Film · 1991
Only Yesterday
おもひでぽろぽろ
Taeko leaves her Tokyo office job for a holiday helping with the safflower harvest in Yamagata. Memories of her fifth-grade self keep interrupting the visit: family disagreements, school embarrassments and a first crush. Rural work and childhood comedy prompt her to reconsider the adult life she wants.
Toshio, a young farmer, meets Taeko at the station and becomes part of her countryside visit. She is twenty-seven and has spent her life in Tokyo; he belongs to the working landscape she has come to help with. Their encounter gives the holiday a question beyond nostalgia: could she want a place in this life now?
Taeko's working holiday continues beyond the safflower field. In an open farm building, she stands in a tub with her trousers rolled up while two women handle the crop beside baskets and a machine. Timber, tools, a parked truck and the hills outside give the work a detailed setting, unlike the pale washes and open spaces of her childhood memories.
Standalone film · Approx. 119 min · one film
Standalone 1991 animated feature directed by Isao Takahata; no earlier film required.
