Simple and Moving

Rating: 9/10 (8 January 2015)

Isao Takatha's Grave of the Fireflies details a brother and sister living through the fire bombings of Japan during World War II. The movie elegantly depicts the relationship between the two children, and uses the many tragedies they encounter to pace the film.
Despite the weightiness of the topic, the brilliance of the film comes from the lightness of the interactions between Seita (the brother) and Setuko (the sister). The films dialogue convincingly mixes the inane quality of children's conversations, and the inability for these immature characters to process life or death situations; Setuko's hallucinations and the trip to the doctor both play between these divergences in dialogue. And the writing never strays from a simple plot, delivered beautifully.
Animation in the movie varies in style; crude to wonderfully colourful. The richness of this style comes to the front in several scenes, particularly the opening and closing scenes. Nonetheless, the aesthetic strength of the film has more to do with the cuts and edits Takatha has implemented. Jarring cuts for visceral reactions, multiple angles within action scenes, and long shots for some of the bonding scenes.
I watched the English version of this film and the only let down of this film was the voice acting. The actors delivered their scripts as if they were being spoonfed each line. Setuko's voice lacked any emotional resonance and Seita's voice never broke at any point in the film, despite having to deal with some extremely complex emotions.
My verdict on the film, however, is that it touched me in similar manner to Kilmov's Come and See (1985) without being confined to a strictly definable piece of time. While Klimov's film deals almost entirely within the constraints of the horrors of WWII, Takatha merely uses the war as a backdrop to show how youth is loss to us in times of extreme horror. Also the symbolism, themes explored and the imagery used in every scene will definitely make me return to this film.