Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from him, but most of the Ghibli films I’ve seen had some fantastical bent to them, but by this point it seemed that Takahata had a more grounded sensibility. Which may be why Pom Poko threw me for a loop, but Only Yesterday is an outright drama and character piece. And nothing wrong with that, of course, but worth reiterating for those that think anime concerns itself only with the outlandish.
Set in the early eighties, Taeko Okajima, a 27 year old Tokyo based salarywoman, decides to holiday with her extended family out in the sticks, helping with the safflower harvest as an excuse to get out of the rat race for a while. While taking the slow train out there, she’s struck by a wave of nostalgia for similar feelings as a youngster and recollects vignettes from her life as a ten year old, which will recur through the piece.
Arriving at the station, she’s collected by her brother in law’s second cousin Toshio. He’s a dedicated and passionate young farmer, extolling the virtues of organic farming back when that was rather less commonplace. The two meet up at various points over the weeks, often discussing Taeko’s views and hopes for her life as a kid, and how they match up with the actuality of modern life.
This all leads to Taeko questioning whether she wants to return to her life at all, and realising that she may be falling for Toshio. But is this just a fanciful view of an idealised lifestyle influence by all this nostalgia, which wouldn’t hold up to a sustained trip, or is this a true realisation of the life she’s wanted all along?
Taeko takes us along that path with her, and while she reaches an answer, showing her working as she goes, there’s a question mark over whether she reached the right answer that is impossible to tell, as only time after the credits roll will tell. I, for one, hope that this fictional animated character chose well, because even if she’s not real, she (and Toshio for that matter) and fine young fictional people who deserve to have a fine and happy fictional life together.
Akira this is not, or Spirited Away for that matter, but that doesn’t make this comparatively mundane film any less captivating than the other anime lynchpins. Taeko, Toshio, and all of the family seem like better realised and more realistic characters than most dramas I’ve seen in recent times, and much easier to empathise with without there really being any moments of crisis and resolution to help that along.
I’m a little frustrated that I can’t find much more to say about it, at least without risking repeating ourselves too much. It obviously looks and sounds fantastic, although that’s true of all of the films we’ll be talking about. As we work through these films we’ll see that Takahata varies his style more than most artists between films, although there’s arguably less of a gulf between this and Grave of the Fireflies than we’ll go on to see. There’s perhaps a more “realistic” animation style to this than Grave, although in stills you’d struggle to see it, but it’s certainly the right choice for this film.
But the mechanical aspects are very much the least of this film’s bullet points. It’s a warm, human drama, where – and it’s sad that this must be something to applaud, rather than table stakes – nothing stupid happens. My disbelief barely required suspension at all, and it’s rare that this happens along with the film also being a compelling watch, and there’s not much higher praise I can give a film.
I can imagine approaching this with a preconceived notion of what anime is, or certainly what I’d seen in my teenage years, for example, and finding this altogether too prosaic to get in to, but through my old, weary, barely functioning eyes and equally decrepit, but open, mind, this is a treat indeed.