCharlie mentions) or because so many moments were catalysts for mental detours. (Protip: presenting a character in need of math tutoring is a sure-fire way to lose my attention, all but guaranteeing that I'll I daydream about the coolest way to demonstrate that mathematical concept.) So with all this, I'm not sure if the past and present stories of Taeko are as disconnected as they seem or if I was just too unfocused a viewer to pick up on the threads. There are certainly many nice moments, though surprisingly few of them really seem to take full advantage of animation as a medium (I seem to disagree with worm@work on this point). Like with
The Ocean Waves, I often would have preferred seeing real faces (or even safflowers) to animated ones. Moments like the ascension into the sky make fantastic use of animation's possibilities, and I wish there were more inspirations like that. I like that some verdicts expressed greater engagement with the adult sections and some with the childhood sections, as if the film works as a kind of litmus test for the viewer. That speaks volume's about the film's appeal. Both sections felt familiar and relatable to me, but the younger Taeko had almost all the best moments: the thrill of first love, making the most of her one line in the play, feeling encouraged by cartoon theme songs. The twentysomething Taeko's attachment to the countryside always felt a bit more
written — which made sense, afterwards, when I learned that the childhood scenes come from the source manga, but Takahata added the adult frame story to give the film structure.
Resurrection Standings (the top three films will earn resurrection)Up next:
Sleeping Man.
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