Mori movies: Little Forest: Summer/Autumn - A review!

"Because of not being able to find a job in the city, a young woman named Ichiko returns to the rural mountain village of Komori to live a life of autarky. Using the regional ingredients she rummages, she takes advantage of the blessings and overcomes the harshness of nature to survive during changing seasons."

Little Forest makes me feel like I'm reading a Diary; Ichiko narrates her actions and thoughts, reflects on the past, and makes notes even on small and everyday things. It's incredibly slow paced and made me feel like i was living day by day along side her.

The plot was weak because of this however! I personally didn't mind as it was visually appealing, but I know a lot of people who wouldn't have been able to sit through it. There's nothing keeping the audience engaged so if you're someone who gets bored with movies easily, I wouldn't recommend this one!
If you're like me and pretty scenery and imagery is enough for you to stay interested for a whole 2 hours, then please give it a try! I found watching this very relaxing (and my anxiety was actually relieved) as well as inspiring! Throughout the movie i found myself wanting to cook and start my own garden. (Unfortunately, I live in an apartment so a garden is not an option aha;;)

 The movie follows Ichiko through the seasons as she plants, grows and harvests vegetables for the current season. She also forages for food in the surrounding forest. With these ingredients she makes different recipes, it was almost like watching the cooking channel to be honest! She even gives (rough) measurements, temperatures and the general process for the recipes. 

^Here is when she made jam with silverberries!^

A quick warning! There is one scene shown gutting a fish and another de-feathering a duck. If you aren't okay with these types of scenes, please be aware!

The movie had a strong mori feel to it! She spends most of her time with nature, knowing how to make the most of it.

The only thing ~not so mori~ was the clothing, but really, mori isnt very practical! I did find some outfits cute though! Her autumn outfit looked very cozy, and when reflecting on memories of her mother i found her mothers apron very cute!

Her home was very cozy as well; I sort of wish i lived in a home just like it! I don't know how well i would fair with the heat without air conditioning though! (Being very Canadian, i cannot handle the heat haha)

Over all I enjoyed this movie. The plot was weak and heck, I dont actually remember the name of any other characters and I only know ichiko's because of the movies description. If I'm to look at it normally, as enjoyable as it was for me, it wasn't very good. Looking it in a mori girl perspective though she seems like shes in her own head and wrapped up in her thoughts a lot of the time, something i think a lot of mori girls do. Because of this she is pretty much the only character in the film which i feel reflects the introverted nature many mori girls have.

My over all rating:


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There is a second part to this movie: Winter/Spring! I plan to watch this one and will probably make another review. (from the preview it looks much more eventful and goes deeper into the plot surrounding the relationship with her mother)

Thank you for reading and if you plan on giving this movie a try, happy watching!