posted
I was wondering if any of you have seen this wonderful movie, and if you haven't I highly suggest it. I've never seen a more poignant film. Sorry to gush but its just so hard to resist! Posts: 41 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Yes, as I said I was having a hard time resisting the urge to fill about 10 pages on the subject of this movie and its brilliance. I've shown it to everyone I have had the opportunity to show, and only wish to God that I could share it with more people. When I typed 'essential viewing' in the title I was being very honest. If you ask me, this is a movie that, in a perfect world, everyone would see at least once in their lifetime (and preferably many more times!). I've seen it... 5 times, I think, since I got it about 2 weeks ago, and the only time I didn't cry it was 4:30 in the morning after playing hours of the old-school Nintendo games on my friend's modded PS, Warcraft III, and watching Monty Python.
So.... to summate: YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!
Posts: 41 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I saw it, and it's wonderful and so sad and yet so beautiful... I can't tell in words (especially in English) how this movie moved me. Just one thing to add : I don't know about the USA but here a lot of people think that japanime are for children : THIS IS NOT THE CASE OF THIS ONE.
Posts: 3526 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Very good point. In fact all of my youngest siblings, ranging from 4 - 12, could not really understand/handle it, but my parents and older siblings simply adore it, even my dad, who previously called all my animation 'kid's stuff'. Oh, and I'm interested to know where you're from Anna.
Posts: 41 | Registered: Jun 2003
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You are right. I got "Grave of Fireflies" two weeks ago. Saw it with my girlfriend and her sister. Man...sad...sad movies. It's a nice thing this thread popped-up. Almost nobody here (Rio, Brazil) know "Grave of Fireflies".
Are there any Brazilian anime fan over here?
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I started crying just reading the dvd box. I want to see it but I have to find a time when I'm up for feeling that sad. War sucks.
Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Yea, but somehow Grave of the Fireflies manages not only to devestate your soul, but to uplift it as well... otherwise I'm sure I couldn't have seen it more than once. Just make sure its the right atmosphere for your first viewing, any movie can be ruined by the wrong environment : P
Posts: 41 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Absolutely, but so much so that it drove me nuts when I wasn't watching it. It's very similar to a drug addiction. You get this huge emotional surge every showing, and it leaves you thinking and dreaming about it afterwards, and if you don't watch it again eventually it tortures you.
Posts: 41 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Ummm, I went and looked at the movie on Amazon, and I must ask:
IS IT NORMAL FOR THEIR REVIEW (Amazons, not a reader one) TO COMPLETELY GIVE AWAY THE ENDING OF THE MOVIES!!!!!
I won't post what they say here because it is about as much of a spoiler as you can get. I'm really mad at Amazon right now.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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Grave of the Fireflies was the very first movie I rented from Netflix. And yes, it is a wonderful movie.
*reads Amazon.com review* Ugh. Actually, the movie is written as one big flashback, so it's not too hard to figure out how it ends, but geez, Amazon.com went and gave the HOW away. Stupid Amazon.com.
Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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it's in my list of absolutely wonderful movies that i will not watch more than once in a five year span.
Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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Well don't worry too much, considering the first like 2 minutes of the film reveals Seita's and Setsuko's fate.
Posts: 41 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I agree, it's an amazing movie. I don't know if I could watch it a second time, ever. But everyone should see it once.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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If you liked "Grave of Fireflies", try also "Saikano" and "Jin Roh - The Wolf's Brigade". Both are superb. Very powerful narratives. If anyone want some tips, I have quite a list here (does not include pokémon, hehehe).
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Mormonical, I think you will also like Hayao Miyazaki features: Totoro, Porco Rosso, Nausicaa, Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke), Laputa - Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service and the newest one, Spirited Away.
OSC seems to like Miyazaki a lot. He wrote very favorable reviews of his works.
(Oh, yes...Miyazaki owns the studio where Grave of Fireflies was made).
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Lol, yes of course, you are speaking of Studio Ghibli. I own Spirited Away on DVD also and considered it the best animated film ever (and one of the best films period) before I saw Grave of the Fireflies. Too bad OSC hasn't reviewed Grave... I wish there was some way to get him to!
Posts: 41 | Registered: Jun 2003
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This is one of the saddest movies I've ever seen. I get emotional and tear up at the oddest things, but at the end of this movie I sobbed. My husband and I just held each other and bawled.
Its definitely a must see picture.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Well, people...now don't be mad at me, but...I think that, in this day and age, only Japan could make such a haunting piece of animation. Nobody else, american, european or otherwise, would have the guts. Unfortunatelly, we westerns think that animated movies are kids' stuff.
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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The middle part of Hunchback of Notre Dame - I know it ends horrendously, but the scene where Quasi and Frollo fight contemplate what has happened inside of them since Esmerelda came... that scene still gives me chills.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Well, Katharina...as you said, Hunchback has fine moments, but lets talk seriously...Disney murdered the end. Victor Hugo's ghost howled in outrage when the first screening ended :-)
But the score is great! I love the "hellfire" music (it plays when Frolo "sees" Esmeralda dancing in the flames).
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I would have hated Hunchback if it weren't for that middle part. It's so very... well done. But then they had to crap it all up with their stupid happy ending... and those talking gargoyles... URGH.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Well, people...now don't be mad at me, but...I think that, in this day and age, only Japan could make such a haunting piece of animation. Nobody else, american, european or otherwise, would have the guts. Unfortunatelly, we westerns think that animated movies are kids' stuff.
