Modest Heroes

Modest Heroes – An anthology movie where three sets of characters try to make the best of the situations that life throws at them. Whether you are tiny people living underwater, a school boy with a severe allergy, or someone that people literally look right through, these modest heroes rise to the occasion.

Modest Heroes (2018) – Directors: Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Yoshiyuki Momose, Akihiko Yamashita

Rating: PG

Running Length: 53 mins

Starring: Henry Kaufman, Fumino Kimura, Liam O’Brien

Genre: Animated, Drama

REVIEW: ‘MODEST HEROES’

Modest Heroes is the second release from Studio Ponoc following on from their successful debut feature, Mary and the Witch’s Flower. Modest Heroes is a 50 minute anthology with three separate short films written and directed by three separate directors.

Hiromasa Yonebayashi again explores a miniature world following on The Secret World of Arrietty which was a loose ‘Borrowers’ adaptation. Mostly eschewing dialogue (aside from shouting names) the short, entitled Kanini & Kanino, follows a family who live on the bed of a river that teems with life. Yonebayashi has shown a flair for gorgeously vivacious animation (as seen in When Marnie Was There) and although he has the most ‘traditional’ short, he fills the tiny underwater world with tons of detail. That said, the CGI inserts stand out like a sore thumb, but it’s a fun little story that keeps you hooked.

Second is Life Ain’t Gonna Lose. The animation thins out compared to Yonebayashi’s entry but the effect is to ensure that character is front and centre. Dealing with the very real struggle that parents and children have when a young child has a severe allergy, this short has some lump in the throat moments that make it the biggest emotional hitter of the three.

Last is a more experimental short: ‘Invisible’. Our protagonist is ignored by all both at work and out of it. He is invisible, sure, but his clothing can be seen which makes people looking right through him all the more isolating. The set up is used to address depression and social disengagement and is again mostly lacking in dialogue. Director Yamashita uses much darker animation with harsh thick lines to create a mood piece out of his segment. The lack of narrative may put some off, but it has the most visual flair of the three.

As a whole Modest Heroes is a great success for Studio Ponoc who clearly have more anthology movies planned. Unlike Flavors Of Youth (which was also an anthology movie) it has a coherent message that gives licence to the variances in style, whilst the short run time makes it an easy watch to fit in.

CONTENT: IS ‘MODEST HEROES’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Kanini & Kanino

Fish swim on the bed of a river. Little crab claws on sticks try to grab them. Later, a bigger claw does grab some fish which thrash although they do not appear to suffer.

When the characters get to their ‘home’ there is a fish skeleton on a leaf, implying that they have eaten a fish previously.

A pregnant mother character appears to leave her family behind by floating up to the surface. The children characters don’t want her to leave.

One of the children is desperately holding on to a branch to avoid being swept downstream during a story. The father character climbs up to save him but gets hit by debris and disappears from view. This a high tension scene with characters upset and scared over a few minutes. When the father is swept away this is initially shown in slow motion which accentuates the upset.

The next morning there a scene with the children crying and sad piano music playing.

A character is shown with some blood on their lip.

A large scary fish tries to eat the main characters. There is a ‘hide and seek’ sequence where they try to flee for a few minutes. The scene culminates in a bird intervening.

Life Ain’t Gonna Lose

A worried mother stands over a child with an epi-pen due to a severe allergic reaction.

Flashbacks show a boy getting hospitalised constantly growing up. Another flashback shows the boy walking with his parents at a fair. He is brushed against by other people holding food and his allergy immediately takes hold. The scene slows down and the background goes dark so that his face, taut with panic, is lingered upon. His parents panic also until an ambulance arrives.

Shun is watching his mother rehearse for a dance performance. He absentmindedly reaches for a cookie and brings it towards his mother whilst his attention is focused on his mother. She sees what is about to happen and quickly runs towards him, slapping the cookie out of his hand, hard. Tears well up in Shun’s eyes, briefly, before the scene cuts.

Characters bike past a dead pigeon.

Shun eats something which triggers his allergy immediately. His mother isn’t home so he desperately calls her. She is distraught but tells him to grab the epi-pen and take it to a neighbour to get them to administer it. Shun runs down the stairs, weakening quickly and struggling to breathe. He says to himself that he ‘ain’t gonna die’ and collapses just as a neighbour comes running up the stairs. The scene cuts to his recovery in hospital.

Invisible

The man is ignored by everyone he meets. He is unable to buy food and slumps on the sidewalk, hungry. He throws away a weight he was carrying in frustration, but this leads him to float uncontrollably into the sky. He desperately tries to cling to things before grabbing a giant balloon. A storm hits and lightning flashes around him. He makes scared noises (although we obviously can’t see his face!)

After racing to avert a disaster, the man is collapsed in a ditch with some blood under his glasses.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘MODEST HEROES’ FOR KIDS?

Modest Heroes isn’t explicitly for children in that the short story format and narrative structures aren’t engineered to hook in young minds. But with the exception of ‘Invisible’ they definitely have themes that children can relate to. Whilst the subtext of Invisible may not be appreciated by kids, the clever animation still makes for an appealing segment on the surface. Due to some mildly scary scenes we would recommend this movie as appropriate for children aged 5 and up, with the caveat that ‘Life Ain’t Gonna Lose’ may upset those with allergy issues.

• Violence: 0/5
• Emotional Distress: 3/5 (the children are upset when their father is swept away in Kunini & Kunino. The allergic reaction severity is distressing for all concerned in ‘Life Ain’t Gonna Lose’)
• Fear Factor: 2/5 (the large fish in Kunini & Kunino might scare young children)
• Sexual Content: 0/5 
• Bad Language: 0/5
• Dialogue: 0/5 
• Other notes: Deals with themes of separated families, striking out on your own, the affect on families of severe allergic reactions, social isolation, and depression)

Words by Michael Record