Jarinko Chie

One of the two anime films that Takahata directed between his long stint directing anime television series and the creation of Studio Ghibli (the other was the, also splendid, "Gauche the Cellist"). The movie is based on a famous manga series and was a success that led to the creation of an anime television series this same year, that was also directed by Takahata. It has the easily recognisable sensibility of Takahata to deal with everyday life problems and down-to-earth people and is comprised of a series of vignettes of Japanese traditional life, with very well-developed characters and an excellent (and at times surrealistic) sense of humour.

This film is about a girl trying to get her dad to find a job so that she can reunite her mum with him. I loved all the family drama and scenes with them. But the cats moments are kinda, weird.

The movie feels like a child throwing his brightly coloured marbles on the floor: they look fascinating, going each in a different direction, their noise is loud yet pleasant and in the end one feels like laughing. But also as a spectator, if you are familiar with what a broken family means, there are moments when you feel like crying. A small girl lives with her violent father who gambles a lot and takes money from his own parents, while her mother is away from home, not wanting the father to know that she is seeing her daughter from time to time. But...things are not so cliché at all, the girl is a tough nut, the father is sometimes really well meaning, the mother is somehow too delicate, and the grandparents still treat their own son as a young boy, snapping at him and hitting him. you feel like you did not "get" each of them all over again when the story changes a couple of times. Old enemies become friends, on the edge of the absurd, only not quite, if you think of how things turn up in life. The movie is definitely worth seeing up to the end, because it has something unique. It also has violence, sincere facts of life, and the portraits of people from another culture or era. The hilarious scenes take you by surprise, one can't help laughing even if you somehow feel you should have stayed serious or even upset at some scene or another. Some Takahata features are visible too, the fighting cats, foe example, similar to the raccoon-dogs from Pom Poko. Very lively movie.

Jarinko Chie (Chie the Brat) is the movie version of a long-running Japanese comic strip. I found the film to be very entertaining and well up to the quality of story one would expect from the great director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko, Only Yesterday). I've never seen or read the original comic, but the character development aspect of this film stands alone and ensures enjoyment whether or not one can find the comic.

Chieko (Chie) is a young girl, in second or third grade in elementary school, who lives with her divorced father in a small bar/eatery somewhere in the Osaka area in western Japan. As young as she is, she's quite capable of fending for herself and running the eatery--as her father, Tetsu, is lazy and a bit of a scoundrel.

There are several concurrently-running plots in this tale. First is the relationship between Chie and her father. Outwardly, she is in open rebellion against him. She does love him, however, and stands up for him when she must. Next is the relationship between Chie's parents. The divorced mom, Yoshie, is still in her life. It's plain that her father can't stand being around his former wife, even when she moves in again. Another plot involves her father, Chie's newfound stray cat, and some local gangsters. Chie's cat gets into a fight with the gang leader's cat and beats him handily. The consequences of this battle are profound.

While the plots are separate, they all serve to flesh out the fascinating and completely likable characters. You get to know and like everybody in the story--including the gangsters. This story isn't very deep, but it is very satisfying and easy to get fully engrossed in. I gave this film an 8 out of 10.