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| Best way for foreigner's the watch an Asian film: ORIGINAL language and subtitles! |
Arrietty The Borrower is a film based on Mary Norton’s fantasy novel The Borrowers, by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. It was released in July 2010, and after it made Animation of the Year, has become a classic in Japan.
The story is a simple one, a romance between a sick, lonely boy (Sho) from the city with a ‘miniature’ girl (Arrietty) living with her family, the Borrowers, who borrow things from giant ‘human beans’, underneath his grandmother’s grandiloquent home (maybe the Borrower’s are all just the lonely boy’s desperate fantasy?). The plot is full of action and emotion, enough to get me hovering on the edge of my seat. Beyond the twisting plot, Yonebayashi’s art was also simply breathtaking. The two most lovely artistic things are the girl’s intricate little house decorated with little trinkets the family ‘borrowed’ and also – strange as this may seem – the weird way Yonebayashi creates tears: instead of creating to translucent lines as most manga drawers do, he makes them almost bubbly, as if containing all the sadness inside each drop…
At the end, it gave me inspiration to be as courageous and caring as the main protagonist, Arrietty. Also, the way the miniature family treated such a small thing like a leaf or a cube of sugar so preciously (“This could last us a whole year!” says Arrietty’s fretty mother) makes me think, “Wow, I should appreciate these small things!” Of course, their home gave me a big urge to redecorate my own shabby room.
Here are some things critics have said:
1. Studio Glibi has done it again. Arietty, inspired by the Borrowers novels of Mary Norton, is an incomparably beautiful story which effortlessly draws the viewer into a rarified world where a bay leaf makes a decent raincoat and cockroaches are the size of Shetland ponies. Delicate, thoughtful and visually unmatched by almost anything we can think of. (IMBD.com)
2. From the opening shot we are treated to the warmth, vibrancy and detail which has made many people across the world and of all ages fall in love with Studio Ghibli’s releases. (http://www.frontrowreviews.co.uk/)
Oh, another plus: the gorgeous music!!
I shall give this manga movie 4 out of 5 stars. The star taken off is for the (somewhat) unoriginality of the plot – prince and princess, classic love story – although the details were pretty imaginative. Followers, please watch, please watch! It’ll be a great experience, especially with the whole family.
Alright! Time for a new Chinese comedy this Saturday; don't wanna miss that!
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