A Letter to Momo, offbeat anime drama w/humor that works well

A Letter to Momo is an anime film that works on several levels, including the most elusive of all-getting non-anime fans to enjoy the film.  That’s no easy task considering that a focal point of the movie is the death of young girl’s dad very early in the film.   It’s from the creators of Ghost in the Shell and like that film is rich, detailed and provides a chamber of commerce look as aspects of Japan.

Momo is the young teen title character in the film.  A Letter to Momo refers to a letter that her father was writing to her after a huge fight that they had.  Unfortunately all that he wrote down was “Dear Momo” and now Momo feels guilty and responsible to an extent for his death.

Momo and her mother, Ikuko, move to the remote island of Shio, Japan where her parents live.  On the island Momo is shy, clumsy and not eager to make new friends.  She starts to hear voices in the house and eventually meets three monsters in her attic.  They’re not scary, but quite mischievous and may not be what she thinks they are.

The three monsters start to follow her around and they eventually become friends, which causes strife between her and the other humans on the island.  She teaches them about is frustrating her and they share a little bit about what they’re actually doing there.

It all comes to a head when a large typhoon approaches the island and Ikuko suffers an asthma attack.  There are no doctors on the island so Momo has to cross the newly build mega bridge to get to the mainland and get help.

I’m glossing over some of the plot points because it’s better if some of them are unknown.  What surprisingly worked with A Letter to Momo is how well the humor and emotion interacted with each other.  The movie really has heart and its goal is to make the viewer feel something about family.  It’s certainly much more of a drama than a comedy, but there are enough light moments to keep non-anime fans interested in the movie.  The film has English and Japanese audio tracks or English subtitles and includes a making of documentary.

There are some tired and overplayed elements to the film and it’s about 15 minutes too long.  However, those two things aren’t enough to really recommend A Letter to Momo.  It’s a hand drawn love note to anime that took 7 years to create.  The background scenes are textbook rural, island Japan living.  If nothing else people will watch A Letter to Momo and want to visit some of the smaller islands of Japan, which really are worth a visit BTW.