Written by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki (Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away and The Secret World of Arrietty) and directed by Goro Miyazaki, From Up on Poppy Hill marks the first feature film collaboration between father and son.
The setting is Yokohama in 1963, and the filmmakers masterfully bring to life the bustling seaside town, with its salty air, sun-drenched gardens, and some of the most mouthwatering Japanese home-cooking set to film (plan on ramen and pork katsu after the movie). The story centers on an innocent romance beginning to bud between Umi and Shun, two high school kids caught up in the changing times. 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. While the children work together to save a dilapidated Meiji-era club house from demolition, their tentative relationship begins to blossom. But – in an unexpected twist that parallels what the country itself is facing – a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart.
You may laugh when you see the studio, GKIDS, is the distributor of From Up On Poppy Hill? Who, you may ask? Well, they get the last laugh, because during the past 3 years their animated movies have received a handful of Oscar nominations for Best Animated Film.
FEATURING The Voices of: Jamie Lee Curtis, Christina Hendricks, Ron Howard, Aubrey Plaza
DIRECTED BY: Goro Miyazaki
STUDIO: GKIDS
RATING: PG
