MIFF 2012: A Letter to Momo – Review

By May Ling Tan on 19 August, 2012

“Dear Momo…”

11 year old Momo finds an unfinished letter by her late father before he was killed in a work-related accident. As she had a fight with her late-father just before he died, she clings to this letter and the feelings of guilt for not able to apologize to his father. Momo and her mother, Ikuko move to an old house of their family on a remote island in Hiroshima - Shio Island, where she 

embarks on a series of strange and supernatural adventures when she discover an ancient book about youkai (demons). Mischievous incidents begin to happen and it is discovered that they are caused by three youkai, Kawa, Mame and Iwa. The story evolved in how these demons’ mischievous drag Momo into trouble and how they helped Momo to resolving the unfinished letter by his father.

Fig 1: A scene from A Letter to Momo where Momo is seen reading the letter left by her late-father.

After more than a decade of hiatus, Hiroyuki finally resume to film production and surprises his audience with his second directed animation “A Letter to Momo” (Momo e no Tegami), a film magical and heartwarming film with family value which is definitely more child-friendly, which is a totally different style from his previous animated films such as Jin-Roh that were mostly gory thrillers which were more violent.

“The animation is good... If you look closely at the drawing style, you will notice it is similar to Hayao Miyazaki’s.” - He Di Di, Freelance movie maker & Communication Design student, RMIT.

While watching the film in MIFF, the story, style and even the slow frame rate of the film reminds me of Spirited Away. It is actually similar to Studio Ghibli animated films Spirited Away, which also center on a young girl relocating in a new place and start a fresh life.

Hiroyuki and IG Production invested 7 long years in producing this touching, magical and charming film. Unlike most of the animation these days that uses computer generated graphic, A Letter to Momo is all hand-drawn by a number of talented manga artists, which is one of the key factor for viewers wanting to watch this film.

“The drawing is so real and different from normal anime where characters have big eyes.” – Melissa, Arts (Literature) & Sociology student, Monash University.

The drawing of the background and characters’ expression are very in-detail in compare to the previous production like “Ghost in the Shell” and “Jin-roh”. The beautiful scenery of Shio Island, which is based on an island in Hiroshima known as “Ōsaki-shimozima Island”, is so finely drawn that it gives a sense of realism in the film that one cannot find in typical Japanese anime.

Instead of adapting the film from manga, this movie is adapted into manga and published by the Monthly Azuka Magazine in November last year. So for those who enjoy Studio Ghibli’s work or looking for something different from the normal Disney movies, I would recommend this movie, and also bring a bag of tissue paper with you as you watch the movie.