Whispers of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba) [1995]

[miriam_e]

I watched it again last night during dinner. Oh my! I had forgotten what a wonderful movie that is. I had tears of joy at one point -- not because a scene with conflict and tension had turned out good, but because a lovely scene had turned out so utterly wonderful (the scene where the old musicians joined in).

The animation, like the scenery artwork is simply breathtaking. The story finds beauty in the everyday at each turn and breathes life into the normality of its subjects while making their hopes and dreams soar.

It is not a story without conflict or unhappiness, but it's very close. This really has to be one of the most beautiful stories I've ever seen.

Comments

[nosearmy.livejournal.com]

Yes! The version I have is a Jaanese import and doesn't even have an English title on the subtitles. This is another Ghibli film that's extremely light on conflict, a charming kind of movie, but moves a little slowly. However, the animation, as always, is incredible--I thought it was Miyazaki when I first watched it, but it doesn't contain any of his themes.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Did you know that the translation of the script is online at
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/opp/script_opp_en.txt

Ripping the DVD might be an option so that you could add subtitles. Might be more work than it's worth though. Alternatively I can imagine a simple way of playing the video on computer while setting up a thin window at the bottom with the english script in it. Then you could simply down-arrow during the story and match the two that way.

[nosearmy.livejournal.com]

That's interesting, I never thought of that since occasionally you do find DVDs without an English subtitle track--but this movie does have subtitles. what I meant is that the English subtitles only refer to the film by its Japanese name in the credits--so I wasn't sure of the name in English.