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The Hayao Miyazaki Retrospective Thread


BloodBoal

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My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

 

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This movie is pure uncomplicated delight.  After two projects involving large-scale worlds inhabited by a multitude of characters, Miyazaki gives us his most light and intimate film to date with My Neighbor Totoro.  It's a welcome change of pace. 

 

The story centers around two young children, Satsuki and Mei, who, along with their father, are shown moving out to the country because their mother is suffering from an unnamed illness.  My initial feeling was that she was suffering a recent nervous breakdown or from mental illness, and the relocation was to be closer to the hospital, and also give her, and them, a much needed change of scenery.  I may be misinterpreting this, but either way, the finer details of her sickness are of secondary concern.

 

The children in this movie are allowed to be children. There is a freshness to their youthfulness and a clear genuineness to their actions.  When they explore the new house, they do so with infectious energy.  They bounce and tumble around, express their love for how messy everything is, even walk on their knees across the floor.  Mei mimics her older sister, and their bond is obvious.  As the movie develops you see their relationship as both sisterly, and with Satsuki, a surrogate parent filling the role and void left by their mother, who has been absent enough to show the beginning of a growing sadness.

 

The mother is a constant presence throughout the movie, whether it is through hospital visits, by reference, or by showing her reading Satsuki's letters.  She serves as a beacon in some ways, propelling and guiding the story onward.  She always appears peaceful, smiling, and hopeful.   When her family visits she does not grow weary of their company, does not act aggressive, and is not distant.  She is actively engaged and doesn't skip a motherly beat.  There is never any blame placed on her, no self-loathing is expressed by anyone, and they speak of her lovingly.  Even though they are separated, and there is internal tension revolving around her situation, they all are still a caring family unit that just happens to be going through a period of uncertain unrest.  Miyazaki wisely does not take dubious advantage of this story device by twisting it into an open war between the parents and their daughters.

 

The father is another important character in his limited scenes.  He is cooperative, playful, reassuring, and feeds his children's imaginations.  He is not shown as aloof or over-bearing.  When Mei insists that she has seen a giant creature in their backyard forest, he does not get angry, does not try to quiet her, and is not dismissive.  There is a calm conversation that results in his bringing the two kids to the sprawling camphor tree to pay their respects to the spirits.  In this way he encourages fantasy while also giving a cultural history lesson.

 

There is no real antagonist or extraneous conflict.  The straightforward story flows from the two girls, and it's everything the movie requires.  Everyone we meet is welcoming and warm-natured.  Nanny, the amiable caretaker, brings an inconsolable Mei to Satsuki's school during class.  This could have devolved into an argument dealing with Satsuki's overwhelming embarrassment, but the teacher, and her classmates in general, are friendly and nothing is made of it.  This scene exists to show Mei's inability to cope with being separated from Satsuki for too long while their mother's status is unknown and their father is now back to work.  I can't stress my appreciation for this enough.  Miyazaki has no time for useless story ornaments that cause deviations from the main narrative.  While I can imagine some viewers may have a problem with this type of cleanliness, as it may not exactly represent most people most of the time, the opening sequence tells you straight away that its target audience is children.  My Neighbor Totoro gives us enough to focus on when setting up the family dynamic; the rest is just focused on enchantment.

 

When we finally meet the great forest spirit king, Totoro, his design is wonderful.  He is otherworldly enough to be immediately interesting, expressive enough to be inviting, and is not shown to be scary but rather just as whimsical as the children.  There is a scene where the sprightly Totoro and the children take a nighttime trip, gliding through the rice fields on a spinning top, and it's one of the most magical moments in the film.  I also like the ambiguity of Totoro and his circle of spirit friends, which includes the marvelous cat bus, grinning wide as it scales hills, trees, and even telephone wire, in order to kindly deliver passengers to their destinations.  As Mei first tells of her discovery, Satsuki mentions that he sounds like the troll from a bedtime story their mother reads to them, referencing Three Billy Goats Gruff.  At the very end of the credits there is an animation card showing them huddled under blankets with their mother as she holds the book, and we can make out a small Totoro spirit on the cover.  We're never quite sure what parts, if any, are real.  We're given evidence embracing both possibilities.

 

Regarding the dubs, I am happy to report that this a 180 degree turn on my other experiences.  And for the sake of full disclosure, I enjoyed the English dub more.  I attribute this mostly to the lean story and simple motivations of the characters, but I give credit where credit is due.  Sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning play Satsuki and Mei which, not unexpectedly, turns out to be incredibly authentic.  Tim Daly also bests his Japanese counterpart.

 

In terms of content, aside from some minor changes that don't reshape the narrative in any profound way, there were two things in the English dub that I actually liked better than the Japanese version.  When Mei goes missing, Satsuki seeks out Totoro as a last-ditch effort to find her.  In the Japanese dub, before entering the forest, she pleads her case and then runs in.  In the English dub, she pleads her case, asks permission from the forest to see Totoro, and then runs in.  This is the kind of thing I would have expected to have happened in reverse, as it's much more effective in the second example. 

 

One small change I preferred in English was when their mother is reading a letter from Satsuki about planting magical seeds, reading her daughter's words out loud:

 

Japanese: "We decided to plant them in the garden to make a lovely forest."

English: "We wanted to grow a beautiful forest with the acorns so we planted them in your garden out back.

 

Note the important distinction between "the garden" and "your garden".

 

The entire film made my heart leap with gladness.  There is a running sense of discovery from start to finish.  Miyazaki spent a lot of storytelling energy giving us both Nausicaä and Castle in the Sky only to give us this streamlined and clear adventure of two little girls finding comfort in a towering fluffy spirit taking them momentarily out of their lives, giving them a means to deal with something they can't quite understand or cope with.  At least for the time being they can find escape in, well, their neighbor Totoro.

 

1) Laputa: Castle in the Sky

2) My Neighbor Totoro

3) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

4) Lupin III:  The Castle of Cagliostro

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Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

 

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Kiki's Delivery Service marks the second project in two years from Miyazaki; both small studies on personal growth, with this one being more concerned with nothing less than the crisis of Self.  This film's focus is the 13 year old Kiki, a witch, who, by tradition, has to leave home for one year to train on her own.  It's an interesting convention related to discovery of one's individuality.  You get the feeling early on that she lives with a specific sect of people who carry out their lives rather isolated from the real world.  As the modern world progresses, so to does the adolescent's experience when it's their time to test adulthood.  Kiki's one year journey will look a lot different than her mother's.  As a result, she is freakishly behind the times.

 

I enjoyed the entire opening sequence, starting with Kiki's introduction from the first frame.  She is lying in the grass staring up at the sky with a look of concentration on her face.  She's listening to the weather reports with intense focus, waiting for something.  There is a feeling of silent preparation.  After a fortuitous forecast, instead of leaping to her feet in uncontrolled excitement, she thinks on it, gets up quietly, and walks on.  Only in the next scene do we see her running toward home as the anticipation aches.  She is ready to leave.  Tonight.

 

As Kiki is packing, getting ready to depart, she jumps into her father's arms and says, "Pick me up like you used to", remaining attached to the idea of being a child in the face of leaving home, and in a sense, childhood.  Her parents are also unprepared to let their little girl approach the world alone.  When she eventually readies herself to depart, her mother stops her and questions her choice of broomstick.  Kiki had fashioned her own, personalizing her journey, but her mother insists she takes the older reliable broom that has been in their family for generations, "It never loses its way", she says.  It's her mother's way of reminding Kiki that she quite literally still needs guidance, and a subtle way of maintaining some semblance of control over her daughter's decisions and direction.

 

We are also introduced to Jiji, her pet cat with whom she can communicate verbally.  He's a fun, adorably drawn and realized, comic relief character who at times expresses genuine concern for his friend.

 

As Kiki sets off clumsily into the night on her mother's broomstick she turns on her father's radio to the tune of the catchy and old-fashioned "Rouge no Dengon", which sets the opening credits perfectly, and encapsulates her infectious personality.  At this point she encounters another witch, who is at the end of her year expedition, and is asked what her main skill concentration is.  Kiki hasn't thought of it.  Her mother specializes in potions, this new acquaintance says her's is fortune-telling.  But Kiki, she isn't sure who she is, and this plays out in the narrative later on.  Like My Neighbor Totoro, there is no villain, not even in the loosest terms.

 

She steals a ride on a cargo train and marvels wide-eyed at the ocean as it snakes its way along the shoreline, adulthood on the horizon.  Once she reaches her destination the movie takes place largely in one general area, but thanks to the wonders of flying we are treated to many aerial shots of this quaint and picturesque coastal town as Kiki circles high above in the sky.  This is fast becoming a Miyazaki staple, and a device that binds his films together thus far.

 

Kiki's Delivery Service also touches on the idea of self perception vs popular perception.  This world is inhabited by witches, that is a reality that is made clear, and it is an accepted idea.  However, her "kind" still garners side-ways glances, general curiosity by some, disregard by others, further heightening the degree of inner awkwardness and confusion.  She meets a boy named Tombo who is much more aggressive than she's accustomed to.  He follows and pesters her until she snaps at him for not even having the common courtesy of introducing himself.  His reply, "you sound like my grandma" does not go over well and she flees.  Tombo is left smitten.  When Kiki is taken in by a baker named Osono and her husband, she opens up a bit, "People don't seem fond of witches in this town."  Osono is sympathetic, "There are many kinds of people in a town like this."  Kiki is regularly referred to as beautiful, but she doesn't see it.  That first night in a new city shows her looking out on that same ocean, now with feeling of loneliness.  Kiki in many ways is battling herself as she acclimates to a new town, surrounded by unfamiliar faces and customs.  She's learning as she goes.   By my account, most of the people Kiki meets are openly sociable and welcoming.  Ursula, the young painter we meet in the forest, the aforementioned Osono, her first customer after forming her delivery service, the two older women who befriend her, and even Tombo after a few false starts.  This is not dissimilar to My Neighbor Totoro.  It's not as successful here as almost everyone is perhaps too helpful.  Kiki makes friends on the strength of her own personality without really trying.  Miyazaki is perched dangerously close to representing a too perfect world. 

