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| Image found on the Internet |
Today I had the pleasure to watch in theaters a charming, sometimes bittersweet and sad, sometimes hilariously funny, anime called A Letter To Momo.
The titular Momo is an 11 year old girl who recently lost her father to a sudden and tragic death, and must come to terms with her emotions, her mother's turmoil, living in a new place filled with new people...and three goblins. The title is a reference to a blank letter left by the father to Momo with only the words, "Dear Momo" written on it.
The emotional heart of the film is the struggle Momo and her mother have in coping with the loss of father/husband, unrequited love, and overcoming fears sometimes metaphorically, sometimes literally. This is balanced with the humor originating from the goblins and Momos interactions with them. The goblins have a reason for being there, a connection to Momo, but that is part of the mystery of the movie so I will not spoil it here. Suffice to say, they cause more (funny) trouble for Momo than they help.
The metaphor here is simple. Life most go on, with all the ensuing heartache and sadness and fear, but also all the reasons to keep laughing and smiling, along with basic human needs such as the need to connect to others and even eating. The empty letter is clearly a tabula rasa, a metaphor for everything unsaid in life, and wished we could have said, but it's also a metaphor for life itself. It can be overly sentimental at times, playing for laughs and fantastical at others, but it never crosses the line to maudlin or slapstick.
Like the best of anime films these days, the "camera" holds scenes and characters in frame for long moments letting us dwell on the beautiful background paintings, or subtle animation of facial gestures of characters. It is in stark contrast to most Western "cartoons" which operate at a frantic pace to keep the kids attention. A Letter To Momo ostensibly is being billed as a children's movie in the U.S., but it really isn't. It's a thoughtful movie for mature audiences with occasional moments of hilarity and a few awe-inspiring take-aways.
You won't find anything new in this film, and no, it won't dethrone Hiyao Miyazaki, but it is worth watching. I recommend it.
-Brent
