Only Yesterday

1991 [JAPANESE]

Action / Animation / Drama / Romance

57
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 82% · 63 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 82% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.6/10 10 41655 41.7K

countryside country life marriage folk music flashback school

Plot summary

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.

Director

Isao Takahata Photo
Isao Takahata

Top cast

Ashley Eckstein Photo
Ashley Eckstein as Yaeko
Dev Patel Photo
Dev Patel as Toshio
Grey Griffin Photo
Grey Griffin as Mother
Yorie Yamashita Photo
Yorie Yamashita as Nanako
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1 GB
1280*682
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles jp  
23.976 fps
1 hr 59 min
Seeds 9
1.92 GB
1920*1024
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles jp  
23.976 fps
1 hr 59 min
Seeds 74

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by matchettja 9 / 10

Touching and moving

I really had no idea animation could be so touching and moving. A young woman on her way to the countryside to help out with some farm chores keeps getting flashbacks of her 10 year old, 5th grade self. That may sound boring, but instead I was riveted from beginning until the heart warming finish, enjoying her memories along the way. We all carry around with us such kind of memories-having trouble with a particular subject in school, flirting with members of the opposite sex, being teased by classmates or older siblings, misbehaving and being severely punished, not getting something we really wanted and on and on. While she was having her flashbacks, I was having mine, making it all a very personal experience. Her life has been shaped by her memories, and now she is guided by them as she comes face to face with a momentous, potentially life-altering decision. Even if she was only an animated character, I got so bound up in the story that I desperately hoped for her to make the right choice. Sometimes I even forgot that I was watching an animated movie.
Reviewed by aulus7 9 / 10

A work of art

This is a very gentle and beautiful film, which could have been done as a 'normal' film with live actors, but it wouldn't have worked one-tenth as well; somehow doing it as an animation allows us to explore the characters much better.It tells the story of Taeko, a 27 year old Tokyo office worker who goes to spend a few days in the countryside. She is at a stage where she is starting to question her life, and is haunted by memories of her 10th year.One thing that stands out is that there is no great drama, the pace of the film is almost humdrum, the whole emphasis is on the development of the characters: this of course means that it will not be to everyone's taste.
Reviewed by teledyn 8 / 10

Growing out of growing up

We've all seen those "coming of age" movies that transition the protagonist from childhood into puberty, and there's heaps of "discover your inner child" movies to put some fun in your life or life in your fun or whatever -- Only Yesterday is a rarity: Unsure and a little lost in her urban complacency, Taeko finds she must step beyond her inner-child shadow before she can grow up and move on with her life.Only Yesterday isn't about grade-five, it's about being 27 by way of grade-five. It's a story about stepping out of our childhood, like the way we finally, and graciously, say goodbye to a worn-out favourite pair of shoes, or when, once we get to our destination, we can thank a particularly helpful bus driver and disembark.Ugh, that's not much of a review, is it. Fortunately, Takahata says it all ten thousand times better than this :)
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