Clevercell Very disappointing...

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Naomi Chiba The film is a story about a girl's spiritual growth and overcoming difficulties in a new life. Momo Miyaura, a sullen 11-year-old, encounters three goblins from an old Edo-era's comic book. The goblins are Iwa, Kawa and Mame. Iwas is large, clumsy and honest; Kawa is middle, manipulative and greedy; Mame is small, slow and infantile. They are mischievous, sloppy and dull.Their appearances are reminiscent of "Kyoka Hyakki Yakyo," an illustration of goblins in an Edo-era comic book called "Kibyoshi." "Kibyoshi" is a precursor of 'manga.' In the Edo era, various images of goblins entertained readers and told valuable lessons.The film is set in Shio Shima, Inland Sea, an allusion to Yasujiro Ozu's classical film "Tokyo Story." Momo moves from Tokyo to the small island after her father's sudden death. While she is boarding a ship, three drops of spirits come down from the sky and land on her. The drops are the goblins or guardians, which help her reconcile a sad memory about her father. She regrets criticizing her father before he passed away.In the film, the legendary goblins and Momo develop strange but warmhearted relationships that unite the past and present, or this world and afterlife. A motif of connectedness appears at various levels and creates a poignant but cheerful story. First, it shows continuation of time in Japanese popular culture by making a connection with the funny goblins emerging from a "kibyoshi" and in Momo's contemporary life. The past is linked to the present via 'manga.' The emergence of old 'manga'unfolds a history of Japanese popular culture, which intertwines with her daily life and symbolizes continuity.Second, the connectedness illustrates the relationships between the spirits and humans in a spectacular way. Various types of spirits such as orchard spirits, ocean spirits and forest spirits assist Momo. This is most memorably exemplified when the spirits collaborate to help her in the midst of a fierce typhoon. Thanks to their support, she overcomes a difficulty. Demonstrating collective forces, the animating spirits generate a harmonious and splendid message that life is working with others. Nobody can live alone.In addition, the scene also gives us a lesson. Each one of the vigorous spirits provides her with a tiny power that is almost negligible, but its contribution is valuable and finally brings a tremendous result to aid her. It reminds us that selfishness and indifference do not bring anything good. The significant message is that everybody has a role to play in the world. The scene is a pivotal moment of her spiritual growth.Furthermore, the connectedness with the spirits also underlines a powerful animistic note that we are part of nature, which exerts enormous power and is larger than us. Nature and humans can coexist harmoniously in this world. The connectedness is the key that keeps our lives going.Third, the connectedness demonstrates that death is not the end of life. The goblins have been sent from Above in order to watch over the living. Their special mission is to rally round Momo and report about her life to Above. Their mission expresses a vastness of time in human life, including the afterlife. In short, the dead also have a mission to do in this world. A person's life in this world is finite, but one receives another mission to complete in the afterlife. The amicable relationships between the hilarious goblins and her imply that the deceased can also return to this world and work together with the living. The connection between the dead and the living indicates a culture of ancestor worship, emphasizing the relationships between ancestors and offspring, or the past and present.Accordingly, the story offers a strong viewpoint that it is possible that we can be befriended by spirits or the deceased. A sense of infinite life is an unforgettably emotional moment and contributes to her psychological relief that she has another chance to make up with her father. Finally, the togetherness ameliorates her hardship. All the connectedness is linked to a process of her reconciliation with her regret.This film would be particularly appealing for victims of the unprecedented great earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011. Many people unexpectedly lost their loved ones and everyday lives. They were totally unprepared to suffer such tragedies, let alone time to bid farewell. Later, they left their familiar lands and have been struggling with new environments.In the film, such sentiments are clearly illustrated. Momo's father had an accident at sea and never returned. Her relocation to Shio Shima is an outcome of the loss of her father. The abrupt loss echoes Japanese collective grief and sorrow for those affected by the unbearable incidents.Likewise, Momo's struggle is part of their struggle. Her feeling of sadness is theirs; her tears are theirs. Eventually, her achievements foreshadow their hopefulness. The story captures her shuttered heart as a reflection of theirs. It epitomizes Japanese psychology – many people hesitate to talk about their tragedy because it is negative.The film finally offers a moment of catharsis and kindles a flame of hope. Consequently, underlining the importance of familial bonds and hopes that keep them going toward their future, "A Letter to Momo" is a letter to those victims.More importantly, the story conveys Japanese Gambaro spirit that is an encouragement for people to work hard. The spiritual essence cultivates a sense of esprit-de-corps and persistence. Gambaro spirit is a sense of working hard together and for others, who will help us sometime and somewhere.Ultimately, intersecting beings from the afterlife with this world, the film informs us of a traditional belief that invisible spirits live together in this world in order to help us.All the deceased are our guardians, so chin up!

