Ghibling - 3

"Whisper of the Heart"

This film is part of the minority at studio Ghibli that do not have the name Miyazaki or Takahata planted in the director's slot. The directing honor this time goes to Yoshifumi Kondou. That isn't to say this film is a great departure from the Ghibli style, but at the same time this film deals with a realistic world. Any departure from realism occurs only in the mind of our young heroine. Maybe this is why Miyazaki passed the torch on this project. Maybe he feels more comfortable in story book land.

When I popped in the English dub and heard John Denver's "Country Road" start playing over the main titles, I was a little bit confused. I switched over to the Japanese track to see if anything weird was going on, but it was over there as well. Nothing against that song, but why do you choose to open your film playing a country/folk song about West Virginia while showing shots of fluorescent, busy, concrete and steel Tokyo at night? When the film gets moving, you stop thinking about that, but I think it is a key to understanding the story.

Shizuku plays a junior high school girl (I think about 15 yrs. old) in her final year before high school. In Japan, that means cram school, study till you collapse, pick yourself up, and study some more so you get into a good school. And yet Shizuku is not following in that mold. As the film begins she is enjoying the last days of a summer that she devoted almost entirely to reading. When school starts she is not enthusiastic about studying or the tests. Really she just has very little direction in life. She enjoys reading and writing lyrics, but hasn't thought about anything past that.

One day she makes her way to an out of the way antique shop and meets Seiji a young boy her age. Actually it's a lot more involved than that, but it's too complicated to worry about now. In any event, as they get to know each other, Seiji tells of his desire to make violins and how he is moving to Italy to pursue his dream. His drive and dedication to his dream makes Shizuku examine her own life. As a way to test herself she devotes an exhaustive two months to writing a novel.

In essence this is the story. It's about finding your own road in life and the work and sacrifice that must be put forth to reach your goals. It's here where I tie in the whole Country Road thing back to the narrative thread. CR has a wistful sentiment in the lyrics. The idea that there is a place where you belong is there, but there is also the feeling of I'm not there right now and I really wish I was. I think that feeling is pretty common for teenagers, college students, and beyond thinking about their futures. There is a feeling that there is something I should pursue, something that will fulfill my life, and yet there are too many roads, and which one should I take? I see this as the central struggle of Shizuku.

The film gives her a surprisingly defined group of friends and family to support and challenge her in her choices. I really take my hat off to the director for being able to cram in so much information about all the characters in the short amount of screen time they receive. How do you successfully paint a patient, concerned father that we care about in about 10 lines of dialog? How is it we know just about all there is to know about Shizuku's relationship with her older sister from three short scenes? This is some strong character driven story telling.

And yet it would hardly be a Ghibli film without a little bit of the fantastic. The antique shop Shizuku frequents through the film is set apart in many ways from the rest of the locations. The colors, the pace, and the music all are just a little bit off from the rest of Tokyo. She describes it as a place where stories start and this becomes true in more ways than one. Her own novel, a new direction in her life, new relationships, and shared memories seem to come alive in the antique shop more than anywhere else.

All that to say I enjoyed this film and recommend it right up there with nearly everything by Ghibli.

That's pretty much all I have to say, but I would be remiss if I didn't share a more personal insight from the film. There is a moment in "Whisper of the Heart" that took me right back to 5th grade. In the film Shizuku asks Seiji to play violin for her. Seiji agrees but insists that she sing along. While shy and lacking confidence in her ability at first, she eventually agrees. They are joined by the shop owner and a few of his friends in a great country/folk combo (complete with Cornetto!) and they have fun playing music together. On a basic emotional level, this took me back to when the 5th graders at Prescott Elementary School were just learning our instruments and were gathered together for the first time as a band. Miss Miller was late so we took it upon ourselves to play a song together just for fun. It, of course, sounded terrible, but we made music. I thought to myself at that moment, I could be perfectly happy if I did nothing but make music with this group of people for the rest of my life. That kind of intense joy is something that I've experienced only a handful of times in my life. While the scene I watched doesn't duplicate that joy, it lets me reminisce. Like a picture lets us relive a vacation or a whistle is exalted into a symphony.