40. Only yesterday
Isao Takahata, 1991
I'm sorry for the delay, but there's a lot to say about this one, so I guess that will make up for it. Only thing is, my comment is quite heavily spoilered. I didn't want to separate the spoilers just for aesthetic reasons, so the length of the post will serve at "hiding" them (¿?). Whatever, let's go:
The case of this movie is specially curious; having into account how underviewed it tends to be in comparison with other Ghibli works, it is also one of the most uniformly loved works from those who have watched it, to the point that I have seen very few people across the internet commenting on its bad aspects, let alone dislike the overall feature.
The reasons for the nature of this hidden gem are maybe in the idea it holds.
Only yesterday is an adult animation, but contrarily to the common grounds of this conception, it is not about pop references, strongly violent themes, a particularly dense set of philosophy or a heavy character tragedy. Instead, it is a little, subtle work filled with narrative sobriety which deals with the personal condition of a perfectly normal character under perfectly normal conditions. It is a naturally restrictive work, in the sense that the conflict corresponds to a specific age set; with the additions of the multiple 70s Japan references and the general views on animation in the West, make this movie really hard to sell.
It could even be argued that the animation choice was random; this would open a necessary debate on whether the animation can be used as a form of totally free expression or only as a mean to emphasize things that live action isn't able to. While there are some scenes that would seem to justify the decision from that second point of view,
Only yesterday represents an extreme, in the sense that nothing in it defies the laws of physics, nor introduces a fantasy setting; but on the other hand it does have a clear aesthetic emphasis, and the fact it's animated only contributes to it.
The storyline is basically about a young woman with an apparently decent job who decides to take vacation at the country. During her holidays the memories of her childhood start to form, in her mind, without any apparent reason behind. This point is important to understand the lack of linearity of the flashbacks; since they are not an exercise of active evocation, and they by themselves don't carry out specific objectives. Taeko's flasback experiences are completely involuntary, they just flow in her mind for a reason she doesn't fully understand. This is translated for the viewer in the existence of many "conflicts" which are simply cut without further development: let's say first love, first menstruation experience or the episode of the theater.
But by joining all of these little pieces and the experience of Taeko in the country, she makes a recap in her life decisions and questions them. The moral take of this movie is a very uncommon one in its context. It is probably the only anime I have seen, perhaps with
Perfect Blue, which deals with an openly feminist discourse. Miyazaki for example does deal with the aspect of gender equality but he does it indirectly, through strong-willed female characters; however this and Kon's focus on the actual problem of the position of women in the Japanese society. There is a very revealing phrase where Taeko sums up the reasons of her conflict and the moral take of the movie. It is tied with the memories of her frustration with maths as a kid, and talks about her friend, who was able to divide fractions because she always did what she was told to: "Now she is happily married and has three children". Being a 27-year-old, single and independent woman in a society that pushes you to form a family and live according to the traditional standards becomes the main point of conflict of Taeko.
The ending is pretty much perfect. It is one of my favorite endings of all time; not only it delivers a great conclusion to her inner conflicts, but serves as an amazing narrative tie between the past and the present Taeko, with one of the most beautiful sequences I have ever seen, an incredibly fitting music choice and a last shot that, alone, could justify the whole experience, when the roles are swapped and her child self watches the adult Taeko following her path.
The art is really top-notch here. Just beautiful in every scene at the country, amazingly detailed in the environments it portrays in the present, while the flashbacks are shown with a white filter and an aesthetically simpler look, managing to work perfectly as evocations of the past. The character designs are pretty realistic, with an extreme in the case of Taeko and her expression lines.
I only really have a few problems with this movie; probably the most important one is that I don't find the character of Toshio to be fully satisfying. He is quite difficult to stomach at his first moments, and while this is slowly reverted in the story, I find his character portrayal relatively uninteresting; which is justified as the story is told through Taeko's view, but also kind of disappointing as one of the main focus is in their relationship. On the other hand, there was a scene where I couldn't spot the reasoning of the main character. It's when Toshio's parents talk about the marriage proposal and she runs away; the reason she gives to Toshio later is about her guit feels because of how easily accepted she is while she doesn't really know about the country life, which seems completely unfocused to me. I guess there is a possible explanation at pointing this as a fast excuse, to avoid getting to the main point with Toshio, but from the viewing of the scene it didn't sound like that.
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, by the way. And thanks for bringing your viewpoint in such a thorough way.
