Marnie, too, seems to learn something from Anna: that she shouldn't give up hope. This is a girl who feels abandoned by life, and it is a little ironic that through a ghost she finds that she hasn't been. She guards her sketchbook as if allowing people to see her art will steal a precious piece of her soul, and her opening lines talk about how she feels perpetually outside the charmed circle of life, looking in from the cold. Through Marnie and Anna's relationship, we see Anna learning that not everyone wants anything more from her than her friendship, that her existence has value to the world.īefore she meets Marnie, we see her curling into herself at school functions or running away when she spies someone her own age approach.
That aside, there is very little to complain about.
This is the one area where the updating of the film does not quite work - everyone in Marnie's world is clothed like it's the s, which works with the timeline of the original novel but is too far back to quite work with the movie's clear setting.Ĭars and smartphones make it easy to establish when the movie takes place. Viewers will quickly notice the discrepancies between the house Anna sees in daylight and the one she visits after dark, to say nothing of the way Marnie and the people in her house dress. Naturally there is more to Marnie than we see at face value. Marnie and Anna promise to be each others' secrets and best friends, and through Marnie, Anna slowly comes out of her shell. This leads her to investigate and to meet Marnie, a girl around her own age who says she lives there. Anna quickly becomes fascinated by the seemingly abandoned mansion on the edge of the salt marsh, and one night she notices that there appear to be lights on. Concerned, her adoptive mother sends her to stay with family on the coast. Put into the foster care system, Anna was adopted by a loving family, but she has never felt fully at home with them, even less so when she discovers that they receive a subsidy for her care.Īs a result she is an anxious, uncomfortable child, always holding herself apart from others and prone to panic-induced asthma attacks. The heroine of the story is Anna, a twelve-year-old girl who was orphaned twice, first with her parents' deaths when she was a year old and again by her grandmother's passing a year later. Although the story has been moved from Norfolk to Hokkaido, it is timeless and universal enough that most viewers will be able to accept the idea that a foreign family used to own Marsh House without any qualms, and even book purists will find plenty to love in this moving adaptation. Robinson as of this writing out of print in the United States but in print in the UKthe story explores themes of anxiety, betrayal, and a sense of belonging in ways that are meaningful without being preachy. The event was planned for July Chiang stated: With the COVID situation continually changing, as well as more restrictions in place worldwide and in Apr 17, 14 comments.Īnime Expo is still - somehow - scheduled for July in Los Angeles.Based on the novel by Joan G. Thanks to Daniel and Marc for the news tip.
As the days go by, a nearly magnetic pull draws Anna back to the Marsh House again and again, and she begins to piece together the truth surrounding her strange new friend. The two girls instantly form a unique connection and friendship that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. Are you kidding me? Tsugumomo2 Shachibato! President, It's Time for Battle!įood Wars! Login or Register forgot it? GKids describes the story: When shy, artistic Anna moves to the seaside to live with her aunt and uncle, she stumbles upon an old mansion surrounded by marshes, and the mysterious young girl, Marnie, who lives there. Works' Appare-Ranman! Game Reviews Columns incl. Discuss in the forum, contribute to the Encyclopedia, build your own MyAnime lists, and more. No account yet? Registering is freeeasyand private. Takatsugu Muramatsu composed the film's soundtrack.
In his second film, director Hiromasa Yonebayashi 's The Secret World of Arrietty has shifted the setting from the novel's Great Britain to a Japanese village on the shores of Hokkaido.Īndo also handled the character designs and animation direction. Robinson's classic English children's novel of the same name. The official Facebook page for the movie noted that it will announce theater information soon. The initial release will be limited to New York and Los Angeles, but GKids will expand the screening in the following weeks.