20111126

The Borrower Arietty

As I mentioned yesterday, I finally watched Karigurashi no Arietty. It was a little weird, as I put the Cantonese soundtrack in, for the benefit of my in-laws, but I enjoyed it a great deal.

It was a bit quieter and more contemplative than I expected. The trailer had led me to believe that there was a fair bit of action, but it was really only five or ten minutes. And the ending didn't go quite the way I was looking for, although there was probably no way to have it go the way I was kind of hoping.

The basic background is that Arietty is a teenage girl of a group calling themselves The Borrowers. They're basically human, except only three or so inches tall. So when they need things, they "borrow" them from the humans nearby. And, of course, since they're so small, the humans rarely notice what they take (who'd miss one sugar cube, for instance?).

But because of the way they live, and because of general suspicion (not unwarranted), they can't let themselves be seen by the humans. But, of course, the movie opens with Arietty being seen by a boy just moving into the house where (technically speaking, under which) she lives.

Her being seen, and his (and that of the other people living in the house) reaction is what drives the plot.

But I think this movie is more about the journey than the destination. The attention to detail in their world (the stamps they use for decoration, the nails within the walls, the tools they use, the many reminders about surface tension of water) is really what makes the movie wonderful (in the original sense of the word). Well, that and the relationship between Arietty and Shou; that was very well done.

Was it Ghibli's best? Not hardly, but it was a beautiful movie, well-executed. I'll probably go see it when it's released in the US (at the very least, I'll get the blu-ray when it comes out). If there's a subtitled release, I'll go for that. The more I think about it, the more I think I'll like watching it again.

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