Sara Takatsuki

Kasumi Arimura

Nanako Matsushima

Susumu Terajima

Toshie Negishi

Ryoko Moriyama

Kazuko Yoshiyuki

Hitomi Kuroki

Hiroyuki Morisaki

Takuma Otoo

Hana Sugisaki

Bari Suzuki

Shigeyuki Totsugi

Ken Yasuda

Yo Oizumi

Yuhko Kaida

Renge Ishiyama

Tamaki Kojo

Masashi Ando

Keiko Niwa

Joan G. Robinson

Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Shiho Sato

Yohei Taneda

Koji Hoshino

Yoshiaki Nishimura

Eiko Matsushima

Kaneko Fujimaki

Toshio Suzuki

Priscilla Ahn

Naoya Fujimaki

Yoichi Nishikawa

Yumi Ishii

Yohei Takamatsu

Hideki Hamasu

Shinji Hashimoto

Shunsuke Hirota

Akira Honma

Kazuyoshi Onoda

Tomoko Nakayama

Ryoichi Fukuyama

Koji Kasamatsu

Ayae Kanbe

Takashi Omori

Ayumu Egawa

Kazuo Oga

Eriko Kimura

Shinsuke Nonaka

Tsutomu Awata

Misa Koyasu

Kitaro Kosaka

Seiji Okuda

Makiko Futaki

Ryoko Ina

Ei Inoue

Noboru Yoshida

Shougo Furuya

Ayako Hata

Naoko Kawahara

Tomotaka Kubo

Satoko Nakamura

Yoji Takeshige

Kyohei Ito

Kosuke Hayashi

Rie Matsubara

Tatsuya Kushida

Shinji Suetomi

Masami Hosokawa

Naomi Kasugai

Takeshi Honda

Junichi Taniguchi

Takaaki Yamashita

Takuro Okada

Sayaka Hirahara

Megumi Kagawa

Katsuya Kondo

Takayuki Hamada

Takeshi Inamura

Kiyoshi Sameshima

Masafumi Yokota

Katsutoshi Nakamura

Naoya Wada

Kenichi Konishi

Atsuko Tanaka

Ryosuke Tsuchiya

Kikuyo Yano

Atsuko Otani

Kenichi Yamada

Ryûji Hayashi

Yuka Nitta

Hiroyuki Okiura

Michiyo Suzuki

Hiroomi Yamakawa

Atsushi Tamura

Moe Usami

Youichi Watanabe

Seiko Yoshioka

Shinji Otsuka

Akiyo Okuda

Eiji Yamamori

Takatsugu Muramatsu

Akihiko Yamashita

Atsushi Okui

Shuuji Suzuki

Animation

Drama

Family

Mystery

思い出のマーニー

Studio Ghibli

Hakuhodo DY Media Partners

KDDI

Nippon Television Network Corporation

TOHO

dentsu

The Walt Disney Company (Japan)

Mitsubishi

Japan

日本語

When Marnie Was There

friendship

based on novel or book

imaginary friend

flashback

photograph

calm

anime

personal diary

psychological

Ewa Wiman

This is a very beautiful animated film from Studio Ghibli, possibly the last one to com out of Studioe Ghibli for some time or last one ever.

It is about Anna, a young girl that we learn has asthma and is feeling very alone. She is sent to relatives in the country to recuperate from severe sickness.

Once there she meets another young girl, who is blond and also has beautiful blue eyes like Anna. Anna feels real connection to this girl. During the film we learn more and more about Anna and this young girl. 

It is a film that is both beautiful very well worth seeing.

Reno

> Some people're destined to meet the secret friend.

From the director Hiromasa Yonebayashi of 'The Secret World of Arriety' fame. Based on the 1967 English novel of the same name and so the important characters borrowed the western names. This is what I call a fine adaptation, great transformation from the words to the motion picture. Actually, it suited for the narration from the standpoint of Japanese culture and lifestyle, especially for this anime version with the beautiful fictional coastal landscapes. Whenever I remember this film in the future, that Marsh house would be the first thing to pop out in my mind, an unforgettable landmark for sure.

The movie promos were damp. The posters were not that impressive, but okay and the trailer was very ordinary. Studio Ghibli was the reason to go for it, so I expected nothing spectacular from the movie. Even while I was watching, I thought it was just an enjoyable mystery flick, but you know sometime the value of the whole movie comes at the end twist. Once the end was near my stance changed, especially after the hidden truth revelation. Some movies need a re-watch to terminate any doubts regarding characters and scenes. As for this movie, if your focus is straight, then it's does not require.

Not a technical brilliance like the director's previous movie, but the story was strong and twisty. The characters were very interesting, suspense was the movie's influence for the audience to stick till the end. There is no loose end, certainly gives a few topics to discuss about, but the narration moves on a circular track and hits back like the boomerang. That does not mean it is a time travel or something. The narration bends and blends with the time. To realise what is real and what is not, you have to wait till the end. After seeing the film, I understood everyone's childhood memories could monopolize if we encounter same object, place, person and other things again in the later life. Yes, I had few minor experience in my life as well.

The opening dialogue itself a hint of what kind of movie it is going to be. There are two prominent girls, Anna and Marnie in the story, like the Anna and Elsa from 'Frozen'. The narration flips on a regular basis to tell the multiple layered story. As this film was a puzzle in portrayal, obviously viewers try to solve it, including me. I tried my best. I thought Anna's childhood toy was something to do with all the fuss, but I was terribly wrong. That was a perfect divert if you observe it closely. In another perspective, I kept 'The Others' and 'The Orphanage' in mind, but was not even close to where this story was heading. Whether you succeed or not, very fun to solve a mystery, you know. Finally, it gave me full satisfaction like that indirectly I saw 'The Uninvited' once again.

Feels like the Oscars was concluded yesterday, but I am already thinking about the next one. If I am not wrong this movie is definitely one of the contenders for the best animation race, along with 'The Good Dinosaur' probably. Absolutely, I would be disappointed if I don't see it in the final five. There is lots of time between now and then, so anything might happen, who knows. After all, this film has already won my little heart and millions of other's. I know no one can replace Mr. Miyazaki, but feels like Hiromasa Yonebayashi could come near if his future projects as much effective as his one. Best of luck to him and he's only a 41. But remember Isao Takahat is 80 and still in the race, yet to announce his retirement. And this film was very close to his 'Only Yesterday'.

> I love you more than any girl I've ever known.

Studio Ghibli is like Disney Studio from the east. As we know, narrating a fairy tale having the tween girls in the lead is what they're famous for. The previous couple of movies were out of their trademark, so, happy they are back with this masterwork. At a same time I am very very very very sad, because it's their final movie after the 30 years of triumph. Since Hayao Miyazaki's retirement everything falling apart from the studio's management. They've given reasons and it is only a temporary, though hope the rise of 3D animation is not the one to halt the production, praying for the pause to be lifted soon.

This film is not just passing through from this giant anime production house, but it is a masterpiece. As usual, it is a girly movie and that does not stop grownups, especially men from a watch. I loved it, everytime when I like a movie I express my desire for a sequel and so I did for this film. Though it was one time story with nothing left over for further development, possibly some new thing can be attached to it. Whatever happens this movie will remain as one of the best from the studio and can compete with any modern animations and live-shot masterworks. Highly recommended, not just for anime or animation fans, but for mystery and who love the layers in story narration.

9/10

When Marnie Was There( 2014)

Promise we'll remain a secret, forever.

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A review by Ewa Wiman

Written by Ewa Wiman on Sat Apr 18 2015

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