After recovering ‘Memories of Yesterday’, one of Isao Takahata’s masterpieces and an essential title of Studio Ghibli, Vertigo Films continues with the reissue of its acclaimed filmography. Now it is the turn of one of the factory’s most unknown titles, as well as one of the closest to a type of costumbrismo that served as the basis for the company’s subsequent films such as ‘Whispers of the Heart’ or ‘Poppy Hill’. he’s talking “I can feel the sea”, the studio’s hidden gem and one of his feature films that needs to be claimed the most.
“I can listen to the sea” was made at a key moment for the future of the studio. Consolidated project after the box office and the critical successes of ‘Nicky, the witch’s apprentice’, ‘Memories of yesterday’ and ‘Porco Rosso’; Studio Ghibli has begun to show a need that, even today, remains unsolved: its future after the departures of Miyazaki and Takahata. The famous generational change began to be debated in the early 1990s and the production of this film was the result. Since the factory was still fragile, the risks it ran were as little ambitious as possible. Thus, a television movie was the most plausible option to give the studio’s young talent the opportunity to direct his own feature film.
Like this, “I Can Hear the Sea” became the first Studio Ghibli film not to have Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata as part of the production., only Toshio Suzuki was there as a producer. Being a low-cost production destined for the small screen, it was decided to adapt the novel ‘Umi ga kikoeru (Ocean Waves)’, by Saeko Himuro, which narrated a nostalgic love triangle at a high school in Kôchi, a coastal city in southwestern Japanin the mid 80s. An apparently light premise which, obviously, being a Ghibli proposal, hides a greater depth than the typical adolescent melodramas.
A traditional and realistic portrait of adolescence
One of the aspects that proves it It is not a conventional production, it is that Ghibli looks at adolescent reality in a frontal and uncomfortable way. Far from the maturity of Miyazaki’s heroines, her characters have strengths and weaknesses of young people between the ages of 15 and 17, which makes ‘I can hear the sea’ a costuming and realistic story, in which teenagers are selfish, immature and look to the future as if it were something far away. To this is added a certain social criticism, in the contrast that exists between city and country, much more marked in the 80s and 90s, especially in relation to future expectations and a competitive student and working world.
It is fascinating how criticism is introduced into the film, in a subtle way and with small details, especially with the emergence of the protagonist, Rikako Muto.a young Tokyoite who is forced to move to Kôchi with her mother and little brother after her parents’ divorce. The teenager is perhaps one of the factory’s most complex and mysterious Ghibli heroines. Far from the former, all that is known about her is through third parties, most notably the other two main characters in the story, Taku Morisaki and Yutaka Matsuno, two friends whose loyalty will be tested after the young newcomer’s raid. .
Rikako’s unpleasant, arrogant, haughty and manipulative character can cause rejection, due to how realistic his portrayal of adolescence is, a time of extreme emotion. However, it hides a much deeper criticism, with a certain feminist perspective. In an excessively collective society, where steps are marked and being an essential part of the group is an imposition and not a vocation, anyone who tries to be a loose verse is condemned to ostracism. An example is Rikako, a young woman who refuses to adhere to the codes of Japanese secondary and high schools, such as that of celebrating the High School Cultural Festival, a crucial moment to promote the image of the institute and who, given the plot, it is essential in history to raise the image of an institution in low hours due to the low academic achievement of its students.
Rikako, Ghibli’s most complex heroine
Rebellion without a cause, being a loose verse is a challenge that few allow themselves and it is something that the stories of Ghibli’s costume designers have been able to expose well. Rikako had as an example Taeko, the protagonist of ‘Memories of Yesterday’, who avoided the patterns established for women of her generation. Likewise, Rikako served as a source to shape and deepen that desire not to follow the conventional path, as can be seen with Shizuku’s literary vocation in “Whispers of the Heart” or in Umi’s premature emancipation in “The Hill of the poppies “. ‘. Before them it was this city student who is greeted with hostility by her fellow citizens, directly showing the complexes of those who come from the provinces compared to those who grew up in the capital. Added to this is the female perspective, where discrimination is even greater.
A much deeper reflection appears than this story of a school love triangle. On the other hand, the melodramatic aspect of the film. Its male protagonists, in particular Taku Morisaki, work within the canons of the genre. Once the story is told through flashbacks, the factory brings us closer to the details and how feelings are contained. It’s more, the passion of love is intuited, but not seen explicitly, which gives a certain sense of maturity to a story that looks at the follies of adolescence in perspectivesomething that can only be achieved with the passage of time.
In this, It’s time to applaud Keiko Niwa, one of Ghibli’s female pillars. Screenwriter years after acclaimed films such as ‘Arrietty and the world of children’, the aforementioned ‘Poppy Hill’ or ‘The memory of Marnie’, Niwa, who wrote the screenplay of ‘I can feel the sea’ under the pseudonym Kaori Nakamura takes care of every gesture, every detail, every look, in a sublime and unusual exercise for television productions. Also thanks to its director, Tomomi Mochizuki, who already had extensive experience as a director of television series and TV movies. However, ‘I can feel the sea’ is his most ambitious work to date.
A beautiful melodrama about a love triangle
It is also in that ‘I can feel the sea’, on a technical level, is far above a product designed for the small screen. It is true that the ambition in this section is far from being on the same level as the Ghibli predecessors such as ‘The Castle in the Sky’ or ‘My Neighbor Totoro’, not to mention ‘Pompoko’, the next film in production. But it must be clear that he is not looking for it, since it was not designed to compete in the big leagues (Although he defends himself just fine). However, the animation of him was very careful, as she had like animation director to Katsuya Kondô, an essential figure within Ghibli, who also illustrated Himuro’s novel.
The attention to detail is also seen in its animation section which, moreover, over time has given it an antiquated look that goes well with the nostalgic spirit of the filmthere are some moments that recall the wonderful ‘The family grows’, a series that stood out precisely for its technical care. Added to this is a delightful soundtrack, composed by Shigeru Nagata. The interesting thing is that, despite being cataloged as a TV show, its end result is such that in its international distribution it has been re-released in theaters, where all of its elements have been seen more powerfully, if possible.
“I can feel the sea” is a true cinematic achievement, one of those hidden gems that tends to be underestimated because it belongs to a factory that has produced essential titles and absolute masterpieces such as ‘Princess Mononoke’, ‘Spirited Away’ or ‘The Tale of Princess Kaguya’. A delicious proposal for a life walk. A claim also of the pink kindso despised by lovers of auteur and commercial cinema, a melodious and elegant ballad of the impossible, of unrequited love, of adolescent nostalgia, a dignified melodrama. It may not be an epic or a philosophical story, but beautiful pearls can also be found in everyday life.
“I Can Hear the Sea” is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD, from Vertigo Filmsand streaming on Netflix.
Note: 8
The best: Its animation evokes the nostalgic spirit, its music carries the audience as if it were floating on the waves of the ocean. Their love triangle goes much further.
Worse: Not being an ambitious story, just a melodrama, it tends to be underestimated, especially since its characters are far from ideal.
Source: E Cartelera
