Review - Grave of the Fireflies

Hello to the new work week. May you be a docile bitch.

It has started in a good, if busy for me, fashion - I've spent the most of the morning arranging travel for my boss, who's going to be away for most of July. Ahh sweet alone time. His vacation coincides with the week I'll be taking off to go to Puerto Rico, so I may even extend my trip a day or so. S'all good.

In other news I am having some strange abdominal cramping. Heads up: I am what I refer to as a Passive Hypochondriac, in that I am always convinced there is something horrible tearing apart my health but do nothing (save whining) to rectify it. Case in point: I am currently convinced I have intestinal cancer and my insides have blackened and liquified. Any minute I'm expecting to begin regurgitating charcoal kidneys.

Besides Love Object, over the weekend I saw the animated "masterpiece" Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no haka) at the MoMA. I liked it a bit more than the boyfriend did (he hated it), but have to admit I found it a bit... underwhelming. After reading Ebert's praise, I expected more. I haven't seen any of Takahata's other films, but I have seen a bunch of Miyazaki's, which I've really enjoyed. The two run Studio Ghibli together, from what I gather, and the looks of their films are extremely similar, and very beautiful.

My problem with Fireflies was partly the pacing and structure, which were glacial and redundant. Both of which were fitting to the story and tone being set, but lead me to my main problem with the film and that being the character of the little sister. Who was ANNOYING. I could've dealt with seven different versions of the same scene - brother and sister playing only to be interrupted by the sound of airplanes or air raid sirens - because I have a feeling that's exactly what living at that moment in time would've been like, but only IF I didn't want to dig my fingers into my ears every time the little sister began screeching. I get she was very small, and newly orphaned, and her life was damned awful, but I just kept waiting for a bomb to fall on her head and end it already.

I know, I'm a monster.

Anyway, then the little girl did die, and we got this several minute montage of her being so-freaking-adorable and boo hoo I just wasn't feeling it. I did like the older brother character, he inspired much more of my sympathy. Especially since, as the boyfriend pointed out, he's forced to wander the afterlife with that little brat for eternity.