When thinking about the past, we often either exaggerate or ignore certain aspects. Whether that’s dramatizing a petty event, or waxing poetic about receiving a participation trophy. It’s hardly intentional, it’s just a fault of our minds amassing so much information over time that certain life events may get foggy. However Only Yesterday does none of that, it harpoons the most uncomfortable, tragic, and awkward situations of our childhood. And yet it displays the beauty of separating yourself from your trauma and how to utilize it to evolve as a human. So how does ‘Only Yesterday’ manage to portray and vindicate my adolescent self like no other film has before?
The story follows a woman named Taeka who goes on a trip to her extended family's organic food farm and on the way reminisces over her past as a child. These memories are mostly filled with some of life’s most embarrassing moments. Dredging up recollections of crushes, puberty, being the odd one out, being hit, and being put down. Despite how depressing that all may sound, and trust me it is, the film demonstrates how to eloquently conquer trauma in an optimistic and mature way. Showing how negative events that seem only worse in retrospect, still possess a silver lining. And if not that, then if anything else it creatively expresses the old saying, “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”. The film also excels at finding the beauty and hope only found through experiencing tragedy.
This wouldn’t be possible without the emotionally nuanced characters and their growth throughout the story. Taeka is the perfect representation of a child who’s at a point in their life when they’re made to face the emotional hardships of reality. Though somewhat brattish as a child, her cheerful attitude radiates from both her adult and younger self. Maybe that’s why I resonated as much with her as I did. Much like me, she always remained cheerful and optimistic despite life’s predicaments. I felt represented in a way, she embodies very similar traits and trauma as I. The film felt as if it was being empathetic towards me. And that’s not surprising given that Empathy is this film’s central theme, and that’s demonstrated no better than through her brother-in-law's second cousin, Toshio. Who’s also had a troubled childhood and had developed impressive means of overcoming his past trauma as a child. He ends up bonding and empathizing with Taeka throughout her trip.
The bond between them is beautifully conveyed through dialogue so true to life that I could’ve sworn that they animated an unscripted conversation the seiyuu were having. This makes the film feel that much more surreal and interpersonnel to experience. Another aspect that this film unabashedly excels at is in its beauty and atmosphere. That almost goes without saying since this is a Ghibli film. And with that, it’s inarguably Iyasheki because it manages to use its atmospheric silence and ambience to both hurt and heal its audience. For example, there will be a scene displaying an awkward scenario at a dinner table that makes me cringe from second-hand embarrassment. I’m forced to evade my eyes from the screen because it does a great job of communicating the uncomfortable nature of every awkward scenario it presents. Followed by a scene with a confidence ridden Taeka going to work in a beautiful vineyard with only the sounds of summer cicadas humming and birds chirping. Reminding me that the present is the only thing worth focusing on.
Once again, it goes without saying that visuals and animation are stellar. Being that this was produced in 1991, the film has a delicious grain overlay that adds this vintage flair that enamored me. This level of beauty extends to the finely detailed backgrounds. In particular the scenes outdoors are prepossessing and alluring. They also serve more than just my eye’s hunger for beauty. The backgrounds enhance the emotional essence of a scene. For instance, If the scene involves two love birds, you can feel the warmth and levity of the scene even more thoroughly because of the background. How does it accomplish this? Because the background becomes minimal with white as its primary color and light, warm pink as its secondary. It’s these fine details that do an excellent job at making the two love birds stand out from the background and illuminates the characters blushing as they interact. Perfectly personifying the feeling as if you and your crush are the only two people in the world. Scenes like that do a fantastic job conveying the feeling of when you fall in love for the first time. It also falls in line with the idea of how we tend to hone in on certain aspects of an important memory.
Clearly the visual department does more than enhance the way the film presents its themes, but how does the aural department stack up? Though it mostly relies on ambience for its atmosphere, when the music does rear its head, it's a beautiful plethora of enchanting and uplifting Japanese folk music that elevates the film's beauty. I was amazed at the voice acting talent of not only Taeka and Toshio, but also of her younger self and the other children. Yōko Honna and Miki Imai are excellent at convincing me that they are the same person but at different stages in their lives.
When thinking about the past, we often either exaggerate or ignore certain aspects. Whether that’s dramatizing a petty event, or waxing poetic about receiving a participation trophy. So how does Only Yesterday harpoon the bittersweet recollections of our past like no other media has before? Because as perfectly as it exceeds in its beautiful atmosphere, and displaying some of life's most precious moments. More than anything else it exceptionally represents the raw emotion felt in life’s most uncomfortable and awkward situations. The agonizing growing pains that plague our adolescence are represented in grueling detail that is so true to life that I felt the need to evade my eyes from the screen on more than one occasion. The film eloquently demonstrates how to conquer and utilize that trauma in an optimistic and mature way. Showing how terrible predicaments still possess a silver lining. At the very least it shows the audience how to take it in stride and how to properly grow from that event and healthily reflect on it. The film excels at finding the beauty and hope only found through experiencing tragedy. And that’s an accomplishment many films can’t say they have.
