Whisper of the Heart
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Kazuo Takahashi, Shigeru Muroi, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Takashi Tachibana, Youko Honna Director: Yoshifumi Kondo Brand: Buena Vista Home Video DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Japanese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled) Format: AC-3, Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.85:1 Running Time: 111 minutes DVD Release Date: 2006-03-07 Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment |
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Movie Reviews of Whisper of the Heart
Movie Review: Animated Masterpiece Finally Comes to the United States...
Summary: 5 Stars
Whisper of the Heart is based on a screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki, which he adapted from a comic by Aoi Hîragi. The story focuses on a teenage girl who is to find out about life's difficult journey, as she discovers a mysterious name in a library book. Nonetheless, it is not a conventional teenage coming of age story that have already been made so many times.
The teenage years are the bridge from childhood to adulthood in which the child discovers itself in a process people call coming of age. Whisper of the Heart is such a story about the young teenage girl Shizuku who does what every good girl is supposes to do -- obey her parents. Parents often try to steer their children in a well-trodden path where mistakes are minimized and choice are limited as the future is important. Thus, it is essential that children obey the parent's wishes and desires as they usually have more knowledge and wisdom.
One of the demands that the parents put on their children is to study. In Japan the school system puts a lot of pressure on the teens, as they have to take hard entrance exams right before they enter high school, which means the students who get into high school usually spend the majority of their summer studying for exams. Shizuku, who is a good girl, does a lot of studying when she does not read books, which is one of her favorite pastimes.
Shizuku makes many visits to the library where her father works and she borrows large numbers of books. Through the old way of keeping the records of who borrowed what book Shizuku discovers the name Amasawa Seiji on more than one of the books that she has borrowed. This begins an innocent and secretive romance for Shizuku who uses her imagination to create an image for Amasawa. Despite this beginning, Whisper of the Heart is not a teenage love story, yet love is an important part of the film as it illustrates the complexity of being a teen.
When Shizuku does not read she translates and writes her own poetry, carries food to her father at work, and helps out with the house chores. In the summer heat she even finds time for a little friendship, which is huge element of being a teen. The ability to socialize with friends is affected by what they do most of the time, which is studying for the entrance exams. In one of these moments she provides a translation of John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Road of which she has also created in her own Japanese version. This is an interesting scene as it displays how hard these teens work even when they are relaxing.
On one of Shizuku's short ventures with food to her father who is working a stray cat leads her astray. The cat leads her unintentionally into a small antique shop owned by an old man. In this store she gets to hear the story of Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, a cat statue, which becomes the foundation for the film Cat Returns (2002). Shizuku also meets a young teenage boy who dreams of becoming a violinmaker and who dreams of going to Italy to study violinmaking. Through this teenage boy she learns to look into herself in order to discover what she desires to do with her life.
Shizuku sets out on a quest to discover if she has what it takes to become a writer and she drops her studies and focuses solely on writing. Her older sister becomes irritated over her lack of respect for her parents and her parents are bewildered to see how she is changing. The film does not simply imply that one should follow ones dreams. Rather, it takes the notion one step further by applying hard work, dedication, and desire to the idea of following ones dreams. Thus, it does not become a pretentious teenage film, which often teaches the superficial value of "follow thy dreams". Instead, it provides a realistic perspective on success, as most of it is due to hard work and rarely only dreams and hopes.
In this process Shizuku comes of age as she discovers what she wants to do while applying dedication and zealous work ethic to what she loves the most. Yet, the film is not only about "follow thy dreams", it is about so much more. As mentioned beforehand she falls in love with this mysterious Amasawa, has friendships that go through difficult times, experiences hurt feelings, has looming exams, goes through failure, and deals with whatever else life presents. In essence, Whisper of the Heart is about coming of age while dealing with the ups and downs of life. The film does not focus on one of the moments in life, but rather on the journey through life as Shizuku is acquiring wisdom.
Whisper of the Heart is a brilliant animated film by Yoshifumi Kondo who unfortunately passed away in 1998, which makes Whisper of the Heart the only film that he directed. Kondo worked as an animator on wonderful animated films such as Grave of Fireflies (1988), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), Porco Rosso (1992), and Princess Mononoke (1997). It is sad to know that his visual talent and skill never got to make more flawless cinematic experiences such as Whisper of the Heart, which still has not been released in the United States. Hopefully, this film will also reach this nation as it has so much to offer in the sense of entertainment, enlightenment, and contemplative bemusement.