When Marnie Was There

A Review

Another day. Another Studio Ghibli review. Well, let’s get to it.

Recap: (Possible spoilers afoot, proceed with caution)

Anna is a young girl around the age of 10 or 11. She comes from the foster care system and has been there since she was young when her only remaining family passed away. She’s a sad girl, buy a very talented drawer, but she also has asthma. One day, for health reasons, her “mother” sends her to stay with her relatives. (The mother’s relatives, not Anna’s) in a small fishing village. Anna stays with a nice couple in their now grown up daughter’s old room. Anna was ambivalent about being sent away, but soon discovers an old Marsh House that is familiar to her, and soon is visited by a mysterious girl named Marnie. They become fast and close friends and promise to remain so forever. Along the way, Anna grows more happy about being there and soon a new family moves into the Marsh House. Anna befriends the daughter of the new family who finds the diary of the girl who lived there, Marnie. Through much discovery and heartbreak it’s revealed that Marnie is Anna’s grandmother. Anna finally finds peace and at the end of the summer she returns home with her mother, promising to return to the Marsh House and the town next summer.

The End

Analysis:

When Marnie Was There now completes the Hiromasa Yonebayashi Trilogy of films he’s directed. When Marnie Was There, Mary and The Witch’s Flowers, and The Secret World of Arriety. Save for Mary and The Witch’s Flower, which was produced under a new company, the other two were produced by Ghibli and When Marnie Was There is a fantastic film. I think we either all know or were at one point in our lives someone like Anna. Lost and purposeless in life, but through her friendship with Marnie she finds peace and solace in life and is able to connect with the people of the town she’s been staying in. From her new friend Sayaka, the daughter of the family who now lives in the marsh house. Toichi, a fisherman/boater who occasionally takes Anna at on the water to draw the marsh house. And Hisako, who was Marnie’s childhood friend and fellow artist like Anna. One more thing, I like to imagine that Anna meeting Marnie was actually no accident, but in fact her grandmother reaching out to her to be a friend when Anna needed it most.

Overall this is a beautiful, heartwrenching, and wholesome film. An Easy 10/10!

Here’s the book the film was based on.

By Joan G. Robinson

My updated list:

1. From Up On Poppy Hill

2. When Marnie Was There

3. Whisper of the Heart

4. Spirited Away

5. Kikki’s Delivery Servive

6. Princess Mononoke

7. Mary and the Witch’s Flower

8. The Secret World of Arriety

9. The Wind Rises

10. The Boy and the Heron

11. Howl’s Moving Castle

Take care and have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you all!