From Up on Poppy Hill to get UK TV premiere
Ian Wolf •
Studio Ghibli film From Up on Poppy Hill will receive its UK television premiere on Film4 at 17.20 on Sunday 4th May.
The movie, directed by Goro Miyazaki, will be broadcast in the original Japanese with subtitles. It is Miyazaki’s second time as director following his 2006 film Tales from Earthsea.
Synopsis
It’s 1963 and Japan is in the midst of swift modernisation, leaving behind the Second World War’s painful memories and focusing on a brighter future, symbolised by the coming year’s Tokyo Olympics. In the city of Yokohama, one of the victims of the rush to the new is an old school clubhouse; it’s currently a gathering place for the school’s slovenly older boys, but its age and shabby appearance have condemned it to be torn down. However, 16-year-old Umi, whose father was killed in the Korean War and whose mother is now living in the United States, is determined to save the historic structure and mounts a campaign to restore it. While doing so, she meets and is mutually attracted to Shun, a student journalist. But something from the teenagers’ muddled past histories will surface to threaten their nascent relationship.
