爱是花你是那种子——岁月的童话（宫崎骏音乐盒）

Only Yesterday (1991)
岁月的童话/儿时的点点滴滴
おもひでぽろぽろ
Directed by     Isao Takahata
Produced by     Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki
Written by     Isao Takahata
Starring     Miki Imai, Yoshiro Yanagiba, Yoko Honna
Music by     Masaru Hoshi
Distributed by     Tokuma Shoten ,
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Release date(s)    
Japan July 20, 1991
Germany June 6, 2006
AU October 11, 2006
UK September 4, 2006
Running time     118 minutes
Language     Japanese

Only Yesterday (おもひでぽろぽろ), Omohide Poro Poro, meaning Memories Like Falling Teardrops (more literally, Memories Like Falling Rain Drops) is sixth film by critically acclaimed director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies) and produced by Studio Ghibli. It is based on the manga of the same title by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. It was released on July 20, 1991. The ending theme song is a Japanese translation "Ai wa Hana, Kimi wa sono Tane (愛は花、君はその種子, Ai wa Hana, Kimi wa sono Tane)" of Amanda McBroom's composition "The Rose".

Only Yesterday is significant among progressive anime films in that it explores a genre traditionally thought to be outside the realm of animated subjects, in this case a realistic drama written for adult, particularly female josei audiences. In spite of its subject matter, the film was a surprise box office success, attracting a large adult audience of both sexes.

Storyline--

Taeko is 27, unmarried, has lived her whole life in Tokyo and now works at a company there. She decides to take another trip to visit her elder sister's in-laws in the rural countryside to help with the safflower harvest and get away from city life. While traveling at night on a train to Yamagata, she begins to recall memories of herself as a fifth-grade schoolgirl in 1966, and her intense desire to go on holiday like her classmates. During her stay in Yamagata, she finds herself increasingly nostalgic and wistful for her childhood self, while simultaneously wrestling with adult issues of career and love. The trip dredges up forgotten memories, the first stirrings of childish romance, puberty and growing up, the frustrations of math and boys. In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.

While mostly realistic in its depiction of Taeko, the expressionistic influences in Takahata's work are often marked by scenes where a character's imagination comes to life on screen. After Taeko encounters her first love, she dreams of rising from her bed into a red-colored sky. The scene ends with her slow return to earth, then cuts to an outside shot of her house where a giant heart emerges from her window. These expressionistic sequences run counter to Takahata's realistic storyline, but are consciously used by the director to transition back and forth from reality to the unreal world of animated fantasy, leveraging the advantages of animation in order to develop the character.

--From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



I am a big fan for Hayao Miyazaki (宫崎骏). Started loving his animated films over ten years ago. Still think his films are the best animation works ever. I watched all his cartoon except this one, Only Yesterday. Reason? Simply because my Japanese sucks and I don't want to read Chinese subtitles. And it seems that I can't find a Chinese dubbed version anywhere. So I decided to leave it. Maybe some day I will try learning Japanese again. The I can buy a DVD collection of all Miyazaki's works and enjoy them with their original flavor. Waiting for that day to come.