Spotlight: Comings, Goings, and a Whisper of the Heart

SDG

Last week, as anticipated in my “Where I am” post, my lady Suz and I welcomed our seventh child, Matthew Richard, into our happy, hugger-mugger family life. (Matthew appears briefly in tomorrow’s season finale of “Reel Faith.” You were planning to watch it, right?)

This week, our eldest is leaving us, at least for now. Sarah Elisabeth, who was only five when I began Decent Films 12 years ago, is college bound.

Eight years ago, Sarah and I collaborated on a brief review of Clifford’s Really Big Movie. Sarah’s writing and her critical insights have matured a great deal these eight years, and she's tried her hand at a few more movie reviews.

One of her best, which I am pleased to present here, is her write-up of Studio Ghibli’s coming-of-age tale Whisper of the Heart. Certainly the first review I wrote as a college graduate (for the Warren Beatty film Dick Tracy, as I recall) doesn’t hold a candle to this. Sarah captures this film so well that I have nothing to add. Scratch one title from the list of movies I hope to review someday.

P.S. Many thanks to Jeff Overstreet and Mark Shea for their kind words about Sarah’s review. She appreciates them very much.

 Reel Faith, Spotlight