Online Athens Review: When Marnie Was There1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAfter the 2013 release of the Academy Award-nominated “The Wind Rises”, renowned director and Studio Ghibli co-creator Hayao Miyazaki (“My Neighbor Totoro”) announced that it would be his final feature film, and he would be retiring after 50 years in the business. It was no surprise, then, that the studio followed suit with its own announcement that its would be going on hiatus after the release of its latest, “When Marnie Was There,” based on the 1967 novel by British children’s author Joan G. Robinson and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (“The Secret World of Arrietty”). While I’m hopeful that Ghibli will be returning, I still found it difficult to watch “Marnie” without an underlying feeling of finality. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Anna Sasaki (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”) might be the most modern and immediately relatable character in Ghibli history. The 12-year-old foster child suffers from severe asthma that is compounded by extreme social anxiety. Her illness has put her on the outside of pretty much every activity around her, rendering her nearly incapable of interacting with anyone her own age. When we meet Anna for the first time, she’s seated alone on a bench, drawing in a notebook while her classmates play nearby. When a teacher so much as asks to look at what she has made, Anna hugs her artwork tight to her chest, as if revealing its contents would cause her chest to burst open. Seeking better quality air, if not a refreshing change of scenery, Anna’s parents send her to spend the summer with relatives in a rural seaside town.
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