blackmamba99971 Almost like the movie spirited away. Except in this case, it's not a girl who wanders with her parents into a Yokai domain, but the Yokai busting into the human world. This was a good film about a girl who moved with her mother to Shio from Tokyo. Both have strained themselves to keep the memories of their Husband/father alive so they can move on with their lives. But instead, Momo lingers on with an unfinished letter from her father who wanted to apologize for going on an excursion on the night of a family date. Seeing as this clearly upset Momo, she practically cursed her father out of spite, and lost him in a horrible accident. Since the move however, her grandmother introduces her to a small room, called the sky (Attic) where memories are kept intact in forms of statues or books. With a curious eye, Momo reads one in particular about a group of Yokai who watched over her family for generations. Seeing as this presented no problems, she begins to hear and see the real thing which questions her sanity. Since nobody else can see them except for a smaller girl, Momo decides to allow them to stay inside her house on the condition they stay in the sky room. But as will all Yokai, they cannot keep still for one moment, which then leads Momo on a remarkable trip of self discovery. This was a fresh approach to how kids dealing with pain in the most minute details. For Momo, not being able to say goodbye properly to her father after his death gives her a new resolve. More so, because on a particular night, a typhoon ripped through Shio while Momo was exposed to the elements. Her mother of course who suffered from asthma starts to fall ill to her condition because she couldn't find her. Momo and her new friends struggle to help save her mother from certain death to go out into the typhoon, and reach the hospital as soon as possible with the help of a neighbourly mail man. Soon all the Yokai help her to attain that clearance to let her reach her goal. And with their help, saved her mother in time. The story was well done, as well as the music. I found this film rather slow at first, but when it picked up later the laughs, tears started to roll like clock work. I think all ages will enjoy this film for its humour, its back story lines, as well as seeing the tragedies become less impactive to those who were closest to it. Momo struggled hard, but with her Yokai friends life was more bearable to endure seeing as demons of ghosts know a lot more about death than humans. Memories are made, and memories fade, with Momo her memories of her father became clearer, and with the help of her demon buddies, got a message at last from her father who simply said,..... Well you got to see the movie for that. Highly recommended to all.

Patryk Czekaj Whether you are a fan of Japanese anime movies or not, you should definitely see A Letter to Momo. It is truly a mesmerizing flick made by the acclaimed studio Production I.G. Like most of the great Japanese animations that came out in other parts of the world in the recent decades, it is well suited for people of any age, mainly because of all the adult themes and motives presented in it.Here we find young and grieving Momo, who, after a tragic death of her father, moves with her mother to a remote village of Shio, in order to find inner peace. However, this very quiet and mellow place is nothing what it seems. After a series of bizarre encounters Momo finds herself in a strange, let's say, friendship with the three adorable spirits that live in the village. In order to find out what are they really doing in Momo's life, she has to believe in their good intentions, which does not seem easy at all. With her mother's sudden illness she has to overcome her fears and start a great adventure, not only to save her mother, but also discover what her father meant to tell her, before he passed away.The magical aura surrounding the whole movie is what makes this beautiful tale a true masterpiece. The characters of the spirits are simply admirable, because of their comedic behavior. And the transformation of a very shy girl to a brave heroine is what gives the plot a strong kick.I have always been a fan of anime movies and TV shows, but after a recent number of flops I have to say that A Letter to Momo gave me a new reason to believe in the greatness of animators from the Country of Cherry Blossoms.

8thSin "A Letter to Momo" had reportedly taken the director Okiura Hiroyuki 7 years to produce. Allow me to be the first to say, the time and effort spent on perfecting this film have not gone to waste.The art/animation in this movie is top-notch. Production I.G. with assistance from P.A. Works, Studio Pierrot, and CG by Dandelion resulted in stunning visual quality down to the tiniest details. What I especially liked, was the amount of attention paid to body language and gestures. There's so much information to be gleaned from subtleties of the visuals alone, and that's what I find most interesting about Japanese films. There was also this action sequence near the end that just blew me away. I don't want to spoil, but I have not seen such breathtaking hand-drawn animation since watching "Tonari no Totoro" in the late '80s.The story begins with the protagonist, Momo, moving to a small fictional island named Shiojima with her mother. Their new house appears to be haunted, and she feels absolutely miserable about moving out of Tokyo. Being a city girl that she is, Momo struggles to adjust to the country life. Instead of playing with the local kids, she eventually befriends three Youkai in her house - Iwa, Kawa, and Mame. Momo begins to appreciate the life on the island, and come to realize the meaning of his late father's unfinished letter to her.The character development in this movie is absolutely phenomenal. It begins with a light comedy, but through numerous adventures and mishaps on the island, we slowly learn about her past. The transition from comedy to drama is seamless, and it really makes you to care about the protagonist by the end... This film has what I call magic, something Ghibli films of late desperately lack. Although the local kids were severely underused in this movie, the three Youkai were the true supporting cast. Their chemistry with the protagonist was excellent, and the humor just comes naturally. Mame's character was especially funny in a quirky way. One can easily tell how much thought and planning has been put into this film just by watching the impeccable timing at which Mame's character was used as comedic relief every single time.Every piece of music appears to be fully orchestrated, especially the violins stood out to build tension in action scenes. Momo's voice acting by child actress and seiyuu Miyama Karen was a perfect fit, as well as the three Youkai."A Letter to Momo" is almost like a homage to Studio Ghibli's kids movies - "My Neighbor Totoro", "Spirited Away", and "Ponyo". It sticks to the tried and tested formula of supernatural spirits that only interacts with kids, and somewhat predictable plot development. However, the producers have managed to merge various elements from all those films into an exciting original story. "A Letter to Momo" is a magical crowd-pleaser with great pacing and a heartwarming story. It's a solid movie that anime and movie fans should not miss.