This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
The ending of Only Yesterday is my favorite scene from any film. It moves me to tears every time I see it. This is a film about reminiscence and nostalgia, but it’s not about wanting to return to childhood. I don’t think Taeko longs for her actual childhood when she reminisces, because her childhood is a period of failures and disappointments that quietly crush her spirit. I think she longs for that time where she had dreams and crushes and…