 

This threat of alienation builds up and is the primary source of conflict that makes her inexplicably lose her witch powers late in the film.  Of this, Kiki states, "If I lost my magic, that means I've lost absolutely everything."  She connects Self to this one attribute as though she is nothing else.  This symptomatic withdrawal intensifies and leads to one of the most nakedly vulnerable lines delivered by Kiki; in the Japanese version, "I think something's wrong with me.  I make friends, then suddenly I can't bear to be with any of them.  That other me, the cheerful and honest one...went away somewhere."  In the English, it's striped down to the point of ineffectiveness:  "I think something's wrong with me.  I meet a lot of people, and at first everything seems to be going okay, but then I start feeling like such an outsider.  You should have seen how Tombo's friends looked at me."

 

The path to getting herself to a healthy state of mind is accomplished with the help of Ursula, a painter who has a summer cottage nearby, and who has mentally toiled her way through life only to arrive on the other side fairly content.  She picks up where Kiki's mother left off and acts as a strong relatable role model.  She teaches a valuable lesson, which is - Life is a struggle.

 

After this short pilgrimage, we are launched into the final act.  I would have preferred a quieter and more personally reflective sequence, rather than a big action spectacle, but it still feels pretty justified and acceptable as is.  The animation here is wonderful. 

 

Kiki's Delivery Service is a rewarding film where we are feasted with beautiful scenes and backgrounds, a plucky young witch, while employing a cool shiver of magic that ultimately makes this a worthy entry into the Master's catalogue.  Thankfully, the Japanese version offers enough slight improvements in the scripting to prevent it from seeming too neat.  Incremental gain is made when Kiki says her last lines in the film, "I'm even starting to gain some confidence.  There are still times I feel sad, but all in all, I sure love this town."

 

It's very telling, and very appropriate, that Kiki doesn't hear Jiji speak to her at the very end.  Although she retains her skills as a flyer, which she's earned back through turmoil, she has made her first real step into adulthood.  The cat is just a cat.  Now with true friends in tow, she is better positioned to see what life as to offer.  And as a minor character named Dora says very early on, setting up the theme of the picture, "Everything changes, bit by bit."

 

1) Laputa: Castle in the Sky

2) My Neighbor Totoro

3) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

4) Kiki's Delivery Service

5) Lupin III:  The Castle of Cagliostro

 

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  • 2 months later...

Porco Roso (1992)

 

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Well, this is weird.  For the first time in my Miyazaki outing I have to report on a movie that didn't grab me.  To put it even more bluntly, I didn't much care for it.  I originally watched this for the first time about a month ago, but I couldn't muster the motivation to watch it a second time to keep in line with my usual English/Japanese double billing.  I finally got around to seeing it again yesterday so I could jot down my brief thoughts.

 

What we have here is a film that is structurally clumsy with characters that aren't terribly interesting, occupying a story that is not terribly compelling, which tries painfully hard to keep me distracted from its shortcomings by splashing beautiful sky canvases up on the screen and jabbing me with some zany comedy from time to time.

 

Our titular character is a anthropomorphic pig who was once a man named Marco.  Although the movie explains this ham-handedly (pun intended) as a curse, it's really a not-so-subtle depiction of how Marco sees himself; figuratively, and quite literally, as a pig, now assuming the identity of Porco.  He blames himself for being the sole survivor of a World War I battle that would see all belligerents involved, including his entire battalion, and more importantly his dear friend, dead.  The set up is there, but there is no payoff as the rest of the movie is a combination of ineffective villains, underdeveloped relationships, and scene hopping.  None of this functions nearly as well as Miyazaki probably assumed it did on paper.  At the end I felt as though this was a short film blown up to feature length by padding it out, eventually making the movie feel disjointed, and leaving me rather impassive about what I just watched.

 

The pirates, as well as the American Donald Curtis, are comical and not depicted as especially dangerous, the Secret Fascist Police is underused and barely mentioned, the Italian military is never really seen in a threatening way either.  No one villain is given enough time, build up, serious weight, or power to make us feel a sense of urgency.  I never felt any real danger for our hero, and his arc is sloppy.

 

Inexplicably, the movie ends with voice-over narration from someone that we meet halfway through, Fio.  She hails from a long line of young and strong female characters that Miyazaki is known for at this point, and is probably the most attractive thing about the movie, but she is in no way earns the right to end this story from her point of view.  Unfortunately when all is said and done, Fio would have made a far more fascinating central subject, with Porco portrayed as a mysterious or unknowable entity seen through her eyes, perhaps serving as the impetus to her own adventure.  As it stands, however, her epilogue was a senseless scripting decision that came off as clunky, bearing no fruit for the story that Miyazaki was telling.  At the very least he should have made Porco and Gina's relationship way more front and center; the beating heart of the film.

 

It breaks my own heart a bit to say, but, bottom rung on the ladder for this one.

 

1) Laputa: Castle in the Sky

2) My Neighbor Totoro

3) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

4) Kiki's Delivery Service

5) Lupin III:  The Castle of Cagliostro

6) Porco Roso

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I didn't like it much at first viewing myself too, but in time it grew on me.

Although I still appreciate more the atmosphere, wonderful landscapes etc.

 

It's a pity this is an only Miyazaki films thread and not a Ghibli thread.

I would be interested in hearing your opinions on Whisper of the Heart and Only Yesterday which are my 2 favourite Ghibli films ever (the 2nd one grew on me on repeated viewings) and I much rather prefer this simplicity from the overrated - in my opinion - Spirited Away, or the dragging Princess Mononoke which I'm bored every time I tried to watch it. (I'm sure most people would say the same about Only Yesterday, since it's not for the masses)

 

By the way, since I consider most - if not all - Ghibli films very summery, I have started too these last few days revisiting them (at least the ones I have on Bluray):

 

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I think, having seen the entire Ghibli catalogue, Arrietty is my favourite one aesthetically-visually wise. I mean, it has made me cry simply by the beauty of its images.

Maybe it has to do with seeing all the detail of the microcosmos, the leaves, the flowers etc.

I wish I was living in a house like that one! :(

 

I'm looking forward to seeing The Wind Rises for the 2nd time now, but I remember I was very bored with the technical about aeroplanes scenes..

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  • 1 month later...

Perhaps I might come across as a bit of an apologist for the Disney dubs, but honestly, I was never bothered by any of the changes from any of the scripts.  Controversial though they may be for some, it's important to remember that any occasional deviation from the scripts has to be approved by both Ghibli and Miyazaki.  Now if the Disney dub script changes happened without any knowledge of everyone at Ghibli involved (as with what happened with the first translation of Nausicaa, the now forgotten "Warriors of the Wind" edition) it would be one thing.  But when Ghibli and Miyazaki sign off on the end result, then it does create a bit of a blur between whether the changes are blasphemous or not. If Ghibli approves then as far as I'm concerned, then there is no major "butchery."

 

Referring to the comments on the Castle in the Sky dub script, I honestly didn't mind most of the occasional deviations.  The lack of reference to "Gulliver's Travels" was curious, but I got over it, and one could also interpret that as a case of Disney trying to be more vague about it because they might have been aware that Swift knew what "Laputa" meant in Spanish.  Or one could simply see it as Pazu's father perhaps being Jonathan Swift himself.  There's always a saying that art is open for interpretation, and if the Laputa dub script is a bit more interpretative than most of the translations, it at least still tells the same story and isn't altogether inaccurate, it's just loosely adapted.  (While I can see some of the points nightscape makes with his quibbles on the translation, I don't really share his views.  I just see it differently.)  The only change I could have done without was the last part of Sheeta's speech at the end of the film.  I think it would have been better if Disney kept it as it was.  That said, do these changes destroy the magic of this movie?  As far as I'm concerned, no.  I DID see the film one time in Japanese, and I don't think it's better or worse than Disney's dub, only different.  In my opinion, both versions can stand on their own, and sometimes being slavishly faithful to the script can cause for awkward-sounding sentences and sterile delivery.

 

That's what the previous non-Disney dub from the 1980's suffered from.  It may not take as many liberties as Disney's dub, but it, too, is guilty of not mentioning "Gulliver's Travels."  I can deal with that, but there are other problems with the '80s dub script:  accurate or not, it sounds very, very clunky and poorly executed, as if the writer wasn't skilled in the art of translation or lip-synching or natural flow.  Now Disney's dub script is more liberal, as mentioned, but despite the controversial alterations, it still outstrips the JAL dub script because of overall natural flow and fluency.  The dialogue sounds more believable and less hokey (as opposed to the older dub's more laughable "I'm as hard as a brick moppet, if moppets were made out of bricks" and especially "This room is where the throne was, isn't' that appropriate?  Now say bye-bye.")

 

I'm not the sort of person who believes that watching Japanese animated films in their native language track is the "only" way to "properly" experience them, and I don't consider the Japanese versions the "definitive versions", only as a separate entity.  And Miyazaki himself has said that instead of reading subtitles, viewers should be allowed to watch his movies in the language they choose.  In other words, he isn't offended by any deviations.  Especially since none of the translations in the Disney dubs are not "Warriors of the Wind" style ones.  That previous version of "Nausicaa" is far worse than any of the Disney dub scripts:  all the characters' names and location places were renamed, the script truly WAS butchered -- much more so, and 30 minutes were cut.  None of which the Disney dubs, Castle in the Sky included, are guilty of.  I think he has also said that there will be cases when things will be lost in translation, but he's not upset about it either.

 

Now having said that, if people prefer watching his movies in the Japanese version, great.  If people prefer watching his movies in English, that's great too.  IOW, there's no "right" or "wrong" choice, only preferences.  At least in my opinion.

