Popular as a book and on tv, the theatrical version of Okko the young orphan innkeeper (that’s more or less the name of the tv series) is the first feature-length film from all-round animator (anime-tor?) Kitarô Kôsaka as director. Technically, the film isn’t posh & polished as Ghibli or other top Anime, but as an example of East-is-East/West-is-West attitudes toward how kids in Japanese culture deal with grief, here after the loss of parents, it’s loaded with interest. Little Okko, having lost her loving Mom & Dad in a traffic accident, is sent to live (and work!) at Grandma’s boutique Inn in a famous Japanese spa town. The film is organized around customers as they come and go while Okko welcomes, serves and learns the biz, while also covering life as the new girl at school. The best idea in here uses a pair of young ghosts (and a more corporeal demon) visible only to Okko because of her near-death experience and continuing emotional trauma. A bond that fades as she begins to heal. But it all plays out like Very Special Episode material with the worst saved for last as Okko draws close to one troubled family at the inn only to discover that the father was the driver responsible for the accident that killed her parents. Yikes! (Odd, as we’ve already seen an out of control semi-trailer truck causing the wreck.) Just imagine the thousands of Motel 6 managers thrilled at the prospect of getting cheap labor while aiding little victims of family tragedies at minimum wage. 'I'm doing this for your own good, kid.'
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: While not without its own emotional & narrative lacunae, Ghibli’s orphan tale, WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE/’14, works on a much elevated visual plane. Even better, if less of a match, the underseen WHISPER OF THE HEART/’95. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/07/omoide-no-mani-when-marnie-was-there.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2015/05/mimi-wo-sumaseba-whisper-of-heart-1995.html
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