Only Yesterday (2001)

-Written by John Cajio. 

Only Yesterday is a film that definitely does not suck. Only Yesterday effectively tells two stories in one—a story in the present and a story in the past.  Both stories are incredibly compelling in their own right. But the way they come together in the end to create a powerfully moving experience is sublime. Only Yesterday is a film made by adults, for adults. 

In 1982, twenty-seven year old Taeko Okajima (Miki Imai/Daisy Ridley) works a busy job in busy Tokyo, but decides to take a working vacation in the rural countryside to help her older sister’s in-laws harvest safflowers. While on the sleeper train to the sleepy town of Yamagata, memories of her life as a ten-year-old (Yōko Honna/Alison Fernandez) come flooding back unbidden. She relives many of her core memories from her 1966 self throughout the duration of her working vacation. She’s met at the train station in Yamagata by Toshio (Toshirō Yanagiba/Dev Patel), her brother-in-law’s distant second cousin, who gave up a busy city job for the farmer’s life in Yamagata—something the two begin to bond over the course of the film’s 118-minute run time. 

It is evident that a great deal of care was taken while making Only Yesterday. Writer-Director Isao Takahata makes a number of creative choices to support the storytelling mechanics behind the film. The film’s structure is quasi-episodic. Parts occur in 1982, the film’s present, and parts that occur in 1966 as Taeko relives one memory or another. These memories that Taeko relives are memories that are fun, that are sad, that are frustrating, that are cringeworthy, that are joyous and celebratory, and that—above all else—are universal to the human experience, particularly the human female experience. Some of the things that young Taeko experiences include young romance, the cruelty of young children (particularly boys in this case), her frustrations with math (fractions in particular), and a complicated family life ultimately ruled by an iron-fisted patriarch. These episodes all resonate strongly with the human experience because most of us have experienced most of these things to some degree or another. Takahata and his team make it easy for us to relate to young Taeko through their delicate and thoughtful handling of her stories. 

Takahata made a great creative choice to use different art directions for the past and the present. The present is incredibly colorful and vibrant, representing what Taeko is currently experiencing right now in present day 1982. The 1966 episodes, involving young Taeko, are desaturated and a little washed out. The corners of the scene are generally not filled in all of the way, like it’s a sketch, indicating that it’s an old memory and the details are a little fuzzy. But, the 1966 moments that Taeko remembers more vividly are also presented much more vividly. It’s a wonderful mechanic in action throughout the film. 

The 1966 episodes clearly inform the 1982 present-day version of Taeko. It might not be readily apparent at the start, but there is a strong throughline from these 1966 episodes to the conclusion of 1982 Taeko’s vacation. It takes literally the entire film for everything to come together, but I cannot imagine being unmoved by the end. And it takes both timelines to make it happen.

Only Yesterday is a slow moving film that coalesces in its final moments to craft a magnificently nostalgic experience. Some films are filled with the equivalent of tumbling cascading waterfalls followed by a roaring, death-defying cataract; they’re viscerally exciting and reward the viewer for vicariously living through the dangers and the heroics of the protagonists. Other films are much more placid, where the greatest danger is accidentally getting wet. These kinds of films reward the viewer for surrendering themself to the current and just drifting along, until, at last, the viewer is rewarded with an experience that can only be described as powerfully magical. Only Yesterday is the latter kind of film. 

Written and Directed by Isao Takahata.

Starring Miki Imai/Daisy Ridley, Yōko Honna/Alison Fernandez, Toshirō Yanagiba/Dev Patel, etc.

10/10 = DROP EVERYTHING AND WATCH IT NOW (IT DEFINITELY DOES NOT SUCK)