The best spring gift and one of the signature masterpieces of Studio Ghibli is the immortal story of growing up, awakening love and finding God’s gift.
In the mid-nineties, the legendary Hayao Miyazaki decided to leave his studio, take up hand-drawn projects and entrust the brainchild entering the digital age to the care of a worthy heir. He became the main animator of “Princess Mononoke” Yoshifumi Kondo, who did not miss the chance to debut the film adaptation of Miyazaki’s original script “Whisper of the Heart”.
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It was a non—trivial task due to the weakness of the source material – a novel of growing up based on a sentimental manga. However, the co-authors read something significant in the girly comic and suggested that an outstanding painter of utopian impressionist landscapes develop a visual series. Based on the typical landscapes of the western district of Tokyo, Naohisa Inoue created an illustrated encyclopedia of the city where dreams come to life. And literally — in a kaleidoscope of visual plot, in contrast to the graphic rendering of the landscape, coming to life in a symphony of diverse rhythms and glare of sunlight, clouds, foliage, rainy twilight and night lights.
The 14-year-old heroine looks like a blind spot in this whirlwind, but with each turn, the adventures of the Tokyo schoolgirl take on an increasingly bizarre context. Knowing nothing but a family nest in an ordinary slum, the little girl turns into a songbird, a migratory bird, a bird in love and, finally, an angelic “bird of God”. The essence of the metamorphosis is a barely noticeable shift in visual intonation: opening the door, the schoolgirl always finds herself in a slightly different world.
