Runtime:
89 minutes
Directed
by: Isao Takahita
Starring:
This is an animated movie... and an excellent one at that
From:
Shinchosha Company/Studio Ghibli
Director Isao Takahita passed away this past April and unfortunately until last night I hadn't seen any of his movies. Plenty were saddened by this news, due to how much they love his most famous work. For awhile now I knew Fathom Events would show this on the big screen one week (as they've done with other Studio Ghibli movies the past several years) so I waited until then to see this and also tip my cap to the late Takahita.
What I had always heard about this being depressing or devastating... holy cow was that not an exaggeration. A story from the point of view of citizens in Japan during the last days of World War II (when the country was being bombed constantly and many struggled to even find enough food to survive) was naturally going to be a downer. When the plot is us following a male teen and his younger sister and they are mainly on their own... expect some gut-wrenching moments.
After sleeping on it, this movie has just stayed with me; I am still affected by how great and warm the relationship is between Seita and Setsuko. The very beginning of Grave makes things clear how things will turn out... hint, not well. Yet the love that the two leads have is so great, you are compelled to watch them on this grueling journey and you still hope beyond all reason that things go well for them; they are really put through the ringer with tragedy and otherwise bad things happening to them.
It is a beautiful movie to look at and there is lovely music along the way. This journey of those two siblings was utterly heartbreaking yet there are many beautiful moments that occur. It is not an hour and a half of pure misery; instead those touching bits make their ultimate fate all the more crushing. The fact that this movie will surely linger with me for a long while is why I have to give this the highest possible rating.
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