![]() ![]() Studio Ghibli already has world-renown for the quality of its animation and this new film only confirms it by the beautiful and smooth look that it presents us with. Notwithstanding the fantastic elements and animated nature of the film, the narrative therefore presents us with common themes to which we can easily relate. The Secret World of Arrietty is not a grand narrative but a pleasant story of a developing friendship and mutual understanding between “small and large people” that is only interrupted by the scheming of Haru, in whose role we could well imagine any other spiteful and ignorant individual that we regularly encounter in our life. There is neither some messianic mission to save the world of the Borrowers as we could expect in the Hollywood films nor a great love between Arrietty and Shawn that, notwithstanding some story twists and difficulties, would result in their final reunification. Suffice it to say that the anime develops in an uncomplicated way as a ballad of friendship between Arrietty and Shawn. I will not spoil to my reader the whole film and stop here. Mischievously, she responds by calling a pest removal company and embarks on a mad hunt to capture the Borrowers. As Arrietty and Shawn meet once more, the existence of the Borrowers is discovered by the house maid Haru. This sparks a series of events when Shawn tries to meet again with Arrietty, which is not all appreciated by her parents, who see humans and their endless curiosity as a threat that will result in them being driven out of the house. Startled and hesitating at the same time, Arrietty drops the sugar cube and she and her father Pod quietly leave. Rather than being alarmed or surprised by Arrietty he asks her to stay and talk with him for a while. In doing so, the small Arrietty is spotted by Shawn, a boy who recently moved into the house. We follow them as they embark on a journey to retrieve a cube of sugar and a piece of tissue from a box to resupply the diminishing stock of Arrietty’s mother kitchen. We are introduced to the daily life of the Borrowers right in the beginning of the film, when Arrietty, an almost 14-year old Borrower, is taken on her first “borrowing mission” above the floorboards by her father Pod. The Borrowers, as these tiny people call themselves, live there secretly and in the night borrow their food from human beings the “big people” living in the house above them. The very first look on The Secret World of Arrietty might give us an impression that the storyline is rather simple and only describes the life of “a family of tiny people,” who have their home made of cardboard hidden under the floor of one typical household. Curiously, Arrietty also has a European background, as it is based on a children’s fantasy book The Borrowers (1952) from English author Mary Norton. Produced by Studio Ghibli, the famous anime maker Hayao Miyazaki provided this piece with screenplay, while Hiromasa Yonebayashi was successful at holding the director’s reins. ![]() Having seen The Secret World of Arrietty (2010 Japan, 2012 USA), I must say it is a thoughtful anime (as Japanese animated movies are called) and its 95 minutes proved to be a great way of ending my film roadshow in 2012. ![]()
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