The New York Times
Takahata's psychologically acute film, which was based on a manga, seems to grow in impact ... as the adult Takao comes to a richer understanding of what she wants and how she wants to live.
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Only Yesterday
Studio Ghibli's 1991 release, from the director of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and Grave of the Fireflies. It’s 1982, and Taeko is 27-years-old, unmarried, and lived her whole life in Tokyo. She decides to visit her relatives in the countryside, and as the train travels through the night, memories flood back of her younger years: the first immature stirrings of romance, the onset of puberty, and the frustrations of math and boys.
At the station she is met by young farmer Toshio, and the encounters with him begin to reconnect her to forgotten longings. In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.
Less1991Rating: PG, Adult themes118 minsJapanStudio Ghibli
AnimatedKids & FamilyWorld Cinema
- Director:
- Isao Takahata ('The Tale of the Princess Kaguya', 'My Neighbours the Yamadas', 'Grave of the Fireflies')
- Writer:
- Isao TakahataYuuko Tone
- Cast:
- Daisy RidleyDev Patel
Only Yesterday | Reviews
100%58 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
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Rolling Stone
Isao Takahata's film is an animation miracle so subtle that it doesn't fully hit you till you take it home and into your dreams.
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Los Angeles Times
The story of a young woman who moves back and forth between childhood memories and the dilemmas of her current life, "Only Yesterday" is a realistic, personal story made universal in a delicate way.
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A.V. Club
Can sometimes seem a little too random in what it chooses to show, but it has a cumulative power as Taeko comes to understand that the past that shaped her needn't define her.
Full reviewOnly Yesterday | Release Details
Only Yesterday is available to stream in New Zealand now on Netflix and Google Play and Apple TV.