A Letter to Momo
ももへの手紙Momo is a young girl who grew up in a big city. However, following the premature loss of her father, she has to move with her mother to the old family house on a remote island. Here, time seems to have stopped: old wooden buildings, holy shrines surrounded by trees, fields painstakingly carved out from steep hills... and no shopping mall. Needless to say, Momo is not too overenthusiastic about this new environment. Most of all, her heart is still feeling uneasy about an unfinished letter left by her father. A letter that contained only two words: "Dear Momo..." What was dad going to say? One day, exploring the attic of her new big house, Momo finds a dusty and worn out book. And from that moment, something really unexpected starts happening around her... (Source: Production I.G Official Website)
Reviews
jacobs.harmon - 2017-03-25 22:33:08
A Letter to Momo is an imaginative, well-animated children’s tale about loss. Momo, the protagonist, suffers after her father’s death in both her relationship with her mom and their move to an island of Japan. As she adjusts to her life there, she discovers three gruesome spirits that are stalking her and her mom.
A Letter to Momo takes the initiative in a children’s movie by addressing grief and loss. By looking at two individuals and their relationship during the events of the film, there is an analysis of how grief can effect humans in different ways. Momo withdraws completely, by avoiding conversation and interaction with everybody. When she interacts with other people, she tends to shy away and act rudely, particularly to Yota’s sweet advances. In her relationship with her mother, she doesn’t see the pain her mother hides. Her mother copes by working, and in one scene even flirts with the delivery man, which Momo sees. Momo begins to believe that her mother has completely forgotten about her father. The film presents the highly emotional times through both Momo and her mother’s reactionary behavior and inadequate communication. This presentation is split very well between the scenes and comes off as completely down-to-earth.
For comedy, the three goblin-like spirits are added in with distinct personalities, each of which lends itself to being one of goofy, strange, and mischievous. They each add their own quirky elements and eccentricity to a humor that is geared towards children. Following this vein, the animation enhances the comedy with a cartoon style, yet manages to balance the serious tones with an avid attention to detail. Considering the primary demographic for this film along with its heavy themes, the animation is fantastic and balanced between cartoon and anime, which is more dramatic.
The problem with the spirits is the letters to and from the father, a weak method for a happy resolution. The weakness lies in the letter delivery. There is no problem with the spirits watching over the child for the father in terms of the story, but to have Momo interacting directly with her dead father sets up a false hope. When someone dies, they are dead, and there can no longer be any interaction with them. If it had addressed Momo’s regret for her final words to her father in a alternate, grounded manner, this movie would have been amazing. For example, Momo could have explained her predicament to either her mother or the spirits, who might have been able to encourage her. The ending may have been more melancholy and less sure, but that’s life. Instilling children with the wrong expectations is not responsibly preparing them for the future, which will not be so forgiving.
A Letter to Momo is a good children’s movie that has the boldness to face the trouble of grieving through commendable animation within a whimsical tale. Albeit, it ends up using its imaginative creations to contrive a happy ending. It’s a decent movie, and ought to be much more satisfying for children than adults.