When Marnie Was There

This animation from Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) is an affecting but somewhat queer ghost story adapted from Joan G Robinson's same-named English novel. Trading its Norfolk setting for rustic Sapporo in Japan, the plot revolves around adopted child Anna, a shy, short-haired pubescent tomboy, who is sent to spend the summer with an earthy couple who live near a tidal marsh. In a creepy old house nearby that's supposed to be abandoned, Anna meets mysterious blonde moppet Marnie, and the two form an intense bond. Tonally, it's much closer to the realism of Hayao Miyazaki's wartime drama The Wind Rises, rather than the whimsical magic of Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle. However, the painterly, old-school aesthetic brings an aptly nostalgic feel to this examination of how the past can haunt the present and the rapturous intensity of young friendship.