Underplayed Gems

Arrietty (2010)

Arrietty poster
Original title
借りぐらしのアリエッティ
Directed by
Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Genre
fantasy film, supernatural anime, coming-of-age film, children's film, Adventure, Drama
Country
Japan
Runtime
1h 34m
Rated
G
Rating
7.7 of 10 from 3,211 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A tiny girl named Arrietty lives with her family under the floorboards of a house, borrowing small items from the human residents to survive. She befriends a human boy named Sho, forming a delicate bond while trying to stay hidden from the other people in the house.

gentlewhimsicalquietly tensewarmintimateserenebittersweetslow-paced

What happens

Arrietty, titled Arrietty the Borrower  in Japan and The Secret World of Arrietty in North America, is a 2010 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi as his feature film debut as a director, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, Toho and Wild Bunch. The screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa, was based on the 1952 novel The Borrowers by Mary Norton, an English author of children's books, about a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of a typical household, borrowing items from humans to survive. The film stars the voices of Mirai Shida, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Shinobu Otake, Keiko Takeshita, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Tomokazu Miura, and Kirin Kiki, and tells the story of a young Borrower (Arrietty) befriending a human boy (Sho), while trying to avoid being detected by the other humans. Ghibli announced the film in late 2009 with Yonebayashi making his directorial debut. Miyazaki supervised the production as a developing planner. The voice actors were approached in April 2010, and Cécile Corbel wrote the film's score as well as its theme song. This film marks the cinematic debut of Yonebayashi, as well as the British dub marking the cinematic debut of Tom Holland. The film was released in Japan on July 17, 2010, by Toho, and received positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation and music. It became the highest-grossing Japanese film at the Japanese box office for the year 2010, and grossed $149 million worldwide. The film also won the Animation of the Year award at the 34th Japan Academy Prize award ceremony. Two English-language versions of the film were produced, a British dub released in the United Kingdom on July 29, 2011, by Optimum Releasing and an American dub released in North America on February 17, 2012, by Walt Disney Pictures. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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