Netflix And Chill: Arrietty (2010)

An animated take on The Borrowes from Studio Ghibli, Arrietty (also known as The Secret World Of Arrietty) is, as you might have guessed already, yet ANOTHER film I had meant to see quite a few years ago. Why wouldn't I be interested in it? I love both The Borrowers and Studio Ghibli, so it seemed like a wonderful marriage.

Arrietty is the youngest member of the Clock family, tiny people living in the home of normal-sized humans. They survive by going on occasional quests to "borrow" what they need from the house before returning to their own living space, tucked away under the floorboards. Borrowers shouldn't be seen by humans, that's a pretty good rule to live by, but Arrietty ends up contemplating the idea of a friendship with Shô, a teenage boy who has arrived at the house to rest up before he is due to undergo heart surgery. Things soon become dangerous for Arrietty and her family, and it's harder for them to continue living their lives in secret, which means that it soon becomes time to see whether Shô will end up helping or hindering them.

The first film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who followed this up with the wonderful When Marnie Was There, this is the kind of thing that Studio Ghibli does so well. It takes some fantastical elements, grounds everything in a world that throws some very real problems at the main characters, and allows the animation team to impress everyone with visuals that are as beautiful and delicate as any other work of fine art you might choose to enjoy. Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa are responsible for the screenplay, adapting the Mary Norton novel (and, sadly, I cannot say how close to, or far from, the source material it is), and they know exactly what they're doing when it comes to balancing out the magical realism and the tension, with Miyazaki already having plenty of experience on many of his own directorial outings.

Although I am very often firmly against such choices, Arrietty, like many Studio Ghibli movies, is available in multiple versions. I still prefer to go for the Japanese audio, to hear the original cast members in their roles, but those opting for the dubbed version could, depending on their choice/territory, hear the likes of Bridgit Mendler, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, and Carol Burnett, or Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland, Olivia Colman, and Mark Strong, among others. I enjoyed the work of Mirai Shida (in the main role), Ryûnosuke Kamiki (as Shô), Tomokazu Miura and Shinobu Ôtake (as the parents of our lead), as well as Keiko Takeshita and Kirin Kiki. I'm not going to pretend that I keep these names filed in my brain when viewing various Japanese movies, but they may well be people I have ecnountered before, considering the lengths of their respective filmographies, and it's the least I can do to namecheck them here for their valuable contribution to the film.

There's no denying that Studio Ghibli movies are all about the artistry though, and this aims for the high standard that they are known for. It may not be quite as inventive or stunning as a number of more magical titles I could mention, but it's a treat for the eyes, and as well-realised and fluidly animated as the best of them. I loved it, and it even made me nostalgic for the other feature film version of this material that I have vague memories of. I hope that most people will agree with me, but especially those seeking out a suitable family viewing choice. In fact, you need to be putting all of the Studio Ghibli movies in steady rotation if you have any younger film viewers in your household.

9/10

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Japanuary: P.O.V. - A Cursed Film (2012)

Haruna (played by Haruna Kawaguchi) and Mirai (played by Mirai Shida) are hosts of some little show that one of the producers wants to give a boost. That leads to them playing video footage that they have been sent, except it is different footage when played compared to what had been visible earlier. The footage was shot at Haruna's school, leading the show team to head there and try to get to the bottom of things. There are soon creepy things happening, a tragic backstory being revealed, and some wonderfully atmospheric moments showing people in peril while spirits start to become more and more numerous around them.

Taking the familiar found footage style and mixing in the idea of a whole film being cursed (and we're well aware of cursed filmed footage having a key place in last couple of decades of Japanese horror), P.O.V. - A Cursed Film spends a bit too much time in the first half trying to subtly build up the chills without any context for them. There's nothing especially wrong with the first 20-30 minutes, it just isn't half as good as the last two thirds of the film.

Writer-director Norio Tsuruta has thrown together a number of fun ideas here, and it's impressive that he's done it in a way that nicely balances a sense of knowing playfulness with a handful of properly creepy moments. As well as the more obvious touchstones, this feels very much indebted to Don't Look Up, certainly by the time the last few scenes play out before the END end credits (there are a few end credits here, so don't turn the film off prematurely or you'll miss out on quite a bit).

Kawaguchi and Shida don't have to do anything too strenuous, considering they are playing characters with their own names and are positioned in scenes that have spooky things going on around them, but they do well enough. There are a few other key supporting players, but the focus stays on the two girls, when it isn't on whatever has been captured on film. Their interactions with one another, and reactions to things, are all very believable. If anything, they consistently prove that most young Japanese girls are still a lot braver than I am, even when they're petrified.

Although I mentioned the fact that the last two thirds of this film are better than the opening act, that won't necessarily be the case for some, who I suspect may lose interest during the last 5-10 minutes. Things take a further turn that you have to get on board with, twisting the onscreen events into something arguably more interesting and sophisticated than the opening scenes would suggest. Subtlety has long gone, and the layers between viewer and footage start to blur and bleed into one another. In some ways, it's very silly. In other ways, it works. It's a tale within a tale within a tale (within a tale?), and that approach is certainly more interesting than what could have easily been an enjoyable, but altogether familiar, found footage to sit alongside the hundreds of others from the past couple of decades.

It doesn't quite get either end of the fear spectrum exactly right, the subtle moments are too subtle and the outright madness of the finale would have been better if there had been an attempt made to slide things into place a bit more smoothly, but this is still worth your time. Even if it's not one you'll ever want to revisit.

6/10

This is a region 3 disc (you have been warned).