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On December 24, 2015 at 7:40 AM, BloodBoal said:

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風立ちぬ a.k.a. The Wind Rises - Hayao Miyazaki (2013)

 

 

First time watching that one.

Well, I certainly didn't expect to end this retrospective on such a low note! I wouldn't say this film is bad (I don't consider any of Miyazaki's films to be bad), just not engrossing. Funnily enough, this is probably Miyazaki's most personal film, as it's a story about planes (which Miyazaki is of course passionate about), and as his own father participated in the creation of the A6M Zero fighter planes (the plane designed by Jiro Horikoshi!). The main problem here I believe is that Miyazaki focused too much on the technical aspect of things rather than on the characters' emotional journey, which makes the story not particularly engaging. You have lots and lots of scenes with characters talking about how they could make the plane lighter, or how they could make it more resistant to the air pressure, or whatever... But if you're not into planes, you just don't feel invested in what's happening onscreen. That being said, that doesn't explain everything. Many movies about a certain topic people are not interested about still make them feel invested. Take Rocky, for example. It's a movie about boxing, yet many people who have no interest in boxing like this film. Why? Because it has interesting characters, it has an interesting emotional journey. And even without that, some movies manage to show their topic in such a light that it makes it look accessible even for people who have no interest in it. But the film lacks all that. The creation of planes is never made easy to understand (and anyway, if it's to make war machines, why should we want the characters to achieve their goal?), it's all pretty blurry, and the characters working on them are just not likable. I never really cared for Jiro, nor his workmates (not even sure what their names are. Just remember his pal who goes with him to Germany, and the angry little man). And then you have that weird-looking man (you know which one I'm talking about!) with his downright disturbing grey eyes, which you believe is up to no good (because of his look) but ultimately does nothing to our hero, so...

All of this isn't helped by a rather confusing story and confusing editing. There are many time jumps that are never made clear. For example, you have a scene where young Jiro says "I want to be a plane designer", then we cut to a shot of him walking outside, and then, BAM! cut to an older guy sitting in a train. At first, I thought we cut to another character (since the older Jiro doesn't look much like his younger self). Took me a minute or two before realizing the movie had moved a few years forward in time. Then we get that again later in the film: there's the earthquake sequence, then there are a few scenes with Jiro at the university and suddenly, as he talks with his sister, we learn that two years have passed since the earthquake. Whaaat? Then, a few scenes after that, we see him going to work for Mitsubishi, so he apparently graduated, but we were never told that... The movie just keeps on doing these time jumps without warning which doesn't make for a really smooth viewing experience. The same thing happens with the locations. So, the first third of the film takes place in Japan. So far so good. Jiro travels from his hometown to Tokyo to study and later to find a job. So far so good. But then, right after the second act begins, things start to get a lot more muddled... He travels to Germany with his buddy to work on some German plane. OK. But then, his friend tells him he's going back to Japan, while he (Jiro) will have to stay there. And from that point onwards, everything is confusing: at some point, looks like he's back in Japan, in other scenes, it looks like he's in Germany, then he spends time in that hotel in the mountain (which I'm not sure if it's supposed to be in Japan or in Germany...) for some random reason and where he just happens to stumble across Naoko... It's all pretty unclear. The fact that you never really know where the characters are or why doesn't make it easy for you to care about what's happening to them...

Does the film still has some good stuff to offer? Sure. There are a few good scenes, regardless of the rest. The dream sequences, while not as effective as in other Miyazaki films, still work pretty well for the most part (especially the last scene in the film). The earthquake scene was quite impressive (the sound design being only comprised of voices was an inspired idea). The love story worked for me (even if it was more a case of: "Oh, she's dying. That sad" rather than me being really invested emotionally with the characers). And overall, the third act was more or less satisfying compared to what came before. But ultimately, that's not enough. The movie is too "all over the place", there's too much stuff crammed into it: there's the love story, the creation of planes, Japan going through the Great Depression, World War II... And it never gels to make a cohesive whole. And it's too long, too. Frankly, halfway through it, I already felt quite bored and saw that there were still an hour left till the end of the film! Really didn't expect to care so little about that film... A shame.

In terms of visuals, the film is OK, but it doesn't have a lot of really arresting shots to offer. It's all well-drawn of course, but it still looks a bit mundane. Of all the Miyazaki films, this is probably the one with the least interesting visuals (the main reason being obviously that it takes place in the real world, which we're all used to). The characters do not look particularly distinctive (except perhaps Castorp, but in a bad way). Still, there are great moments to be found in there: the whole earthquake sequence offers some stunning animation, the dream sequences look great too (love that moment when Jiro's working at Mitsubishi and he's picturing the plane flying and all the sheets start flying around him and suddenly his friend come and tell him to go eat with him and it transitions to Jiro working at his desk. Gonna put a gif of that moment!), and one thing I noticed is that the skies look fantastic in all scenes (it seems extra care was put into those for this film). There were also a few 3D effects used here and there that were rather well integrated into the film. All in all, this is definitely not a bad-looking film, just not a feast for the eyes like other Miyazaki's films were.

 

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And finally, we have Hisaishi's music, which is, along with Porco Rosso, my least favourite score of the Miyazaki/Hisaishi collaboration. Just like any other Hisashi's score, there's good stuff to be found, but here, a major problem is the lack of diversity. Indeed, if you look at the tracklist, you see a lot of tracks that are titled Journey, the difference being a word (or a few words) added in-between parenthesis after Journey (for example: Journey (Determination), Journey (Sister), Journey (Farewell), etc.), and what it means is that all of these tracks just feature variations on the Journey theme, so you have a third of the album/score consisting of just variations on that main theme! And on the same principle, you have quite a few tracks featuring just variations on the love theme (Naoko (Fate), Naoko (Rainbow), etc.). So, to put it simply: about half of the album are either variations on the main theme or the love theme, the rest being mostly inconsequential incidental cues. Of course, that's a bit of an oversimplification, but that's mostly how I feel about it. If I am to be a bit more specific... The main theme (a.k.a the Journey theme) is a nice European-sounding melody, which makes for an interesting contrast to the (for the most part) Japanese setting of the film. I like the theme enough, though I much prefer the second phrase of it (heard at 01:48 in Journey (Dreamy Flight) for example) over the first one, which is a bit more run-off-the-mill. That second phrase gets a great triumphant statement in Journey (Wind Of Italia) and another gorgeous variation at 00:40 in Journey (Dreamland). A problem with that theme (and the other themes as well) is that it isn't really developed. Every time it appears, it's always pretty much in the same fashion, the variations are not much different from one another, which makes them all feel quite repetitive. Naoko's theme (a.k.a. the love theme of the film) is a sweet, almost fragile melody that is absolutely lovely (it gets a sublime development in Naoko (Yearning)). It is a bit too reminiscent of the main theme of Castle In The Sky, but that's not a huge problem, since that theme was good anyway. Caproni's theme is a bold, pompous theme that almost feels like a call to adventure. It ain't bad, but it's probably the lesser of all the themes. Rounding off the thematic material is Castorp's theme, another European-sounding melody with an air of mystery attached to it, which is rather effective even if not especially noteworthy. The non-thematic cues vary from good to barely OK. You have cues like Shooting Star (which offers nice gentle music) Evacuation (featuring some cool woodwinds and strings writing), Benefactor, Junkers (great variations on a one-off melody in this one) which are on the good side of things, and then you have cues like Excitement, Falcon Squad, Falcon, Wind, Paper Airplane, Surveillant Prototype 8 that feel rather meh, "been-there-done-that". In the end, apart from the second phrase of the main theme, and the love theme, the score doesn't have a lot of highlights to offer. Just like the film, the score is an underwhelming ending to the Hisaishi/Miyazaki collaboration. Too bad.

 

So this is how Miyazaki's filmography ends: with a disappointingly unengaging film. A hard-to-follow story, characters you don't really care about, a barely OK score, not particularly remarkable visuals... It's a shame, really. Thankfully, the very last scene is rather excellent (so you leave the film not completely dissatisfied with it), and makes for a remarkably fitting ending for Miyazaki's career as a director, too. Too bad the rest of the film just didn't live up to that.

 

5/10

 

 

Journey (Dreamy Flight)

http://66.90.91.26/ost/the-wind-rises/zihdgaikid/01-a-journey-a-dream-of-flight-.mp3

 

Shooting Star

http://66.90.91.26/ost/the-wind-rises/huqljhewjk/02-a-shooting-star.mp3

 

Caproni (Engineer's Dream)

http://66.90.91.26/ost/the-wind-rises/cqcsrbbcpv/03-caproni-an-aeronautical-designer-s-dream-.mp3

 

Evacuation

http://66.90.91.26/ost/the-wind-rises/zkrdljpjvu/06-the-refuge.mp3

 

Junkers

http://66.90.91.26/ost/the-wind-rises/hnvqujqhji/14-junkers.mp3

 

Journey (Wind Of Italia)

http://66.90.91.26/ost/the-wind-rises/fwgapgvhik/15-a-journey-italian-winds-.mp3

 

Castorp (The Magic Mountain)

http://66.90.91.26/ost/the-wind-rises/kmnfbxifyw/20-castorp-the-magic-mountain-.mp3

 

Naoko (Yearning)

http://66.90.91.26/ost/the-wind-rises/cnfnfpqfzg/26-nahoko-i-miss-you-.mp3

 

Naoko (Crossing Paths)

http://66.90.91.26/ost/the-wind-rises/yocihzejxg/27-nahoko-an-unexpected-meeting-.mp3

 

Journey (Dreamland)

http://66.90.91.26/ost/the-wind-rises/mgaxxlgmny/31-a-journey-a-kingdom-of-dreams-.mp3

 

 

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P.S.: Here's an interesting article regarding the controversy surrounding the film: http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/23/5337826/the-wind-rises-the-beauty-and-controversy-of-miyazakis-final-film

Not a Miyazaki expert, but I enjoyed this one a lot more than you. I agree with a lot of your points, especially about it being painfully slow, but something about all that made it strangely satisfying to me. I haven't seen it since theaters, so who knows! I did find the score to be rather lovely though.

