Brilliant. Too tough. Superb. Heartwrenching. (ad lib)

Rating: 10/10 (24 December 2004)

Before setting out praising this movie, just a little message to those who (agAIn) ask themselves what the point is of making anime so realistic, since anime is supposed to be used for stuff that can't be done in real film. Well, two replies : a) then anime should be abandoned altogether, because they can pretty much do anything in film by now - ironically, often with special effects that are little more than computer generated anime! b) that remark testifies to, besides an extremely narrow view of what a particular art form can be, a profound lack of respect for anime as a medium equal to plain film. Since, what it's saying is basically "in specific cases anime is better, but when both art forms can do it, film is always superior". But there's more. Apparently, none of the folk who put forth that limited view on anime have ever heard of the idea that the more abstract a figure becomes, the easier it becomes to identify with it. So, to spell it out: where a normal film might keep a certain distance between you and the characters, anime characters are more easily generalised and thus identified with.
But what about Grave of the Fireflies? Well, to put it plain and simple: if you haven't seen it, you're an utter idiot. I won't tell you what to feel (except in the summary line), but the film's perfect. Pacing, direction, photography, plot, you name it. And it avoids the easiest "ho let's go for the big emotion" style. It does go for it, but in a very no-bul**hit way, drawing a straight line and following it.
I do like Miyazaki films, but since I bought the Ghibli Box (which did not include Fireflies, as it isn't distributed by Disney outside of Japan, and the box's DVD's come from HK) I must admit that, especially in his later films, Miyazaki tends to go for Big Messages. Instead, the three films by Takahata I've seen thusfar (especially Fireflies and Only Yesterday) are marvels of understatedness. By which I mean, it's more a thing of showing the facts and letting you make up your own mind, rather than chewing your emotional food for you. Not that Miyazaki isn't good, but Takahata has made three of the best Ghibli films. And he's not afraid of showing a darker note in his films, whereas Miyazaki tends to keep his films (except Mononoke) on constant feelgood mode.
Anyhow. Required viewing. Just take my word for it. If not that, just do it out of fear for being considered an idiot...