Hayao Miyazaki is returning to feature-length animated filmmaking and the stellar animation The Red Turtle will get a wider release early next year, but it’s not the only treat from Studio Ghibli that we’ll be receiving soon. After last year kicked off with a U.S. release of Only Yesterday, an unearthed and restored classic from the studio, another widely unseen gem (at least here) will be making its way to theaters.
Tomomi Mochizuki‘s 1993 drama Ocean Waves has been given a new 4K restoration and it’ll be arriving in theaters at the end of the month. Marking the first time a Studio Ghibli film was directed by someone other than studio founders Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, the adaptation of Saeko Himuro‘s book follows friends who relationship is tested when a new woman enters their lives.
Ahead of a release on December 28th at IFC Center in New York, and one night only in Los Angeles at the Egyptian Theatre, followed by a home video release in the spring, check out the beautiful new trailer and poster below.
Rarely seen outside of Japan, OCEAN WAVES is a subtle, poignant and wonderfully detailed story of adolescence and teenage isolation. Taku and his best friend Yutaka are headed back to school for what looks like another uneventful year. But they soon find their friendship tested by the arrival of Rikako, a beautiful new transfer student from Tokyo whose attitude vacillates wildly from flirty and flippant to melancholic. When Taku joins Rikako on a trip to Tokyo, the school erupts with rumors, and the three friends are forced to come to terms with their changing relationships.
Ocean Waves begins its run on December 28 at NYC’s IFC Center and for one-night only at the Egyptian in LA, followed by a home video release in 2017.