MARY AND THE WITCH’S FLOWER
In full bloom
released OUt NOW! 2017 | U | blu-ray/dVd
Creators Hiromasa Yonebayashi Cast Hana sugisaki, ryunosuke Kamiki, Yuki amami, Fumiyo Kohinata
When Studio Ghibli halted production in 2014, it was met with a wave of dismay. One of cinema’s most magical storytellers was closing its doors, perhaps forever. But hope arrived with Mary And The Witch’s Flower, the beautiful debut feature from Studio Ponoc.
Helmed by former Ghibli producer Yoshiaki Nishimura and director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Mary is full of wonder and delight, following a young girl who’s whisked away to a witch’s academy when she finds a magical flower. It really is lovely – perhaps not as breathtaking as some of Ghibli’s epics, but whimsical and heartfelt. Mary is the kind of protagonist children need. She’s clumsy and shy, weighed down with loneliness as she kicks about her great aunt’s house. Yet she’s a girl who simmers with inner strength, making you root for her at every trip and turn.
For English audiences, it can be a melancholy experience. Adapting the 1971 children’s book The Little Broomstick, the film’s partly set in a haunting, romantic slice of the English countryside. It’s gorgeous, but it’s also hard not to feel like this England has been overwritten with motorways and endless shopping malls. While this England is wispy and cobwebbed, the magical world Mary visits pops like candy, spilling over with spells and strange beings.
Even if Ghibli never makes another film, it’s wonderful to think that Mary is the first film of many from an enchanting new studio – one that might not exist if Ghibli had never gone on pause.
Extras 40-minute Making Of; a conversation between Studio Ponoc and pop band Sekai No Owari; press conference with cast and crew; an interview with the filmmakers; promo.
Before production began, Yonebayashi travelled to Shropshire, where he viewed local manor houses and gardens.