Only Yesterday

Review

This is a film which probably could have been done much better in a much shorter version. An inordinate amount of time is spent discussing methods of organic farming, the effect of farming in general on the development of the countryside, the history and use of a particular type of plant used for dying things, and the menstrual cycles of fifth-grader girls in relationship to how fifth-grade boys react upon being informed about said menstrual cycles.

The essential story, that of a 27-year old woman in love with the countryside and remembering her life in fifth grade is fairly well done. The last few minutes of the film prove to be the strongest, but you have to wade through some moderately boring material to get there. I'm not saying that all the material I noted above should have been thrown out, just that the amount of it should have been shortened and maybe a little more attention given to Toshio's background and his relationship (such as it was) with Taeko.

As it is, I sort of liked this film but it's not the best of the Ghibli ones I've seen, just the wordiest.

Synopsis

The story varies between events in the past and those in the present, so I'll put past events in italics, present events in normal type.

Grown-up

Taeko, young

Taeko wants to go somewhere on her vacation and her mother suggests a particular hot springs.

Taeko grown-up and 27. She has turned down a marriage proposal meeting that her mother wanted her to go to.

Taeko enjoys the hot springs but overdoes it, passing out eventually. Her father buys the family a pineapple and they discuss how to cut it.

Taeko in her classroom. Notice the students are eating lunch in the classroom. In many Japanese schools that is the way lunch is observed, rather than eating in a central cafeteria as in U.S. schools. Additionally, Japanese students are expected to clean the classroom at the end of the day; they remain in the same class the entire day and it's the teacher's who go from room to room (with the exception of classes like phys ed, science labs and home economics with their own special rooms and equipment).

Taeko proceeds on her journey, remembering things that happened in the past as she boards the train. A section is spent on her remembering about a boy in another class who had a crush on her. Then she remembers about a sexual education meeting in the fifth grade.

Then the movie covers the girls talking about when they will get their periods, that the boys shouldn't be told about them, about the boys finding out, and about the boys flipping up their skirts.

Taeko is going to spend her vacation in the country on a farm picking a certain kind of plant. One of the men involved in farming picks her up at the train station.

This is her second time coming to the country to pick the flowers. They are used in the making of rouge and lipstick, and some historical information on their use is given.

She remembers more of her childhood including a time when she got into an argument about going out to eat with her parents. She decided to go at the last moment, but her father got mad at her since she didn't have shoes on and was barefoot and he slapped her.