With this month’s release of The Wind Rises, from Japanese Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki, we are showing this earlier title from co-founder Isao Takahata. A story of Japanese family life, told with humour, insight and a bit of Japanese poetry too, the film uses a delicate, water-coloured, hand-drawn style of animation.

Dad Takashi is stern and hardworking. His wife, Matsuko, is well meaning. They live with teenage son Shige, school-age daughter Nonoko and an outspoken grandmother. We follow their life from the parents’ marriage – which involves sliding down a huge wedding cake – to the children’s arrival in a peach and a bamboo. The family may appear very Japanese but their ups and downs are familiar the world over.

Tickets: €4.80 per person, €14.40 family ticket (2 adults + 2 children/1 adult + 3 children). This will be a dubbed version of the film. 

Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises opens at the IFI on May 9th.