WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE
Studio Ghilbli’s sweet sayonara
released OUT NOW! 2014 | U | Blu-ray & dvd (double-play)/ dvd Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi Cast Hailee steinfeld, Kiernan shipka, Geena davis, Kathy Bates
Studio Ghibli’s final film is comfortingly Ghibli in some respects and yet something totally different as well. It’s a return to the studio’s signature lush animation style and also a return to English children’s literature for inspiration (in this case a 1967 book by Joan Robinson).
But the storytelling here is something excitingly fresh and new for the studio. A coming-ofage tale for a depressed girl, Anna, it may start in classic fashion – with an orphan child packed off to relatives in the country – but, shockingly, her relatives are really lovely. It’s Anna’s own depression that causes the friction. Until she befriends a mysterious girl...
It’s sweet, it’s beautiful and it’s proof that Ghibli was prepared to push boundaries until the end. We’re gonna miss you.
Extras An option to watch the entire film in storyboards; an English featurette interviewing the Western voice cast (12 minutes); a Making Of (42 minutes); an odd featurette about an art show (17 minutes); trailers. Dave Golder
The original book was inspired by Norfolk village Burnham Overy. The author is buried in the churchyard there.