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The Wind Rises is almost painfully beautiful.  I love everything about it.  I can even recognize some of the flaws you point it and I guess they're just not flaws to me.  It really made me wish that Miyazaki had made more truly adult stories. We all have our own individual responses to things I guess.

 

This is also my favorite Hisaishi score.

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It's the only film of theirs that I have a strong recollection of. I've seen Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Howl's Moving Castle as well. Never understood the love for that first one. Really like those other two but haven't seen them in years. 

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2 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Never understood the love for [Spirited Away]

 

What didn't you like about it?

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I love Spirited Away the movie but for some reason it's one of the few Hisashi scores that's never done much for me.  I think I need to revisit the music on its own.

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  • 1 month later...

Ponyo-2.jpg (560×303)

 

Ponyo

 

Rewatcihng this was a bit curious for me; It's the one I had most recently seen.  To back up a bit, prior to the Blu-Ray era, I had seen Spirited Away and Howl in the theater, and caught up with Nausicaä, Castle in the Sky, Kiki, Porco, and Mononoke on DVD.  When Miyazaki un-retired again after Howl and released Ponyo, I had every intention of seeing it in the theater, but I was never aware of it playing anywhere near me, so had to blind-buy it on Blu-Ray.  When I first watched it I enjoyed it, but that was kind of in a void; How it it been seen by me now, shortly after seeing his nine prior films just before?

 

Well, I liked it a lot!  It's an interesting story that falls somewhere between the "cute" side of Miyazaki (Kiki, Totoro) and the "serious" side (Mononoke, Nausicaa).  OK, it's far more on the cute side; However, instead of solely being a "small" story focused only on the main characters (like Totoro and Kiki), there actually is a bit of "The world is at stake!" here (like Nausicaa and Mononoke).  However, unlike the more serious moves, this big potential catastrophe is really only developed as how it will affect our characters directly (Sōsuke's father in the boat, for example), which I liked.


Right away, the movie tells you its going to be different than what Miyazaki's done before, beginning with the ocean setting.  Rather than the usual aviation themes and motifs, this one goes into a whole new realm for Miyazaki, and it really works!  I also like that before meeting the de fact "main character" of Sōsuke, we are first introduced to Ponyo in this ocean world; This follows the tradition of having a strong female lead in his movies, but also mixes things up at the same time.

 

I quite enjoyed the early scenes of Sōsuke and Ponyo meeting and becoming friends, as well as Sōsuke's interaction with his mother (Tina Fey was really good!).  Likewise, I really enjoyed all the scenes with Fujimoto, from his interactions with Ponyo, to his interactions with Granmamare, to his scenes sneaking around on land :lol:

 

Another way this is kind of an inbetweener film is that while it tends to mostly be on the cuter side, unlike Kiki and Totoro (which had 2 acts and then barely a third act before quickly ending), this one has a third act and while it is still on the short side (seems to be a Miyazaki tnend), its fairly effective (though not the strongest part of the movie).

 

So, I really liked it, and really liked the cast.  Tina Fey and Matt Damon were ace as Sōsuke's parents, and Liam Neeson was really great as Fujimoto.  Cate Blanchett's voice is always welcome in any film, and I loved that the nursing home residents were voiced by Lilly Tomlin, Betty White, and Cloris Leachman!

 

I unfortunately do not remember much about the score at this point in time (I apologize for not writing this when I watched the film, which was well over half a year ago now), but I think I remember thinking that I would like to check it out separate from the film at some point.

 

So, with one film left to go, here's my ranking:

 

1. Spirited Away
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
4. My Neighbor Totoro
5. Castle In The Sky
6. Kiki's Delivery Service

7. Ponyo
8. Castle of Cagliostro
9. Porco Rosso

10. Howl's Moving Castle

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OK BB I read your review of Ponyo.

 

It's interesting that you point out being confused, because Fujimoto first wanted to cover the land with the ocean, then later tries to stop that.  Well, I don't remember him saying ANYTHING like that (wanting it to happen at the beginning, I mean) in the English version, so that seems like a good change they made!

 

Great point about the visual style being "simplified" compared to his more detailed previous films.  You're right!  And of course it does seem intentional, due to the young age of the characters and general light-hearted tone of the film.  Like you, for me it worked very well, as well!

 

It seems like I liked it a little more than you, but you also praise many aspects of it.  I guess its one of those cases where, compared to Miyazaki's entire output, you have to rank it under a lot of stuff, but compared to all animated films ever made, well, its a pretty damn great one.

 

I think I had less issues with the story "problems" than you.. maybe this is partially due to the English dub smoothing over some confusing aspects of the original Japanese (or its translation/subtitling), or maybe its just because the film drew me in enough that when the "random" third act begain, I was along for the ride more than you were.  I dunno.

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Once again, you are being too kind to Miyazaki-san! ;)

 

There's not much I can say about your review, since we pretty much agree on most stuff. So I have only two remarks:

 

- Didn't pay attention to that, but you made an interesting point regarding the fact that unlike Miyazaki's previous films, which have aviaton themes/motifs, this one has an ocean setting. Makes it quite unique in Miyazaki's filmography in that regard (and he definitely had a blast with that ocean setting, given the amazing underwater visuals he came up with). Of course, he "fixed" that with his next film, which was all about aviation!

 

- Interesting what you say about Fujimoto's motivations... I guess I'll have to check other translations to see if they indeed changed that in the English version, or if it was the subtitles I had that were incorrect...

 

EDIT: Wait... Look at that: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/PonyoOnTheCliffByTheSea

 

Quote

Why is Fujimoto suddenly so concerned about the sea level rising? Wasn't that his plan to begin with? Drown out humanity and let nature thrive outside of their influence?

  • But the moon falling destroys the balance of the entire world.

 

Well, I guess you were remembering wrong, LeBlanc!

 

And I'm not sure I'm convinced with that explanation...

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I don't understand.  Does that somehow prove he did originally want to cover the land in water, as the version you watched suggests?

 

Because I've seen the English dub twice, and don't remember him saying anytihng like that in the beginning of the movie.

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7 hours ago, Jay said:

I don't understand.  Does that somehow prove he did originally want to cover the land in water, as the version you watched suggests?

 

Well, yes, it does seem to suggest that. It's an English-speaking website, so it's likely they're talking about the English dub (plus, as you said, the last time you watched the film was more than half a year ago, which is more than enough time for you to forget about that ;)).

 

Of course, it's possible they're talking about the Japanese version, and the English dub does change Fujimoto's line (maybe in order to make his motivations feel less hazy), but still, at least I wasn't remembering wrong, because in one version for sure, Fujimoto says he wants the oceans to cover all the lands, then later tries to prevent that from happening for some reason.

 

If the line was indeed changed, it'd be interesting to check what he says instead in the English dub, though.

 

Where's nightscape when you need him? (Still need to read his reviews, by the way!)

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What do you mean "for some reason"? The reason is clearly because nature is out of balance, and he's trying to rebalance it!

 

If he said earlier he wanted to cover land in water, it was either some idle comment he didn't really mean, or he wanted to do it in a way that maintained a nature balance. 

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At work this week I listened to this CD as my first foray into listening to Joe Hisaishi's music (outside their films I mean)

 


"Premium Wind Ensemble Collection Of Ghibli"

 

 

Premium Wind Ensemble Collection Of Ghibli

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008PSTYDS

 

 

 

 

Does anybody know it?

I LOVED IT.

 

My only complaint, is that most every track ended with a big, grand finale feel to it, which doesn't work multiple times on one album.  I understand why its that way of course, since each track is a suite from one score, but it got to be a bit too much after a while.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...
4 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Holy moley. Miyazaki is ruthless.

 

 

The programmers had innocent enough intentions but I can't help but agree with Miyazaki.  There's already too much disgusting dehumanizing shit out there, especially in the realm of video games.  Some of it is done under the guise of satire (the Grand Theft Auto games) but the majority is just for cheap entertainment.  

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I just realized I haven't commented on any of the reviews @nightscape94 posted since Nausicaä. Time for me to catch up, one at a time! So here we go, starting with Castle In The Sky!

 

On 21/03/2016 at 3:48 AM, nightscape94 said:

Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)

 

This film is a clear thematic extension of the material in Nausicaä.  It takes it one step further, which is interesting, since there appears to be some continuity between the two, with Castle in the Sky proceeding the events of the other.  As a result, Miyazaki seems pessimistic if at least hopeful about our future.  He obviously appreciates science and technology, but fears completely unfettered advances without restraint and respect of each other and of our surrounding environment.

 

Spot-on. That's definitely at the center of Miyazaki's entire body of work.

 

On 21/03/2016 at 3:48 AM, nightscape94 said:

Miyazaki certainly doesn't like to waste a good opportunity, or a good title sequence, and we are offered a glimpse of human history and the advances of aviation through to its apex as several islands of earth are seen floating effortlessly through the air along with the dizzying acrobatics of smaller ships.  Everything resets as the developing headway of mankind crashes to earth quite literally.   It is all stylistically animated in an old-fashion way, set to a beautiful tune from Joe Hisaishi.  A nice touch is when the credits segue back to the movie and the music lingers smoothly through it.  It's a nice gentle transition and serves to connect the history, to which we were just introduced, to existing reality.

 

That's a really excellent sequence that delivers a lot of information with just visuals. I love this kind of stuff. The first time I watched the film, I didn't give this sequence much thought (I was more focused on the visuals themselves rather than what they were telling), but after remembering it, I realized how vital it actually is. It is a wonderful way to present a universe, a background story without it feeling like exposition overload.

