Taeko is a unmarried woman in her 20s living in the city on holiday in the countryside. She reminisces about her time when she was 10 years old, while getting close to a local farmer, and getting to know the locals and spending time with family in the countryside.
Taeko and her experiences, both as an adult and child are very relatable. The film jumps between present time and to when she was 10 years old. The flashbacks consists of her memories like her first crush, or struggling with maths, or following your dreams. This is all happening while Taeko, in her 20s questions what she wants to do in life now. The challenges and experiences she has is something we can all relate too, from the smaller moments like eating something new for the first time (she tries pineapple), or a first crush, and puberty. Only Yesterday is very grounded in reality and makes it very believable.
This is a very slow paced film. The film has very little plot and I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who only watches fast paced movies. But this is undoubtably a very well crafted film by Takahata. Only Yesterday is vastly different from other more fantastical Studio Ghilbli films like Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle. For any fan of slice of life films, this is a must see.
Constructive feedback for this review is appreciated :)
