Whisper of the Heart

[Bramblewild]

Though there is certainly some stiff competition, Whisper of the Heart sits at the top of my ranking of Ghibli movies.

I remember being able to catch this movie in the theater, and finding it one of the most enjoyable theater movies I'd seen in a while.

It's the kind of story that would maybe seem strange to a lot of movie watchers in the US. There is no "bad guy", there is no great external conflict.

A while ago, I watched a movie based on The Pilgrim's Progress. The people who made this movie made lots of changes to the original story. Bunyan's story is focused mostly on Christian and his journey, the people he meets, the trouble he gets into, and so on. This new movie put in a bunch of demons, and even had a big bad who for whatever reason keeps trying to hunt Christian until the end.

I fear if Whisper of the Heart were to be remade by US movie makers, it would suffer a similar fate. They'd maybe throw in some catty classmates who would ridicule and bully, or maybe some big business trying to buy out the grandfather's story.

And the movie would lose it's charm. Because it's not about such cheap sources of conflict.

It is a movie about the ordinary--no geniuses, no super heroes, no mutants, not even anyone with really quirky behaviors or extreme mental hang-ups. It's a common story, done in a way to make those common things appear as special as they really are.

 

[angelsaroundme]

This movie really is something. If anyone hasn't given it a shot I highly recommend it.

 

[LeafByNiggle]

Though there is certainly some stiff competition, Whisper of the Heart sits at the top of my ranking of Ghibli movies.

I agree that it is one of the best, even if it does have a corny ending. But I'm a software engineer, not a writer. I have heard some analysis of this movie by someone who is in a creative vocation, and he said the movie does a very good job at capturing the internal struggles, mood swings, and self-doubt involved in the creative process. I can see that too. What I want to comment on though is the music. There are several pieces in the movie that I like so much I got the piano sheet music and have been trying to learn to play. There is hauntingly beautiful theme of the grandfather clock that sounds very much like the regular slow beat of the grandfather clock. There is the Baron's Song, and of course "Country Roads." They took the popular tune from John Denver's classic and added lyrics more appropriate to the issues of the movie, which are very different from the message John Denver was trying to convey, but still it works somehow. I'll repeat them here for those who have not heard it. Just imagine this to the tune of Country Roads. (Much of the awkwardness of the words is due to the fact that it is translated from the Japanese. It probably flowed better in Japanese.)

I dreamed of living alone but fearless,
Secret longing to be courageous,
lonliness kept bottled up inside,
just reveal your brave face they’ll
never know you lied.

Country road may lead me home,
Know I belong there all on my own
destiny calls, motionless I stall,
no I can’t go,
Country road.

No matter how dark the world’s inside me
I’ll never stop to show a tears that I’ve shed, but now
I have to walk so fast, running, sprinting to forget
what is lodged in my head.
country Road, may lead me home, know I belong
there all on my own. Destiny calls, motionless
I stall no I can’t go country roads.

country road, la la la la. You’re a good friend
I’ll never know. Same tomorrow, regret and sorrow,
can’t take you home. Country Road.​

A much sadder song, no? Sounds like the inner conflict of a struggling writer.

 

[Hawthorne]

Sometimes it's my very favourite Studio Ghibli film. What more can be said about it? It's a lovely, wholesome, and happy little film.