 

On 21/03/2016 at 3:48 AM, nightscape94 said:

Castle in the Sky contains two main metaphors.  The Earth represents home and the Sky represents the dream of escape.  The sky is very much a part of the story as a character.  It's a striking blue when the children wake up and meet each other for the first time, wide-eyed and innocent, full of life.  Ominous and threatening after they're kidnapped by the army.  The clouds at any time are boisterous and lively or swollen with storm and rage depending on the setting and mood.  There is a reflective moment after both the children join up with the pirates when Pazu and Sheeta look down at the daylit earth through white clouds, almost tranquilly appearing to dream as though they were on Laputa, triumphantly staring back down on an old forgettable life.  There is another one of these later when the children are on the pirate ship on lookout duty, huddled under a blanket, glaring out on the cold night sky, and the music cues up.  The idea of Laputa binds them together.  It is the driving force to get far ahead of their lives.  Laputa is detachment from one's past.

 

You really went full-on interpretation mode, didn't you? ;)

 

That's an interesting way to look at it. Whether or not it was intentional, your interpretation does fit with what's shown on screen.

 

On 21/03/2016 at 3:48 AM, nightscape94 said:

This movie is also full of imagery of tiny objects set against large backgrounds, be it aircraft or people, culminating in an ending where Sheeta and Pazu are gliding away from Laputa, back to earth, until it becomes a speck against a heavenly blue sky.  It's a wonderfully elegant analogy to finalize their journey.  Miyazaki sees an inevitable path of self-destruction due to our tribal impulses to conquer at the expense of harmony.  Pazu never forgets his father.  Sheeta never forgets her mother.  The people of Laputa had forgotten the earth.  "Its power is the stuff of humanity's dreams" says Muska.  He's misinterpreted what Laputa represents in the grand scheme of human history, and because of this, the cycle is likely to continue when people with power dream untethered to reality, leading to arrogance, and ultimately defiance of earthly kinship.

 

What this lesson is for Sheeta and Pazu is a bit less lumbering:  Chase the dream, that's how we get flying machines, but don't run so far away that you forget who you are and where you come from.

 

Yep. Just like in other Miyazaki films, it's all about finding the balance between two things: nature and technology, the past and the future, etc. If you go too far in one direction, it never ends well.

 

On 21/03/2016 at 3:48 AM, nightscape94 said:

Overall, however, I had the same essential issues with English dub on this film as I had with Nausicaä, just not to the same high degree.  The English language version still has a tendency to over-simplify as well as insert unnecessary added dialogue when the camera pans away from the characters, which is to compensate for something that wasn't missing to begin with.  Miyazaki's script here is fine-tuned.  There is some connecting tissue that was unfortunately removed, as when Pazu's boss refers to the mining equipment as "old clunker" on a couple of occasions.  This language gives us some insight to the boss's relationship with the job.  I know that seems basic, but it's there for a reason.  Or when Pazu says "My head's harder than my boss's fist."  In the English version he says something similar, but then the second callback in the Japanese version when Muska refers to Pazu by saying "His stubborn head is harder than mine" is gone from the English version.  There just seems to be a lack of acknowledgement as to why Miyazaki writes this way.  This isn't abnormal in screenplays, to have a balance in the dialogue.

 

There are some unnecessary changes to character development, as when the kids are on that train and Pazu leaves the engine room, handing over the task of coal shoveling to Sheeta.  Once they're in the clear he comes back and says "I'll do it" and she response "No, let me."  In the English she responds "You were amazing!".  This strange oblivious change detracts from any involvement Sheeta had in the scene and puts the focus back on Pazu being the sole hero.

 

There was a reference to Gulliver's Travels in the Japanese version when they talk about Laputa which is missing in the English dub.  This is a spectacularly huge mistake.  Not only is this an explicit nod to the island's namesake from literature, but because of it there is a connection with this movie's history and our own, giving certain actions and philosophy real weight and consequence.  Otherwise it becomes mere fantasy.  If you remove this allusion then you take away the importance of the message in a small way.  This is our future...

 

When they have a conversation about their childhood, Sheeta states very succinctly in the Japanese dub, "Both my parents died, but they left me the house and the fields, so I was getting by alone."  It then cuts to her isolated in the quiet of the countryside only to see men walking toward her in the distance.  We already have an idea of what is going to happen, and both she and Pazu are already on the same page when continues her story after it cuts back to present day.   In the English, her story starts "I used to live there with my parents and we were very happy."  That by itself is a bit off and sets a different tone, but then Sheeta continues to explain what happened during the entire flashback.  That solitary and frightening moment now slightly tarnished by the nonstop exposition.  Miyazaki uses as few words as needed, and the English dub goes down the path of "Let me spell that all out for you."

 

There is no mention of "The Dragon's Lair" in the English dub.  Another mistake.  The characters in Castle in the Sky, as in Nausicaä, have stories, lore, oral traditions.  They don't know quite what they mean when they say it, but when you have that phrase running through your imagination and then finally see it on screen, the absence of it cheapens the mythology.

 

Perhaps I'm being overly critical and obsessive.  I understand the difficulty of translating Japanese dialogue into English so it both communicates the story while simultaneously fitting the existing animation.  I get it.  Not all of these things are huge distractions, and certainly not all of them are disastrous to the fabric of the story, but it shows how even a minute change to the structure of the dialogue can alter the storytelling for better or worse.  The poetry of Miyazaki's carefully chosen words are dampened.  I understand much better the fuss that came from fans regarding dubtitling.

 

Wow. Looks like the English dub changed a lot of things! I hate when they do that. Changing the dialogue a bit to make it flow more smoothly in another language is fine, but adding lines of dialogue, removing others, etc. is a true alteration of the original work and should be prohibited, because it affects the response people have to the film!

 

Like: "Wow. This movie overexplains everything!" No, it doesn't. The dub does! Bah...

 

On 21/03/2016 at 3:48 AM, nightscape94 said:

I did get a certain satisfaction from Muska, as voiced by Mark Hamill, saying "How appropriate we ended up in the throne room."

 

lol!

 

On 21/03/2016 at 3:48 AM, nightscape94 said:

Okay, so there's also one thing I have to talk about that's a bit awkward.  It's never made clear whether some, all, or any of the pirates are actually Dora's biological children, my impression is that they were all like Pazu once, orphans taken in by Dora and her husband, put to work, and slowly indoctrinated and fashioned into pirates.  Regardless, Dora compares Sheeta to a younger version of herself, and her sons take note of this.  Later, there is a sequence where Sheeta has changed into Dora's clothes.  She is then fawned over by all of Dora's children in a rather overt way.  Not only are these are adult men professing their love for a just-burgeoning young girl, but there's a bit of Oedipus complex thrown in for good measure.  Now that I've gotten that out of way...

 

Hehehe... That sequence is obviously played for laughs, but either because it was done a bit clumsily or because of cultural difference, it doesn't quite work as well for us Westerners, it seems.

 

On 21/03/2016 at 3:48 AM, nightscape94 said:

Little Touches:

- Pazu is about to catch Sheeta.  She is almost within his reach when he realizes he's still holding a pale.  He puts it down and then resumes his catching position just in time.

- Pazu doesn't quite know how to fasten a necklace

- Pazu loses his balance after tripping two adults

- The sound of the wooden bridge collapsing; not in an explosion of sound, but a slow splintering disintegration

- Goliath emerging from the clouds like a predatory shark surfacing from the ocean

- Sheeta brushing one of her pigtails back as she tries to loosen the rope she tied around herself and Pazu

- Pazu takes of his shoes off to get better traction
- Pazu forgets the already-dispensed shotgun shell and has to reload

- Fox-squirrels!

 

Noticed (almost) all of those, and love that kind of stuff. It's what sets Miyazaki's movies apart from the rest by making them more "grounded" in a way.

 

On 21/03/2016 at 3:48 AM, nightscape94 said:

Miyazaki continues to hone his storytelling, artistic eye, and direction in a splendidly crafted movie with great set pieces, authentic characters, and an important message without being too didactic.  There is still mystery and unanswered questions at the end, but that works in the film's favor, as it did with Nausicaä, but this movie felt more complete.  You are left wondering, and that's the beauty of Castle in the Sky.

 

1) Castle in the Sky

2) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

3) Lupin III:  The Castle of Cagliostro

 

Yeah, this movie is definitely the first of Miyazaki's movies that feels like a truly complete experience. It has none of the (minor) shortcomings that could be found in the previous two. A really excellent flick.

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It's impossible for me to critique Miyazaki films, I love them all to varying degrees and I can only go by which ones I have the strongest emotional ties to to call my favorites.  

 

Actually this goes for all of my absolute favorite artists in each medium. With Wes Anderson movies, John Williams scores, Randy Newman (pop) albums, or even Super Mario games, I honestly can't think of them in terms of this was good or that was bad.

 

Anyway, by this measure, Nausicaa is easily my favorite of Miyazaki's movies.

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Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

 

This was good.

 

Castle in the Sky

 

Hey wow, this was good too.

 

My Neighbor Totoro

 

Also pretty good!

 

I'll have to formulate my thoughts on the rest and get back to you.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Damn, I haven't been around for while, sorry for not responding to @BloodBoal's comments from a couple of weeks ago.  Thanks for your feedback on Castle.  Looking forward to what you have to say about the other ones.  I seriously have to get to Princess Mononoke.  Jeez!

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  • 5 weeks later...

Princess Mononoke (1997)

 

https://latimesherocomplex.files.wordpress.com/2030/04/mononoke-4.jpg

 

Miyakazi's love of nature, and his use of it as a theme, reaches its apotheosis with Princess Mononoke.  It feels like a life's work finally advancing to its inevitable peak.  If he were a lesser writer and director, he may have been perfectly satisfied shoving this message in our collective faces without a hint of creativity.  But in the hands of a master storyteller who puts considerable emphasis on characters and motivations, it comes truly alive.  This is a masterpiece.

