A Story of Growth with Holes: Letter to Momo

Synopsis

In the aftermath of her father’s death, 11-year-old Momo Miyaura and her mother move from the bustling city of Tokyo to the old remote island in the Seto Inland Sea. Upon settling into the town, she reluctantly tries to adjust to the new and unfamiliar town with its outmoded wooden buildings, silent crop fields, and mysterious isolated shrines.

While exploring the attic of her new home one day, she discovers a worn out picture book about youkai. Following this find, Momo begins discovering strange things starting to happen and is greeted by the arrival of three troublesome youkai. This is the tale of a young girl’s struggle to adapt to a new environment involving three youkai and a final memento from her father, an unfinished letter with only two words inside: “Dear Momo”

The Good

The film is exactly what it’s premise gives. It is a story of growth, youkai antics and heart set within a simple and old town. Momo is the kind of kid character you would expect given her circumstances. It was interesting to see how as the story progressed, there was more to her character was shown and the shifts that it went through. With the youkai characters, they do have their moments as fun and interesting points of the film. Their antics did give a change of pace with the tone of the film. And they especially stood out in terms of animation when the storm scene came in.

The Bad

The most noticeable flaw with the film was in its pacing and tone. It is understandable that for the first portion at least, there would be a low key kind of tone given the premise, but it lagged rather long. If not for the moments with the youkai and the latter half of the film, the story-telling would come off as rather dragged out. What’s more, there is the relationship between Momo and her mother. The climax involving her mother having her own struggles while Momo was on her own adventure could have been explored a bit more. That and the bond between her and Momo doesn’t really come out all that well until the very end.

Conclusion

It’s an interesting film involving youkai antics, but it feels like it missed a mark with the story-telling, the character relations, and overall tone. There is some solid character growth on Momo’s part and the antics she has with the youkai do add color to the film, it isn’t much. Other than what has been noted, the climax of the film seemed a bit rushed and could have used a bit more development. It’s the type of film that seems interesting but at its core, could have used some work.

Rating: 6/10