Wednesday, March 31, 2010

#86 Grave of the Fireflies: That was the night I died.

1988. Dir. Isao Takahata, starring Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi. Japanese with subtitles.

Seen it before? No.

Holy shit... move over Requiem for a Dream, we have a new champion for Most Depressing Movie Ever.

It's the end of World War II in Japan. A young boy (12 or so?) and his little sister (about 4 or 5) are left homeless and motherless when the Allies firebomb their village. They move in with their cruel aunt. She steals food from them, so they decide to go Galt and live in an abandoned bomb shelter. Things get way worse for them.

This is actually based on the autobiography of a guy who based the older brother's character on himself. It's partially the kid's fault what happens to them... he could have worked, or at least tried to. You kind of get the sense that he's not taking the whole "Japan losing the war" thing seriously. I guess he realized that and felt bad about it.

Position on the list: 179
Ill-advised marketing opportunity: The fruit candies that the little girl eats make a special tin with images from this movie on them. Um, guys, did you watch the whole movie?

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