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From Up on Poppy Hill
コクリコ坂から
2011 · Film · 91 min
Directed by Goro Miyazaki
Yokohama, 1963. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics—and the mood is one of both optimism and conflict as the young generation struggles to throw off the shackles of a troubled past. Against this backdrop of hope and change, a friendship begins to blossom between high school students Umi and Shun—but a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart.
5 positive1 mixedfrom 6 commenters
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8 comments on Hacker News
Well I was only saying the films directed or written by Hayao Miyazaki. I actually did list From Up on Poppy Hill, directed by Goro and co-written by Hayao.
No better way to do it than release-order. Start with The Castle of Cagliostro and make your way to The Wind Rises. I'd recommend watching the films he wrote but didn't direct as well, which are Whisper of the Heart, The Secret World of Arrietty, and From Up on Poppy Hill.
I don't really (honestly) understand this critique.
What's wrong in being honest?
Goro works are inferior to his father's works on many levels.
He's no amateur, that's for sure, but he's no master either.
Among the best Japanese animation artists, he's probably average.
He's no Takahata, Oshii, Otomo, Anno, Watanabe, Hosoda by a long shot.
Hayao worst rated works on Rotten Tomatoes are "The cat returns" and "The wind rises" and I completely agree on that, with a rating of 88%.
Goro worst is "Earwig and the Witch" that I have not watched with a 28%, "Tales From Earthsea" that I've seen and did not like much with 38% and the best is "From Up on Poppy Hill" with 87%, which was good, but not "Spirited Away", "Princess Mononoke" or "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" good.
And Nausicaa itself is not as good as a movie as the manga, that is an order of magnitude better!
My favorites were probably "Grave of the Fireflies" (warning: it's heavy and devastating), "Pom Poko" (very funny), "From Up on Poppy Hill", "Arrietty" to name a few. The fantasy-centered films are good, but my personal taste tends to lean towards the slice-of-life/coming-of-age films so that's why those were some of my favorites.
The only truly "bad" movie of the bunch is their latest from 2020: "Earwig and the Witch". It's computer generated instead of hand-drawn but it looks like a computer generated film from the early '90s. Just ugly and uninspired. And the story was not good. It had promise but did absolutely nothing with it. Very disappointing film. Thankfully, it looks like their next release (summer 2023) will be back to the hand-drawn style.
I'd also highly recommend From Up On Poppy Hill.
I kind of understand why it doesn't get as much attention as other Ghibli films (gentler pace, not Hisaishi (though still great music), mildly questionable storyline for a US audience at the time)...
But damn the dry sarcasm and subtle savagery in the English dub is delightful.
He has 4 works to his name, and I have a bit of a difficulty to attach them to your timeline.
- Tales from Earthsea
- Ronja, the Robber's Daughter, (3D animated, made to look like drawings)
- From Up on Poppy Hill (which I'd excuse anyone from mistaking for a Hayao movie)
- Earwig and the Witch (3D, made to look like cgi)
So what is left for Ghibli?
On one hand, it is one of the few studios whose name is a quality stamp in and by itself. But unlike Disney and Pixar it doesn't seem like they've managed to foster or acquire talent to continue the studio.
Who is left to continue the legacy?
- Hayao Miyazaki is 80, and likely won't be able to make more movies after this one.
- Isao Takahata (Only yesterday, Yamadas and Kaguya Hime) has passed away.
- Yoshifumi Kondo (whisper of the heart) was set to be a new generation for Ghibli, but tragically died in the late 90s.
- Hiromasa Yonebayashi (When Marnie was there, Arietty) left and started his own Studio.
And then there is Goro Miyazaki, who I think is being overly harshly criticized. I didn't enjoy Earthsea, but its not like other directors don't have misses in their early career[1]. I haven't seen Ronja, but I've heard good things about it and Up on Poppy Hill is as great as any Ghibli film. Earwig and the Witch doesn't look all that great, but it is a strait-to-tv movie being released in cinema. But even so, that isn't a strong contender for continuing Ghibli.
So what is left? Is the studio gonna die out?
[1] I went to see a Makoto Shinkai (Your Name) movie festival, and some of his early work was less than impressive.
>Ursula Le Guin trusted her Earthsea series to him, and he gave it to his idiot son.
That's not really fair.
For one, Gorō was basically forced into the industry. He didn't want it, and was pressured into it.
Second, it was not Hayao's choice for his son to direct Earthsea. Suzuki Toshi, president of the studio, was the producer, and Gorō was originally attached just as a consultant. He drew the storyboards, and Suzuki decided upon seeing them to entrust Gorō with the role of director.
Hayao actually was very against it, and outright said his son did not have enough experience yet to be a director, and then refused to speak to him until after the movie had aired.
From Up on Poppy Hill was significantly better than Earthsea, and I think there is still a chance yet of Gorō becoming a worthy successor to his father.