People love the films of Japan’s Studio Ghibli, the famed animation studio which has been making movies for all ages since the mid-’80s, for their visual style, their sumptuousness, but also their relatable human storytelling. Its two creative co-founders are Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and while Miyazaki’s films are usually based on fantasy and imagination, Takahata’s focus on life in Japan and the day-to-day struggles of its people. Both are lauded quite heavily, and 2016 will finally see the North American release of Takahata’s 1991 realistic elegy on memory and youth, Only Yesterday.
The movie’s release in this continent, 25 years after it was released in Japan, is the work of GKIDS, the company that also released Ghibli hits From Up on Poppy Hill, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, and When Marnie Was There. As with those films, GKIDS also commissioned a new English-language dub of Only Yesterday, something that ensures a wider release. With perhaps some of the best forethought imaginable, they cast Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley to voice the film’s heroine, Taeko. (We told you about her joining the new dub back in August.)
With the movie’s U.S. release beginning in NYC on January 1 and further release to other cities coming in February, GKIDS have released the above English language trailer for Only Yesterday as well as a brief interview with Ridley about the film’s messages and legacy.
Only Yesterday is about Taeko, a 27-year-old unmarried woman in the 1980s who lives and works in Tokyo, but begins to reminisce about her days as a sixth-grader in the ’60s when she takes a holiday to the country where her relatives live. The film was praised for its dramatic realism and the way it depicted its female characters.
I for one can’t wait to see it and am pleased GKIDS is committed to getting talent like Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel, who co-stars in the English dub, to headline it.
Are you stoked for Only Yesterday? What’s you favorite non-Miyazaki Ghibli film? Let us know in the comments below!
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Images: GKIDS/Studio Ghibli
Kyle Anderson is a film and TV critic for Nerdist.com. He loves him some Studio Ghibli, and loves even more for you to follow him on Twitter!