Sigh... yes, the often-discussed (in certain circles) lack of originality, disgustingly rigid conformity to formula, and pandering to toddlers in order to sell toys in happy meals has degraded Western Animation almost to the point of no return. The one exception to this is Pixar: the writers/directors/producers (basically everyone) there are free spirits who are making movies for the fun of it - doing what they love, and finding a bigger market for their films because they are CGI and much more mature and adult-oriented than Disney's fluff - this helps to shed some of that irrational hatred of animation as a medium (hatred of animation via Disney isn't all that irrational ) It's too bad that the American public has to have the novelty of glittery computer graphics to suspend their disbelief when watching animation. Walt Disney himself certainly wouldn't be happy with what has become of his company. It was never his intention to pigeon-hole animation as a children-only marketing tool. Disney may bring "joy" to millions of children (but only in the same way that, say, an episode of Barney does), yet it has rendered Walt's chosen art form almost completely inept in the Western hemisphere. Perhaps with the surge in popularity of Pixar's films, and the steady and persistent badgering of animation fans like myself, the general American public will begin to appreciate animation as the art medium that it is. Unfortunately, it looks to be a long, bumpy road.
Posts: 41 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I refused to watch The Hunchback because I find that all thing to take a story, some characters and then do wathever you want with very irritating. Especially for children - and I know a lot of them - who think they actually know Victor Hugo's Hunchback. They will have a hard time in school...
Posts: 3526 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I readed "Hunchback" when I was 11. Watching the Disney Movie shattered some childhood memories (hey, I couldn't sleep well for 2 days, after finish reading the book).
Oh, yes, animation fans: Check as soon as possible the wonderful Anime series "The Vision of Escaflowne". 25 episodes of greatness!
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I know that the real Hunchback can be traumatic and everything. Point is, if they wanted to do a nice, non traumatic movie, why did they choose that particular story ? They could have chosen another one, or make up one !
Posts: 3526 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Exactly! Why do they have to desecrate my most treasured stories for their idiot movies? They should have made up their own out of whole cloth. That's practically what they did anyway. They have trampled on and ruined so many precious things. I will never forgive them for what they did to The Jungle Book. My nieces will never know that story as it should be. It will be forever tainted in their minds by that stupid movie. Winnie the Pooh they completely destroyed. We hates them forever. Nassssty Disssney. Pah!
Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2003
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But oh, yeah, you're right. Oh, yes! Did you know Disney's Hunchback have a sequel? yup! It went straight to video, but it is everywhere here in Brazil. Guess you should be able to find it quite easily in U.S. (not that you'll want to). Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Ok, so I've heard alot about how horrible Disney is, Which I would agree for the most part. I have also heard that Grave of the Fireflies is a must see. What else out there is worth seeing? I enjoy Anime but haven't seen much of it (i have seen Princess Monanoke, Spirited Away, Akira) because it's tough to tell what is worth seeing. So I'll be renting Grave of the Fireflies, but what else should I pick up?
Posts: 1294 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Well, that's frustrating. I had a fairly lengthy reply, and my computer just ate it.
In any case, I was replying to aka's comment that Disney had ruined the classic stories that it had made adaptations of. I don't really agree with that. As an adult I don't care for the Disney versions. As a child, I thought that the Disney Jungle Book, for example, was okay (although I didn't like all the singing, and I felt indignation that they made a character as cool and interesting as Kaa a villain). I preferred Kippling's original stories, though, and recognized them as "the real thing". I really wanted to be Mowgli for a time, and it was Kippling's Mowgli, not Disney's, whose life I wanted.
I felt the same way about The Electric Company's Spiderman, or the TV show Spiderman's Spiderman. I pretty much worshipped Spiderman as a child, and I saw the Marvel comic book depictions of him as authoritative, and recognized the other versions as luke warm interpretations.
The originals are still there, and still just as accessible as they ever were. I don't think the interpretations do any real harm.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Oh, yeah...since we are talking about animated movies here:
I bought today the Lion King double DVD for my girlfriend and we watched it together. Well...it never tires me (although I've watched it 4 times already). Disney had its moments.
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Well, I couldn't find this movie to rent, so I bought it and watched it. You were right. It was very well made. Beautifully filmed, and it brought me to tears. I watched it with my wife, and she's inconsolable, even now, an hour after it ended.
Thanks for the recommendation. Now I just have to convince you all to see After Life.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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I rented “Grave of the Fireflies” this last week, but about 20 minutes into it I had to stop.
I can watch dismemberment, immolation, walking zombies and the like without any problem. But show me a four-year-old asking for her mommy and knowing she will never see her again alive, and I collapse like a house of cards. It was just too intense for me. Posts: 2473 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Ryuko: Escaflowne is fantastic, isn't it? Falken is the best character, for me. And you? Oh, yes...there are 26 episodes, thanks
AndrewR: "Grave of Fireflies" does that to people. Don't worry. Here we were 4 grown people (me, my girlfriend, her sister and her sister's fiancée). We were all crying by the end. Sad, but powerfull and beautifull.
I still say we buy OSC the DVD and ask him to review it Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Actually, what you should do is get Geoff to watch it, and then let him rave about it to OSC until he finally breaks down and watches it on his own.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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