-Written by John Cajio.
Whisper of the Heart is a film that does not suck. An endearing coming-of-age romantic tale, Whisper of the Heart sticks the final landing. Written by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Yoshifumi Kondō, Whisper of the Heart tells the story of the early romance between two junior high teenagers, Shizuku Tsukishima (Yōko Honna/Brittany Snow) and Seiji Amasawa (Issei Takahashi/David Gallagher).
Dreams are made. Dreams are shattered. Dreams are rebuilt. Dreams are fulfilled. That’s a recurring theme here in Whisper of the Heart. Whether it’s Shizuku trying to uncover the identity of the mysterious Seiji Amasawa, who keeps checking out the same books at the library that Shizuku wants before she gets to them, or it’s Seiji’s dream of becoming a master luthier (and getting Shizuku’s attention), or the hilarious and inadvertent three-way crush going on between Shizuku, her best friend Yūko Harada (Maiko Kayama/Ashley Tisdale), and their classmate Sugimura (Yoshimi Nakajima/Martin Spanjers), there are plenty of googly-eyed teenage dreams and hijinx to go around in this film.
It’s very easy to dismiss the dreams of teenagers and younger children out of hand. After all, they tend to be inherently naive about the way the world works while simultaneously claiming supreme knowledge about the way the world works. A lot of people will say that teenagers are idiots. And they definitely can be just that. But they are still people. People with dreams, aspirations, and feelings. Dreams that are real to them. Aspirations that are real to them. And feelings that are real to them. A great tragedy that I see all too often are adults completely shutting down childrens’ dreams and aspirations, or not recognizing their feelings solely on the basis of their status as young people. This is something that Whisper of the Heart takes great pains to avoid. It embraces the dreams of the young people in this film instead.
It was refreshing to not just see the teenagers have their own support system for each other in place, but that the adults in the film ultimately support their children’s aspirations in the face of adversity. At one point, Shizuku follows her own dream of becoming a writer. She writes deep into the night, each night. Her grades at school suffer tremendously. Her parents hold a meeting with her as they are gravely concerned, especially with high school entrance exams around the corner. In most circumstances, this conversation would play out with the parents putting a stop to the child’s pursuit of their dream. But here, Shizuku’s parents listen to her and actually permit her to continue to pursue her writing (albeit grudgingly). The end result is a Shizuku that takes an unexpected, but very welcome, step in the right direction towards her future. We all have dreams. Shouldn’t we be able to pursue them? That’s one of the questions the film asks and is supportive of.
I also appreciated how this film exposed viewers to teenagers in all of their overwrought emotional glory. It didn't pull any punches here. We see teenagers at their most melodramatic. They are feeling things they are not used to feeling, and they don’t know how to handle it, so they lash out. Many of the teen-to-teen problems presented in the film, such as the aforementioned three-way love triangle, could have been avoided if people just talked it out. But that takes guts. Whisper of the Heart takes great pains to hold a plain mirror up to the world of teenagers—one that does not exaggerate or distort or hide.
The end result, coupled with Studio Ghibli’s incredibly high production values, is a sensitive, evocative, and beautiful film about what it means to be a teenager in the modern world. And what it could mean because the teens in this film are allowed to be teenagers, with all of their worries and insecurities, but also their dreams and aspirations.
Directed by Yoshifumi Kondō.
Written by Hayao Miyazaki.
Starring: Yōko Honna/Brittany Snow, Issei Takahashi/David Gallagher, Maiko Kayama/Ashley Tisdale, Yoshimi Nakajima/Martin Spanjers, etc.
8/10 = WORTH RENTING OR BUYING (IT DOES NOT SUCK)
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