RE: THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY
A Movie that I Really Love
From: Travis
November 6, 2020
I really love Hayao Miyazaki movies.
This proclamation hardly makes me unique, and this post will hardly be cutting edge or ahead of the curve (or whatever I suppose reviewers strive to be).
Ever since I saw Princess Mononoke at the Plaza Frontenac with my brother way back in 1999 (or whenever it finally made its way to St Louis) -- in that cramped art house room that had originally been one regular-sized screen that had been subdivided and was now just about as big as the TV we have upstairs, and where the soundtrack of the neighboring quote theaters unquote seeped in during the quiet parts - I've been hooked.
The rich, colorful artwork; the supernatural and magical themes; the characters who are ever changing, growing (in both their plot lines and visually on screen) but who still feel so normal - they push just about all of my buttons.
My brother more than I devoured Miyazaki's / Studio Ghibli's back catalogue - Porco Rosso, The Cat Returns, Naussica of the Valley of the Wind. I was more in line with Totoro, but we picked up every one since then - and somehow even convinced my wife (whose tastes lie squarely elsewhere when it comes to movies) to watch Howl's Moving Castle and it's now one of her very favorites.
When HBOMax come online I was overjoyed to see that it would let me stream a good chunk of the Studio Ghibli catalogue. I dove right in to Kiki's Delivery Service and we even made the boys give Howl a chance (and, finger's crossed, that gave us enough credibility that we can try Spirited Away soon).
BUT, I'm not here to talk about any of those movies. I'm here to talk about one that I've come to appreciate more and more over time; The Secret World of Arrietty.
So, just to level set, Arrietty is based on the book The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I've never read it, but I did see the -other- movie they made of it... and we used to watch the Littles back in the day, which seems similar enough. Basically, a family of gerbil-sized people live under and in the walls of a house, and they survive by secretly borrowing little things from the regular-sized people that live there (the Human Beans) - not stealing, not greedy, just taking what they need to get by, things you would never miss after they were gone - you know, one oreo, or a single pin, a couple tissues, that kind of thing.
These little people have to keep from being seen - if a human Bean discovers them, their curiosity gets the better of them and they can't leave the little folks alone. It's a very dangerous situation, they've all just got to move house if they're ever found.
The main thrust of the plot is around the titular Arrietty, who is just now old enough to go on her first borrowing adventure and is accidentally seen by Shawn, a boy who has come to this house out in the country to rest, when a single sugar cube falls out of her pack in his room. Of course, curiosity sets in (and it cuts both ways) and the two of them have to deal with the fall out as they both bend the rules to learn a bit more about each other.
As far as stories go, aside from being centered around full grown people that are only an inch tall, the plot is surprisingly grounded. No one is getting the first syllable of their name stolen after their parents are turned into pigs, no one is giving their hearts away to demons or turned into a scarecrow, nor beheading the spirit of the forests while riding into battle on the back of a giant wolf god... And the same goes for the setting - we aren't on a floating island with ancient automatons, or deep under the sea using potions to keep the oceans in balance - the whole story takes place in a pretty normal house (and in the yard too I guess). The setting and story aren't exactly fantastic, but the thing we get to explore is the scale.
Everything in Arrietty's little world is both just the right size and perfectly normal but outsized - you wouldn't give the doll house tea set her mother uses a second thought, until the tea is poured and you can tell by the viscosity that we are on a miniature scale. The little alligator clip Arrietty uses to put her hair up reads visually like a ribbon once applied. The Human Beans seem massive, celestial to her and her family; they move slow as an eclipse and casually impact their environment with earth shattering power.
I'm not qualified in any way to say so, but the sound design is also brilliant. The way they make everyday sounds - a ticking clock, rain falling on a roof, the steady beating of Shawn's heart - come across as so massive, so integral - I don't know how they did it, but I remember it being the first thing I told people about when I first saw the movie in theaters.
And speaking of sound, usually the soundtracks in Miyazaki's films don't stick with me much longer than the walk back to the car, but the original soundtrack by Cecile Corbel here is just so, so good. I have come back to it over and over, even more often than the film itself. Whenever I have a long night ahead, or I'm just over-stressed, I go right back to Cecile's harp and her semi-Celtic chamber orchestra and find the same understated, small-scale-yet-immense impressions that I get from the movie itself.
There's probably a whole other post I could write about the running theme of acceptance - both of diversity and of fate - of cooperation and protection and looking past circumstances, seeing past fundamental differences to find true friendship... but, to risk spoiling just a bit of the plot, I'd rather focus on just one scene that made me want to write this whole post when I rewatched the movie the other night.
The movie is drawing to a close; Arreitty and Shawn have formed a friendship, they've both imperiled and subsequently rescued Arrietty's family despite Shawn's fragile heart, and the little folks are just about to set out to find a new home. Shawn, once again risking his health, has run across to yard to catch them before it's too late and to offer Arrietty a last parting gift.
And he gives her a single sugar cube -- which is not only the thing she first set out to borrow from the house on her first outing, but it struck me as the very thing that makes me love this movie more and more.
It's nothing life changing, no grand overture or diatribe against war or greed or the human condition, it's just a tiny gift from a trusted friend. A perfect little bit of sweetness for you to carry along your way. It is what this movie has been to me.