Film · 2014
When Marnie Was There
思い出のマーニー
Shy, artistic Anna arrives by the sea and discovers an old mansion across the marshes. Its mysterious resident, Marnie, becomes an unusually close friend. Their connection draws Anna back to the house while the boundary between the familiar and the inexplicable grows uncertain.
The Marsh House is both a destination and a question: returning to it gives Anna more pieces of her friend's story without immediately explaining them. Hiromasa Yonebayashi's film adapts Joan G. Robinson's novel, placing the emotional pull of a new friendship alongside the effort to understand an unfamiliar home.
The seaside setting also makes room for open distance. A lone tower stands on a grassy rise beneath an unsettled sky, far removed from the crowded detail of a house. The landscape gives Anna places to look across as well as places to enter, keeping space and separation present beside the new friendship.
Standalone animated film · Approx. 103 min · one film
The original 2014 standalone animated film. Excludes source books, live-action versions and unrelated adaptations.