The Cinematheque

“Frankly stunning, as beautiful a hand-drawn animated feature as you are likely to see.”

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

Co-scripted by anime master Miyazaki Hayao and directed by his son Miyazaki Gorō, this lovingly hand-drawn film from Studio Ghibli is a poignant, tender coming-of-age drama adapted from a 1980 manga. The setting is 1963 in the bustling seaside town of Yokohama; Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics. The film tells of a blossoming romance between high-school teens Umi and Shun, who meet after Shun writes a poem about the signal flags he spots each morning—the same ones Umi, daughter of a deceased naval officer, has been dutifully hoisting. Their bond is tested when, while working together to save a dilapidated, Meiji-era club house from demolition, a family secret emerges.