"A Letter to Momo" - 2011, 2-Hrs.
This is a 2-hour movie of very high quality. For those of you who enjoy anime movies, you're in for a treat!
But first I want to talk about the production as a whole, and mention the production company. I'm amazed how many anime I've watched from this talented company.
'Production I.G.' has made dozens of high quality stories and has contributed to the production of other peoples' works as well. Just a few of the 297 Movies and Series they've been involved with:
Attack on Titan, Psycho-Pass, Ghost in the Shell, Usagi Drop, xxxHOLiC, Blood: The Last Vampire; and many others.
The artwork is very flat, with sometimes a slightly enhanced parallax for a great 2.5d effect, the colors are soft, without being muted. Artwork reminds one of Studio Ghibli artwork. The characters seem a bit strange at first, but once you settle in to the style, it begins to become something very special.
The music is not something that stands out, which in this case, is exactly what the company intended. All the music works just fine, seemingly very simple and understated, but at the end of this story, it is the normalcy that stands out and comes through with the heart and and strong feelings that everything else brings to bear.
Dialog, is very strong. The Japanese is excellent, and the Dub-English is also excellent.
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The primary characters are dealt with deftly with nuance and sensitivity. A mother has lost her husband in a ship-sinking. So she sells her condo in Tokyo, and returns with her young daughter, back to the place of her own birth. To find peace, and maybe some healing of wounds. Her old stomping ground is an island just off the coast. The terrain so rugged that the place has been built as a set of huge terraces, to do farming. Still being done since ancient times.
At first, the move is very 'rocky', because our young daughter was used-to Tokyo, and its hustle and bustle. Things get much worse over time, before they get better. Things are just too quiet, where the only fun thing for the daughter to do, is jump off the newly constructed bridge (to the mainland), with the rest of the kids; into shallow water. Most people are elderly, so the kids are few, and some are kinda out-there, as it were. At least as our young lady Momo sees it.
But at some point after settling into the patterns of a slower way of life, things get positively unusual for Momo. Fantasy beings become common place, only to cause nothing but consternation for Momo, and disbelief for her mother. Everything from 'Guardian Oni' to 'Kodoma' (words I normally don't use, but I have to here, since it's a Japanese Anime, with Japanese References everywhere). By the end of the story, they become not only not dangerous, but most of them become her friends so important, that they assist Momo in saving her mothers' Life.
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This is a story of Life, death, rebirth, and renewal of spirit. Of finding our way, and finding sometimes; simplicity is better than complexity. That faith in ourselves, and in our friends, is more important than what 's watchable on television. And sometimes, the courage to be what we have be, to things that saves loved ones, reassure our friends; and make a statement about how the future should end, is the meaning behind the meaning.
'A Letter for Momo' is at first slow, and seems like it goes no-where for the first 30-minutes. But those of you who have the courage to see what is meant, and the tolerance to see a mini-script for real Life, might see what I see, and truly enjoy an outtake for the future of the Human Race.
I give 'A Letter to Momo' a solid 9.
