But his aim is true, and the rewards of this film are unmistakable. Yonebayashi’s style is intentionally unhurried he’s in no rush to reveal the secrets of the world he’s taken us into. Director Yonebayashi’s elegant style, which uses gorgeous colors to combine the real and the magical in a believable way, also helps to tell this unusual tale effectively.įor in some ways the story of “When Marnie Was There” grows stranger and more complex the longer it goes on, slowly allowing us deeper and deeper into the world these two have made for each other.

One of the virtues of telling this story with animation is that everything looks equally real and those in the audience can’t be sure any more than Anna about exactly who Marnie is. “Promise me we’ll remain a secret.”Īnna, whose first words to Marnie were, “Are you a real person?” a question the blond girl ignores, clearly only half-believes that this creature is real, but her need for companionship is so strong and Marnie fills it so well that she doesn’t really care. “You’re my precious person,” Marnie tells Anna. The two young people become fast friends, exchanging confidences and stories about their mutual loneliness. Lush, luscious hand-painted scenery spares no expense or detail the grass moves, the water glistens as the audience falls into a world of friendship, imagination, and young love. Pulled there almost by an unknown force, Anna rows out to the house one evening, and there she meets Marnie (Kiernan Shipka/Katsumi Arimura), a girl her own age with stunning blond hair whom she has previously dreamed about. The first animation from Studio Ghibli since founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata released their last films comes from cowriter (with Keiko Niwa (The. When Marnie Was There is a masterpiece, thanks to a large cast of excellent, well-rounded and real characters and the trademark Studio Ghibli artwork. She’s to board with the Oiwas, relatives of her foster mother, a boisterous, jolly couple who don’t take things too seriously.Ī gifted but shy artist, Anna is looking for a place to sketch when she stumbles on an abandoned mansion set on a marsh, a place that she feels drawn to even though locals say it has a reputation for being haunted.īecause of the house’s location on the marsh, the effect of the tides means it’s accessible only at certain times. Then Anna’s chronic asthma becomes worse, and she is sent from urban Sapporo, where she lives, to recuperate in rural Hokkaido. Even Anna’s foster mother worries about this, talking about how she always has “an ordinary face,” one that doesn’t show emotions. As voiced by Hailee Steinfeld in the dubbed English version and Sara Takatsuki in the subtitled Japanese, Anna always feels outside of the magical circle of friendship other girls share.

“Marnie” starts with a 12-year-old girl named Anna Sasaki dealing with sadness. It deals with friendship, loneliness, abandonment and forgiveness, and though its curious narrative arc means you’re never sure exactly where it’s going, the film works up a considerable emotional charge by the end. Transposed from rural Britain to the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido, “Marnie” is part YA coming of age tale and part ghost story.

When marnie was there studio ghibli