 

It begins with a mountain range, at dawn, covered in soft mist; a basic narrative statement appears.  With the tense music filling out the rest of the sensory experience, the tone has been set.  There is an underlying sense of foreboding that is inescapable, and it will attach itself to the rest of the film.  The importance of Nature is felt immediately.  Soon thereafter we meet the character that will carry us through the story; Ashitaka, a young prince and the future of his village, and in the first major scene he is presented as capable, considerate, and reflective as he does battle with a boar that has been transformed into a demon, itself a creation of the perversion of nature.  These are many of the same traits afforded Miyazaki's other characters.  He is attracted to the idea of youth saving us from conditions brought on by generational neglect, mistreatment and abuse.  So far, these protagonists have possessed the same basic qualities while remaining pure of heart.  Their clear vision and selflessness will see us through our darkest hour and simultaneously, and more importantly, positively affect those who come in contact with them.

 

We are treated again to the majesty of landscapes as Ashitaka makes his way west after being tainted with a curse.  During this trek to discover certain truths and change his fate, Ashitaka sees a war-torn countryside, establishing the idea of civil unrest, and also showing us a higher level of violence than we were previously exposed to in these films.  Limbs and heads are brutally but neatly severed, soldiers mercilessly attack villagers; it's all quite startling, but necessary, as there is an increased level of rage and anger saturating moment to moment.

 

San makes a striking entrance as she is shown incessantly charging a caravan of Ironworks villagers hauling rice along a treacherous pass.  Here we also meet another other key figure in Lady Eboshi, as well as Moro the Wolf God and her cubs.  San's introduction to Ashitaka is even more imposing when he stumbles out of the forest to see her sucking the poisonous iron from Moro's wound, her face suffused with warrior paint and smeared with blood, a look of warning beaming back at him once he catches her attention.

 

When Eboshi and her crew make it back to Ironworks it is established that the people of the village are not antagonists.  They are loyal, humorous, and hardworking individuals who happen to perform a job in direct opposition with their surroundings.  In the middle of Ironworks is a factory with a menacing tower of stoked fire.  They mutilate the forest in order to obtain iron for trade and to make weapons.  It's populated with people whose lives have been shown little respect, and their main goal is to obtain security through fortifying themselves within the village, arming themselves with the weaponry needed to survive, and gaining financial independence.  They are focused on their livelihood, not nature.  Lady Eboshi, who governs Ironworks, will do what she feels is necessary to obtain these things for herself, and specifically the woman of her village, who she feels particularly responsible for.  Eboshi is fighting two life-long battles where she is pitted against Nature and Men.  Her arrogance is her weakness, and her narrow-minded quest for power will be her downfall.  Her misguided notion of superior-worth puts her at odds with Nature, and this eventually forces her to lose sight of her own people.  Later on, when she is away from the village on the hunt for the Deer God, she is informed that the hired samurai force has turned on the village in an attempt to usurp power, but her conceit has overshadowed the importance of her village and she dismisses it as an empty threat not worth her time.

 

The level of war and hell most of these characters have been exposed to has informed their opinions about how to conduct their business.  They feel justified in their actions as a result; that any means will do.  However, Eboshi is not innocent, and in many instances she is painted as deceptively kind.  In order to steal authority for herself she has collected a motley crew of people who are almost guaranteed not to rebel if shown a modicum of kindness:  Women purchased from slavery, but then put to labor.  Lepers taken in, but then put to labor.  These groups feel such a debt that Eboshi can easily exploit this.  They all express such unmitigated gratitude for this false freedom as to hope to be the eventual benefactors of their own labor.  It isn't until the end that Eboshi seems to reconcile her ideals with her actions.  There is irony in her line, "I fear men more than monsters."  Like many of these types of Miyazaki characters, she is not absolutely villainous.  She lacks judgement and she lustful and untempered in her search for autonomous control, but we can at the very least understand her motivations.  Her plan is simple: purge the forest of gods and the fighting will cease.

 

There is a prevailing sadness and pensiveness that permeates the entire movie, especially in the forest scenes.  The characters generally say what they're feeling, speak directly and clearly, and are not reticent or bashful.  Considering the level of allegory going on, it was refreshing to hear them speak candidly and with firm intention.  The film is cleverly built in that it is not an action film, but there is a lot of movement within the story, with a heightened atmosphere of disquiet and alarm as all of the forces speed along toward each other until they ultimately collide.  One of its great many strengths is the lack of unnecessary fighting.  When those scenes do happen, quite a bit is shown in long shot, or in quick transitions that do not linger, which makes Ashitaka's spurts of intense violence all the more astonishing.  Nothing is gratuitous.

 

Ashitaka and San's relationship is something that feels genuine.  They are not there to simply fall in love with each other.  Forming a bond between the two is hard work.  Ashitaka needs to solicit help from her in order to find the Deer God and lift the curse that will spell his doom, and she is fixed in her hatred of all humans, her entire history plagued with their ceaseless encroachment and destruction upon her home.   His ability to convince her otherwise is a difficult task, and he doesn't make it easy.  Ashitaka's almost infantile need for everyone to be in harmony is admirable, but extremely hard to accept for San, whose exposure to humans has been one of sustained punishment.  To her, an antagonist is made to be defeated, not understood, and certainly not helped or cared for.  Over the course of things, their relationship develops into something a bit more on an emotional level, but the writing respects them enough to allow them to continue on their separate journeys at the end.  Maybe one day, far up on the path, they will meet again, having a life's work behind them.  One of the most important ideas of the movie is being alive.  When the Ironworks and forest are destroyed, Ashitaka reminds everyone of this basic fact, and he sums it up nicely at the end, in one of the last things he says to San, "Together, we'll live."

 

Princess Mononoke also excels from the point of view of costume design.  I liked the details of how the outfits were put together, such as when Ashitaka removes his shirt to find that his sleeves are basically their own component.  San's costume was also insightful.  You got the feeling that she stole those clothes when she was a little girl, having been raised by wolves, and had them ever since.  The skirt frayed at the hem, with a simple shirt, but adorned in an intimidating coat of fur connected to a tooth necklace accentuating parts of her true personality.

 

I will say that the one element of the movie that should have been expounded on was the crystal dagger that Kaya gave Ashitaka in the beginning.  It didn't seem to serve much of a purpose in the long run, and it really would not change anything if it was removed from the story.  This is a trinket that his sister gave to him, which he then gives to San, but there is no history explained for it, and the item itself doesn't really come into play in a major way later on.  It's a device passed on from one person to the next to act as a visual representation of love, but it felt somewhat expendable.  It may have been different if it was established that he had fashioned it himself from materials surrounding Ironworks, then it would have had more significance, it would have been more personal, like he's giving part of himself to San and calling a truce.

 

Joe Hisaishi is someone who I haven't spoken much of in my reviews, but here his music has developed a symbiotic relationship with the material.  I feel like he rose to the challenge and provided a beautiful score from start to finish, highlighting the mood perfectly without detracting from it.   San has a beautiful theme, later set to song, and the theme for both Ashitaka and San that ends the movie is presented in glorious serenity during those closing passages.  Everything else in between is just as lovely.

 

Japanese/English Dubs:

 

The differences in the dubs are relatively minor, things like calling the Oracle "wise woman" in the English, but the most conspicuous one is felt right off the bat, when the opening is actually narrated by Okkoto and stretches on much longer.  This is not entirely effective as it trades away the music and canvas being created on screen for more information.  We get everything we need as the characters speak throughout the movie.

 

The main song, beginning when Ashitaka and San are resting in the cave, sounds like it's sung by a man in falsetto in the original but is sung by a soprano in the English version.  The latter is much more preferable, and a better performance.

 

Cultural nods lifted such as "Shogun" and a reference to Chinese rifle making being deleted in the English version.  I feel like I'm being babied when that stuff happens.  I understand that a lot of the Western audience probably doesn't know what a Shogun is, but its appropriate to include it given the context of speaking about the Emperor.  The political and militaristic temperature of the area is important to understand the character's motivations.

 

I don't recall the Japanese version referring to the woman explicitly as prostitutes, and it doesn't call the lepers that by name either.  You understand more or less without having to be told.  The English dub goes out of its way to mention "brothels" several times throughout just in case we're didn't quite comprehend what the situation was.

 

One of the funnier changes is in the scene when Ashitaka is leaving his village.  The Oracle says, in both versions, that their laws forbid the townspeople from watching him leave.  And then, in the Japanese version, finishes with a simple "Farewell."  In the English, she says, "You're dead to us forever".  It was so awkwardly vulgar given the relative politeness of the discussion up to that point that I actually burst out laughing.

 

Billy Bob Thornton's vocal performance was strangely distracting.  His voice didn't really fit the character and his acting in general wasn't the best.  He was very flat.  Speaking of Jiko, in his introductory scene, when Ashitaka leaves come daylight, he says "I'd knew he's go."  In the English he says "See you there my friend", hinting at a meeting at Ironworks, and foreshadowing his reappearance.  This alters the surprise of seeing him crop up later on since he initially seems like a trivial character.

 

Interestingly, there was some confusion on my part as to who Kaya was at first.  Watching the Japanese version, I was primarily going off the subtitles.  In them, she never calls him brother, so their final exchange as he departs the village made it appear as though she was in love with him.  In the English language version she actually calls him brother, which also made sense, but I thought it was a strange alteration, so I went back and listened to the Japanese version again, this time paying more attention to the language, and lo and behold Kaya calls him "oniisama", which means older brother.  My limited understanding of Japanese saved me on this one, so it was curious that the literal translation failed to put this in.

