For those who like their anime unhurried, elegiac, and episodic, here is the story of Taeko, a Japanese working girl in her late twenties who decides to spend her vacation working on a farm in the countryside. Possibly because, as a child, all her friends took vacations in the country, while she was mostly stuck in town. And childhood — specifically, girlhood — is very much the focus here. The present-day scenes are gorgeously rendered, which is nice, because not much else is going on: the countryside exists here mostly as a quiet place where memory can do its magic. Taeko remembers her critical and worried mother, her distant but indulgent father, her superior older sisters. She remembers crushes and embarrassments at school. She remembers who she used to be, and by the end, she thinks a little about who she is now. Not much drama in that, but perhaps some worth. Isao Takahata directs. (1991) — Matthew Lickona
This movie is not currently in theaters.