Boy and heron incredible. Perhaps more than any other film by the great Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, for which he became famous. The ghostly one is gone AND The wind blows. It’s a strange and wonderful journey through a beautifully rendered fantasy land that often doesn’t make much sense, yet is underpinned by an emotional truth that always seems crystal clear: the extraordinary power of grief and love.
This is a classic Miyazaki theme. Here it all begins in 1943, when an Allied air raid kills the mother of a young boy, Mahito (voiced by Soma Santoki in Japanese, Luca Padovan in the English version). Mahito’s father soon remarries his late wife’s sister, Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura, Gemma Chan) and takes his son with him from Tokyo to the village. Mahito notices that it is falling apart. His aunt/stepmother is sweet, but she’s also pregnant, and Mahito can’t imagine a world where his mother could be so easily replaced.
While recovering from a self-inflicted head injury, Natsuko goes missing and Mahito is approached by a sassy talking gray heron, who eventually leads him through a collapsing local tower into a parallel fantasy world where Natsuko could be and where he could be. suspects his mother may still be alive.
It is a kaleidoscopic experience of plunging into a rabbit hole, an oceanic land of melting bodies, ravenous parrots and barbarians, bell-shaped creatures that float through the air to be born and that bear more than a passing resemblance to the master spirit. from My Neighbor Totoro (1988).
The mischievous heron turns into a pot-bellied tarantula man, looking like a real court jester. Alice in Wonderland. There is a woman named Himi who walks through the fire, and a wizened old man who invites Mahito to stay forever in this land of horror and opportunity.
This is not a linear story, but a dream and a nightmare at the same time, in which the beloved themes of Studio Ghibli are abstractly tied together: a post-war world forged in fire and cultivated with respect for nature and family.
It is based on a 1937 book. How are you doing? (also the name of a Japanese film) of which Mahito finds a copy left to him by his mother. Although the English title seems more commercial (the English-speaking cast is also excellent, including Christian Bale, Florence Pugh and Robert Pattinson), the original title seems most appropriate.
How can Mahito live with such a huge loss? And also Japan after the Pacific War, with so much industrial destruction and such a shattered sense of identity. How can it survive? Mahito and his country must create a new world with compassion and imagination.
Mizayaki has repeatedly stated that he is retiring, but continues to return to the animation studio. But if this really is his swan song, then it is appropriate: strange, compelling and something only he can do.
Source: I News
I am Mario Pickle and I work in the news website industry as an author. I have been with 24 News Reporters for over 3 years, where I specialize in entertainment-related topics such as books, films, and other media. My background is in film studies and journalism, giving me the knowledge to write engaging pieces that appeal to a wide variety of readers.