 

The "Together, we'll live" statement I mentioned earlier is removed in the English dub for some reason, even though it completes the ideas set up earlier which are also included in the English dub.  Another fairly important change that comes at the end is when San says "I love you" to Ashitaka, which occurs in the Japanese.  In the English she says "You mean so much to me".  I actually prefer the English on this point since her declaration of love seemed out of character.

 

Princess Mononoke charges confidently to the top of the list.  It is a nearly flawless experience that takes place at the dawn of a new era of industry and shows how people attempt to tame the natural setting around them instead of working cooperatively to share and grow within certain bounds.  Miyazaki personifies the forest, giving it legs, teeth, and a voice so it can defend and answer for itself.  This is essential, since people have a tendency to think of nature as a lifeless thing that is meant to be controlled, and our efforts to maintain domination instead of balance is at the heart of it.  This world is not ours alone, we are part of this world, and not acting in accordance with this proposal will result in total annihilation.  In the end, it is Nature that takes away life, and gives it back.

 

1) Princess Mononoke

2) Laputa: Castle in the Sky

3) My Neighbor Totoro

4) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

5) Kiki's Delivery Service

6) Lupin III:  The Castle of Cagliostro

7) Porco Roso

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  • 4 weeks later...

Continuing reading @nightscape94 reviews with My Neighbor Totoro!

 

On 24/04/2016 at 7:39 AM, nightscape94 said:

The story centers around two young children, Satsuki and Mei, who, along with their father, are shown moving out to the country because their mother is suffering from an unnamed illness.  My initial feeling was that she was suffering a recent nervous breakdown or from mental illness, and the relocation was to be closer to the hospital, and also give her, and them, a much needed change of scenery.  I may be misinterpreting this, but either way, the finer details of her sickness are of secondary concern.

 

[...]

 

The mother is a constant presence throughout the movie, whether it is through hospital visits, by reference, or by showing her reading Satsuki's letters.  She serves as a beacon in some ways, propelling and guiding the story onward.  She always appears peaceful, smiling, and hopeful.   When her family visits she does not grow weary of their company, does not act aggressive, and is not distant.  She is actively engaged and doesn't skip a motherly beat.  There is never any blame placed on her, no self-loathing is expressed by anyone, and they speak of her lovingly.  Even though they are separated, and there is internal tension revolving around her situation, they all are still a caring family unit that just happens to be going through a period of uncertain unrest.  Miyazaki wisely does not take dubious advantage of this story device by twisting it into an open war between the parents and their daughters.

 

I find it funny how you you payed so much attention to the mother, because I personally think she's not meant to be an important character to the story (nor is her illness meant to be an important aspect of it): it is actually her absence that is important and is at the heart of the story. The whole film is about the girls trying to deal with the fact that she is not there (and maybe won't return), and Satsuki does most of the things she does in the film because she has to take matters into her own hands, because her mother isn't here.

 

On 24/04/2016 at 7:39 AM, nightscape94 said:

The father is another important character in his limited scenes.  He is cooperative, playful, reassuring, and feeds his children's imaginations.  He is not shown as aloof or over-bearing.  When Mei insists that she has seen a giant creature in their backyard forest, he does not get angry, does not try to quiet her, and is not dismissive.  There is a calm conversation that results in his bringing the two kids to the sprawling camphor tree to pay their respects to the spirits.  In this way he encourages fantasy while also giving a cultural history lesson.

 

Interesting. Didn't consider that. What's also interesting is that while he never refutes what his daughters tell him, he never see the creatures at any point in the story. Generally, in (western) movies, adults can't see the fantastical creatures even when they're right in front of them, because they don't believe in them, they think their kids are crazy lunatics or some other similar reason. Here, the adults are fine with what their kids tell them, but they still never get to see the creatures. I wonder why that is. Is it because they can't see them but it is simply never stated? Or because Miyazaki wanted the viewers to decide whether the kids imagined those creatures or if they're real? Or some other reason? Hmmm...

 

On 24/04/2016 at 7:39 AM, nightscape94 said:

There is no real antagonist or extraneous conflict.  The straightforward story flows from the two girls, and it's everything the movie requires.  Everyone we meet is welcoming and warm-natured.  Nanny, the amiable caretaker, brings an inconsolable Mei to Satsuki's school during class.  This could have devolved into an argument dealing with Satsuki's overwhelming embarrassment, but the teacher, and her classmates in general, are friendly and nothing is made of it.  This scene exists to show Mei's inability to cope with being separated from Satsuki for too long while their mother's status is unknown and their father is now back to work.  I can't stress my appreciation for this enough.  Miyazaki has no time for useless story ornaments that cause deviations from the main narrative.  While I can imagine some viewers may have a problem with this type of cleanliness, as it may not exactly represent most people most of the time, the opening sequence tells you straight away that its target audience is children.  My Neighbor Totoro gives us enough to focus on when setting up the family dynamic; the rest is just focused on enchantment.

 

That's an aspect of the film I quite liked too: the absence of any antagonist/conflict. That's was fine with me. However, as some sort of a result of that, there is not much sense of an actual end goal to the story, there's not much of a sense of going forward, and that's was more of a problem for me. And don't misinterpret that as me not liking the slow pace of the film: I like films with a slow pace... as long as I can feel we're still going somewhere. My problem with that film is that there are moments where it feels it is going nowhere. Take the girls visiting the house: sure, it's nice for the film to take its time to introduce us to this location which will be the main one in the film so that we get accustomed to it, we get to appreciate the surroundings, etc. but there comes a moment where you'd like something to actually happen to give a semblance of story. It happens eventually, but then you're (almost) already one third into the film.

 

On 24/04/2016 at 7:39 AM, nightscape94 said:

When we finally meet the great forest spirit king, Totoro, his design is wonderful.  He is otherworldly enough to be immediately interesting, expressive enough to be inviting, and is not shown to be scary but rather just as whimsical as the children.  There is a scene where the sprightly Totoro and the children take a nighttime trip, gliding through the rice fields on a spinning top, and it's one of the most magical moments in the film.  I also like the ambiguity of Totoro and his circle of spirit friends, which includes the marvelous cat bus, grinning wide as it scales hills, trees, and even telephone wire, in order to kindly deliver passengers to their destinations.  As Mei first tells of her discovery, Satsuki mentions that he sounds like the troll from a bedtime story their mother reads to them, referencing Three Billy Goats Gruff.  At the very end of the credits there is an animation card showing them huddled under blankets with their mother as she holds the book, and we can make out a small Totoro spirit on the cover.  We're never quite sure what parts, if any, are real.  We're given evidence embracing both possibilities.

 

I personally think Miyazaki never considered that the creatures might not be real, but he probably wanted to leave it open to interpretation (with scenes like the "tree growing" one, with the tree disappearing the next morning). I also think it makes for a less interesting film if it's all in the girls' minds. :P

 

On 24/04/2016 at 7:39 AM, nightscape94 said:

Regarding the dubs, I am happy to report that this a 180 degree turn on my other experiences.  And for the sake of full disclosure, I enjoyed the English dub more.  I attribute this mostly to the lean story and simple motivations of the characters, but I give credit where credit is due.  Sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning play Satsuki and Mei which, not unexpectedly, turns out to be incredibly authentic.  Tim Daly also bests his Japanese counterpart.

 

In terms of content, aside from some minor changes that don't reshape the narrative in any profound way, there were two things in the English dub that I actually liked better than the Japanese version.  When Mei goes missing, Satsuki seeks out Totoro as a last-ditch effort to find her.  In the Japanese dub, before entering the forest, she pleads her case and then runs in.  In the English dub, she pleads her case, asks permission from the forest to see Totoro, and then runs in.  This is the kind of thing I would have expected to have happened in reverse, as it's much more effective in the second example.

 

Nice touch, and yes, I agree, it's something you'd expect Miyazaki to have written, and to be omitted from the English dub. Maybe it is actually in the original Japanese dialogue, but omitted from the English subs? ;)

 

On 24/04/2016 at 7:39 AM, nightscape94 said:

The entire film made my heart leap with gladness.  There is a running sense of discovery from start to finish.  Miyazaki spent a lot of storytelling energy giving us both Nausicaä and Castle in the Sky only to give us this streamlined and clear adventure of two little girls finding comfort in a towering fluffy spirit taking them momentarily out of their lives, giving them a means to deal with something they can't quite understand or cope with.  At least for the time being they can find escape in, well, their neighbor Totoro.

 

1) Laputa: Castle in the Sky

2) My Neighbor Totoro

3) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

4) Lupin III:  The Castle of Cagliostro

 

It's definitely an interesting film in Miyazaki's career, following three big action/adventure-oriented movies, and proving the versatility of the man. It has a charm of its own and makes for a nice relaxing viewing experience. That being said, your ranking is obviously all wrong.

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On 2/16/2017 at 10:31 AM, BloodBoal said:

Maybe it is actually in the original Japanese dialogue, but omitted from the English subs? ;)

 

This is very true, and a concern that's always in my mind.  I put a lot of faith in the subs when I'm comparing them to the dub.  There was an example recently in my Mononoke review where I picked something up simply because I know about 0.0005% Japanese, but I still heard something that did not translate in the subtitles, but it completely changed the nature of a particular character relationship.

 

On 2/16/2017 at 10:31 AM, BloodBoal said:

I find it funny how you you payed so much attention to the mother, because I personally think she's not meant to be an important character to the story (nor is her illness meant to be an important aspect of it): it is actually her absence that is important and is at the heart of the story. The whole film is about the girls trying to deal with the fact that she is not there (and maybe won't return), and Satsuki does most of the things she does in the film because she has to take matters into her own hands, because her mother isn't here.

 

That's more or less what I'm getting at.  She has a presence despite being absent.  It's clever how Miyazaki handled that throughout.  I felt that the mother, or at least the idea of her, was important, as she's truly the catalyst for these events in her children's lives.

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16 hours ago, nightscape94 said:

That's more or less what I'm getting at.

