From Up on Poppy Hill
(2011)
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Watch Trailer 0Share... |
From Up on Poppy Hill
(2011)
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Watch Trailer 0Share... |
Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Masami Nagasawa | ... |
Umi Matsuzaki
(voice)
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Jun'ichi Okada | ... |
Shun Kazama /
Yuichiro Sawamura
(voice)
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Keiko Takeshita | ... |
Hana Matsuzaki
(voice)
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Yuriko Ishida | ... |
Miki Hokuto
(voice)
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Rumi Hiiragi | ... |
Sachiko Hirokôji
(voice)
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Jun Fubuki | ... |
Ryoko Matsuzaki
(voice)
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Takashi Naitô | ... |
Yoshio Onodera
(voice)
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Shunsuke Kazama | ... |
Shirô Mizunuma /
Hiroshi Tachibana
(voice)
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Nao Ômori | ... |
Akio Kazama
(voice)
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Teruyuki Kagawa | ... |
Tokumaru rijichô
(voice)
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Haruka Shiraishi | ... |
Sora Matsuzaki
(voice)
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Tsubasa Kobayashi | ... |
Riku Matsuzaki
(voice)
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Alex Wolff | ... |
Riku Matsuzaki
(voice)
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Bridget Hoffman | ... |
Yuko
(voice)
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Aoi Teshima | ... |
Yuko
(voice)
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A group of Yokohama teens look to save their school's clubhouse from the wrecking ball in preparations for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
From the moment "Up on Poppy Hill" opens, scans its world in photographic panorama, and takes you into an ordinary Japanese kitchen where early-teen Umi is preparing a meal, you sense that this will not be like any Miyazaki film that you have ever seen. Still present is the flawless Studio Ghibli animation, but all traces of fantasy are gone. Instead the film grabs your heartstrings and won't let go. It's a simple enough story, neither harrowing nor heartbreaking, but its telling is so rich and enveloping that you're quickly as close to it as if you were on the back of a careening bicycle with Umi. // Young children will be entertained by the wonderful animation and may have questions to ask about the differences between how Umi lives her daily life in 1963 Japan and how they themselves live. Anyone older than about nine will grasp the full depth of the story and will enter it through its richness and detail. If you are empathetic at all your eyes will be wet from recognition, and, often enough, from joy. See this film and hope for more like it from the new Miyazaki generation. (Note: This review is for the English-dubbed, non-subtitled version that opened in Los Angeles in late March, 2013.)