From Up On Poppy Hill
Screening Dates:
Mon 9 September 6:15pm
The screening on Sat 7 September is in English
The screening on Mon 9 September is in Japanese with English subtitles
Director: Goro Miyazaki
Starring: Sarah Bolger, Anton Yelchin, Christina Hendricks
Originally conceived by Studio Ghibli master, Hayao Miyazaki, based on a 1980 manga, From Up On A Poppy Hill is directed by his son, Goro (Tales From Earthsea).
A tender story of teenage love set in the year before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, From Up On A Poppy Hill tells the tale of Umi and Shun, who have grown up in the years after the Second World War and during Japan’s economic boom.
In the lead-up to the Olympics, signs of the old city are torn down. In this time of change and upheaval, there’s a dispute about the future of a venerable old building.
Many want to get rid of it but Umi and Shun understand that it’s full of history and memories and should be protected.
**** “YOU DON’T WATCH A STUDIO GHIBLI FILM SO MUCH AS SINK INTO IT LIKE A HOT SPRING, WITH GROANS OF DELIGHT” Daily Telegraph
Critic: Catherine Bray
Date: 2013-07-30
Publication: Time Out
Quote: The gorgeous score and subtle visual craft save this entry in the Ghibli canon from mediocrity. But given what the studio is capable of, it's not everything fans will be hoping for.
Critic: Rene Rodriguez
Date: 2013-05-10
Publication: Miami Herald
Quote: A departure for Studio Ghibli - an emotionally nuanced, nostalgic look at the past that is grounded in everyday reality but retains the humor and delight that are part of the studio's trademark.
Critic: Joe Williams
Date: 2013-04-18
Publication: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Quote: Goro Miyazaki has a style that's both more painterly and more cinematic than the cartoonish norm, while his father's screenplay is a classic coming-of-age story that seems suited for a live-action remake.
Critic: Steven Rea
Date: 2013-04-12
Publication: Philadelphia Inquirer
Quote: In the wisdom of this artfully rendered film, Umi and Shun - and the viewer - come to learn that the past and the future should go hand in hand, that the best way to move forward is to reflect, and respect, what came before.
Critic: Ann Hornaday
Date: 2013-04-05
Publication: Washington Post
Quote: The story of a girl grappling with first love, the absence of her parents and the anxieties of an on-rushing future in 1963 Yokohama has all the earmarks of a Miyazaki classic.
Critic: Ty Burr
Date: 2013-04-04
Publication: Boston Globe
Quote: The film's perfectly fine, but it's not a patch on "Spirited Away," "My Neighbor Totoro," "Princess Mononoke," and other Studio Ghibli classics.
Critic: G. Allen Johnson
Date: 2013-03-29
Publication: San Francisco Chronicle
Quote: This is a gentle film, hand-drawn with irresistible colors, that exudes nostalgia in a lovely way.
Critic: Peter Rainer
Date: 2013-03-29
Publication: Christian Science Monitor
Quote: Although simpler and less mysterious than the great Hayao Miyazaki movies, the gently melancholic From Up on Poppy Hill is still a must see at a time when family entertainment is too often synonymous with blandness.
Critic: Colin Covert
Date: 2013-03-28
Publication: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Quote: Is there a Japanese word that combines "pretty," "demure" and "boring"?
Critic: John Anderson
Date: 2013-03-28
Publication: Newsday
Quote: Both genuinely emotional and blithely engaging.
Critic: Ben Sachs
Date: 2013-03-28
Publication: Chicago Reader
Quote: The film maintains an optimistic tone without succumbing to nostalgia, and as always with Studio Ghibli, the company Miyazaki cofounded in the 80s, the hand-drawn animation is gorgeous.
Critic: Michael Phillips
Date: 2013-03-28
Publication: Chicago Tribune
Quote: Your kids may well fall in love with it, if you help them find it.
Critic: Roger Ebert
Date: 2013-03-28
Publication: Chicago Sun-Times
Quote: The artistry is peaceful and comforting to the eyes but not especially stirring. Given the pictorial extremes that Studio Ghibli has gone to in the past, "Up on Poppy Hill" is weak tea.
Critic: Bruce Demara
Date: 2013-03-22
Publication: Toronto Star
Quote: Likely to appeal to young audiences - especially teenagers - and possibly even to jaded adults, who may look back on their own first yearnings of puppy love with nostalgia and affection.
Critic: Joe Morgenstern
Date: 2013-03-21
Publication: Wall Street Journal
Quote: A film about many things-so many that the magic of Studio Ghibli's past has been displaced by exposition and earnest discussion.
Critic: Alonso Duralde
Date: 2013-03-21
Publication: The Wrap
Quote: The screenplay deftly balances the characters' intimate concerns with the nation's historic growing pains, resulting in a story that's as engrossing as the visuals are breathtaking.
Critic: Kenneth Turan
Date: 2013-03-21
Publication: Los Angeles Times
Quote: "From Up on Poppy Hill" is frankly stunning, as beautiful a hand-drawn animated feature as you are likely to see.
Critic: Farran Smith Nehme
Date: 2013-03-15
Publication: New York Post
Quote: It's the sort of movie that can prompt daydreams about inhabiting its world of flowers and hills, passing ships and harbor lights, where there's no Internet and romance happens face to face.
Critic: A.O. Scott
Date: 2013-03-14
Publication: New York Times
Quote: Its visual magic lies in painterly compositions of foliage, clouds, architecture and water, and its emotional impact comes from the way everyday life is washed in the colors of memory.
Critic: Scott Tobias
Date: 2013-03-14
Publication: NPR
Quote: Those gorgeous, hand-drawn images bring lightness and grace to a story that might seem drab and pedestrian in the real world.
