Studio Ghibli Retrospective: My Neighbors The Yamadas

The Alamo Drafthouse is proud to present a retrospective series of select Studio Ghibli titles starting this February. See newly struck 35mm subtitled prints of such classics as PRINCESS MONONOKE, SPIRITED AWAY, MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO and more. This series has taken audiences by storm in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Toronto and now we’re bringing it to you. 

This rarely-seen gem is a considerable departure for Studio Ghibli in terms of both style and story: not only does this gently humorous domestic comedy eschew the wild flights of imagination of Miyazaki's fantasies or the historical gravity of director Isao Takahata's acclaimed Grave of the Fireflies, but its comic strip-style animation (distinctly different from the traditional Ghibli style) was also created entirely on computers, making it the first Ghibli film to be made without traditional hand-drawn animation. In a series of titled vignettes such as "A Family Crisis," "Marriage Yamada-Style" and "Patriarchal Supremecy Restored," Takahata takes us into the daily lives of the Yamada family, which includes father Takashi and mother Matsuko, four-year-old daughter Nonoko, annoying older brother (is there any other kind?) Noboru, wise Grandma Shige, and family dog Pochi. Interweaving the family's everyday life lessons with whimsical fantasy sequences, My Neighbors the Yamadas is a delightfully offbeat example of Ghibli's focus on the intricacies of human relationships and the intersections of past and present. (TIFF)