Whisper of the Heart is a Miyazaki film from 1995 (and it shows, no cell phones, really old laptops... it's almost historical!) about an eighth grade Japanese girl named Shizuku who struggles to discover who she is and who she wants to be just as she's falling in love for the first time.Well, when I write it out like that it seems so simple and trite, but it honestly is a really enjoyable little journey. Like all Miyazaki films, I really love the detail that goes into the world that's created in animation. It's not a huge thing, but it's like really great set dressing, it makes you feel as though there's a living world outside of the pictures you see on the screen. Flies and moths buzzing around a light at night or the papers and clothes strewn about the tiny bedroom Shizuku shares with her college-aged sister (sleeping in bunk beds, nonetheless!), the "lived in" touches around the kitchenette. It feels like a real family lives in that cramped apartment.
I also enjoyed the humorous, but honest portrayal of first crushes and the whole "boys are dumb!" and the cries from the class of "Shizuku has a boyfriend!" when a boy comes looking for Shizuku in her class and her utter embarrassment. It all seems like a game at that age, but everyone takes it so seriously. If we only knew then how serious it gets later on...
More important than the romantic elements, though, is the self-discovery that goes on. As Shizuku realizes her attraction to Seiji, she finds herself overwhelmed by the thought that Seiji has his life all worked out. He knows what he wants to do with himself and he'll probably be quite good at it and this leaves Shizuku feeling undeserving of his interest. Forget that she's only 13, she desperately wants to be good at something in order to make herself worthy of Seiji, and this drives her to write a story in a world of her own creation. While Shizuku found Seiji's drive to make violins inspiring, I can't help but feel inspired by Shizuku's drive to become a great writer.
While there isn't any particularly noteworthy action in this movie, it still feels like the audience is following Shizuku on a grand adventure as she strives to discover who she is and who she might become. I find myself drawn to the characters and I can't help but wonder how they turn out ten or twenty years down the road...
Of course, knowing we're talking about kids in their early teens, I'm sure this whole thing breaks up come next year as they progress into high school... right?