 

Well, you said it poorly. ;)

 

Just thought about something: I wonder if the film could have been more effective if the mother hadn't been shown at all (except maybe at the end). Would have possibly helped the audience feel her absence even more (it could have even made the audience wonder if she wasn't in fact dead, and her daughters had trouble accepting that. And maybe at the end, when they go see her at the hospital, the audience would have wondered if the daughters actually had died, the only way for them to be reunited with her... OK, I'm going off track...)

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  • 1 month later...

Gotta keep on commenting @nightscape94's reviews! (Everytime I remember I should do that, I don't do it right away and then keep forgetting about it!)

 

On 27/04/2016 at 7:58 AM, nightscape94 said:

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

 

[...]

 

As Kiki sets off clumsily into the night on her mother's broomstick she turns on her father's radio to the tune of the catchy and old-fashioned "Rouge no Dengon", which sets the opening credits perfectly, and encapsulates her infectious personality.  At this point she encounters another witch, who is at the end of her year expedition, and is asked what her main skill concentration is.  Kiki hasn't thought of it.  Her mother specializes in potions, this new acquaintance says her's is fortune-telling.  But Kiki, she isn't sure who she is, and this plays out in the narrative later on.  Like My Neighbor Totoro, there is no villain, not even in the loosest terms.

 

It's funny, because when I watched the film, I didn't pay attention to the fact the witch she meets had ended her expedition, and I thought she was going to turn into some sort of rival for Kiki (not like a true evil villain, but you know, kind of an annoying, condescending peer) and that was to be her introduction scene, because this is generally what we would get in most coming-of-age movies: some character appears who is condescending to the hero, and then as the story unfolds this become the main antagonist, the hero's rival. But this scene isn't actually about that witch: it's all about Kiki, who, as you said, isn't sure who she is. It's interesting to see how a simple scene might lead you to expect the kind of story structure you're used to, but Miyazaki instead goes in a completely different direction (which is part of what makes his movies special).

 

On 27/04/2016 at 7:58 AM, nightscape94 said:

By my account, most of the people Kiki meets are openly sociable and welcoming.  Ursula, the young painter we meet in the forest, the aforementioned Osono, her first customer after forming her delivery service, the two older women who befriend her, and even Tombo after a few false starts.  This is not dissimilar to My Neighbor Totoro.  It's not as successful here as almost everyone is perhaps too helpful.  Kiki makes friends on the strength of her own personality without really trying.  Miyazaki is perched dangerously close to representing a too perfect world.

 

You managed to put the finger on one of the things that bothered me with that film: that everything is so perfect, that Kiki doesn't face any major problem, that everything is pretty smooth (at least up until a certain point in the film), which can be nice to watch for a while, but then I need the film to give me more than just that to hold my interest (ultimately, we do get that, but it's a bit late in the game).

 

On 27/04/2016 at 7:58 AM, nightscape94 said:

This threat of alienation builds up and is the primary source of conflict that makes her inexplicably lose her witch powers late in the film.  Of this, Kiki states, "If I lost my magic, that means I've lost absolutely everything."  She connects Self to this one attribute as though she is nothing else.  This symptomatic withdrawal intensifies and leads to one of the most nakedly vulnerable lines delivered by Kiki; in the Japanese version, "I think something's wrong with me.  I make friends, then suddenly I can't bear to be with any of them.  That other me, the cheerful and honest one...went away somewhere."  In the English, it's striped down to the point of ineffectiveness:  "I think something's wrong with me.  I meet a lot of people, and at first everything seems to be going okay, but then I start feeling like such an outsider.  You should have seen how Tombo's friends looked at me."

 

Now that's rather interesting, because if I remember correctly, the subtitles I had said something rather similar to the English dub. The original line sure is much more interesting! It's annoying when the "translation" completely changes not only the meaning of a sentence, but also the meaning of a big part of the film.

 

On 27/04/2016 at 7:58 AM, nightscape94 said:

The path to getting herself to a healthy state of mind is accomplished with the help of Ursula, a painter who has a summer cottage nearby, and who has mentally toiled her way through life only to arrive on the other side fairly content.  She picks up where Kiki's mother left off and acts as a strong relatable role model.  She teaches a valuable lesson, which is - Life is a struggle.

 

After this short pilgrimage, we are launched into the final act.  I would have preferred a quieter and more personally reflective sequence, rather than a big action spectacle, but it still feels pretty justified and acceptable as is.

 

To me, it actually felt a bit out of place. A climax for the sake of having a climax, and not a climax as a natural progression of the story. Didn't ruin the film for me, but definitely felt tacked on at the end in a bit of a clumsy way (you could say it was a bit foreshadowed, with the zeppelin being introduced a bit earlier in the film, but still... Felt a bit at odds with everything we saw prior to that nonetheless).

 

On 27/04/2016 at 7:58 AM, nightscape94 said:

It's very telling, and very appropriate, that Kiki doesn't hear Jiji speak to her at the very end.  Although she retains her skills as a flyer, which she's earned back through turmoil, she has made her first real step into adulthood.  The cat is just a cat.  Now with true friends in tow, she is better positioned to see what life as to offer.  And as a minor character named Dora says very early on, setting up the theme of the picture, "Everything changes, bit by bit."

 

No reaction to the fact Jiji actually speaks at the end in the English dub? ;)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, continuing on commenting @nightscape94's reviews, even if he refuses to comment my comments!

 

On 29/06/2016 at 6:14 AM, nightscape94 said:

Porco Roso (1992)

 

Well, this is weird.  For the first time in my Miyazaki outing I have to report on a movie that didn't grab me.  To put it even more bluntly, I didn't much care for it.  I originally watched this for the first time about a month ago, but I couldn't muster the motivation to watch it a second time to keep in line with my usual English/Japanese double billing.  I finally got around to seeing it again yesterday so I could jot down my brief thoughts.

 

What we have here is a film that is structurally clumsy with characters that aren't terribly interesting, occupying a story that is not terribly compelling, which tries painfully hard to keep me distracted from its shortcomings by splashing beautiful sky canvases up on the screen and jabbing me with some zany comedy from time to time.

 

While I enjoyed the film more than you did, I can see where you're coming from. The film definitely lacks a well-defined structure, and jumps from one idea to the next without developing any that much. That being said, I think there's more beneath the surface than what is revealed through the story and dialogue. The way the characters act and look at each other (Marco and Gina, especially) convey a lot about their past history.

 

On 29/06/2016 at 6:14 AM, nightscape94 said:

Our titular character is a anthropomorphic pig who was once a man named Marco.  Although the movie explains this ham-handedly (pun intended) as a curse, it's really a not-so-subtle depiction of how Marco sees himself; figuratively, and quite literally, as a pig, now assuming the identity of Porco.  He blames himself for being the sole survivor of a World War I battle that would see all belligerents involved, including his entire battalion, and more importantly his dear friend, dead.  The set up is there, but there is no payoff as the rest of the movie is a combination of ineffective villains, underdeveloped relationships, and scene hopping.  None of this functions nearly as well as Miyazaki probably assumed it did on paper.  At the end I felt as though this was a short film blown up to feature length by padding it out, eventually making the movie feel disjointed, and leaving me rather impassive about what I just watched.

 

It was in fact originally meant as a short film (funnily enough, I made the same comment in my review regarding the length)! See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porco_Rosso#Production

 

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Production

 

The film was originally planned as a short in-flight film for Japan Airlines based on Hayao Miyazaki's manga The Age of the Flying Boat, but grew into a feature-length film. The outbreak of war in Yugoslavia cast a shadow over production and prompted a more serious tone for the film, which had been set in Croatia. The airline remained a major investor in the film, and showed it as an in-flight film well before its theatrical release. Due to this, the opening text introducing the film appears simultaneously in Japanese, Italian, Korean, English, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, French and German.

 

 

On 29/06/2016 at 6:14 AM, nightscape94 said:

The pirates, as well as the American Donald Curtis, are comical and not depicted as especially dangerous, the Secret Fascist Police is underused and barely mentioned, the Italian military is never really seen in a threatening way either.  No one villain is given enough time, build up, serious weight, or power to make us feel a sense of urgency.  I never felt any real danger for our hero, and his arc is sloppy.

 

To be fair, it goes with Miyazaki's usual way of handling things: none of his films have true villains (the exception remains Muska in Castle In The Sky). There are more antagonists than pure evil characters. That being said, they are generally better handled, I'll give you that. But i think the real problem the movie had is not so much that there was no real sense of danger/urgency because none of the villains were threatening, rather that there was no feeling that there was an end goal to the story, that the characters were moving towards an objective (to be honest, that's a problem I had with a few other Miyazaki films such as My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service, but given the story being told in those, that was more understandable). As a result, you're not quite sure what the movie is all about.

 

On 29/06/2016 at 6:14 AM, nightscape94 said:

Inexplicably, the movie ends with voice-over narration from someone that we meet halfway through, Fio.  She hails from a long line of young and strong female characters that Miyazaki is known for at this point, and is probably the most attractive thing about the movie, but she is in no way earns the right to end this story from her point of view.  Unfortunately when all is said and done, Fio would have made a far more fascinating central subject, with Porco portrayed as a mysterious or unknowable entity seen through her eyes, perhaps serving as the impetus to her own adventure.  As it stands, however, her epilogue was a senseless scripting decision that came off as clunky, bearing no fruit for the story that Miyazaki was telling.  At the very least he should have made Porco and Gina's relationship way more front and center; the beating heart of the film.

 

There's definitely a problem with the ending of that one, which feels like it comes a bit out of nowhere. I think I remember reading somewhere an interview of Miyazaki where he said he never planned in advance the ending of his movies, and that he often ended them whenever he felt he had no more stuff left to tell in the story, which is why it often feels (well, at least to me) like the endings show up a bit abruptly and don't necessarily feel like a natural conclusion of what came before.

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