Imaginative and visually beautiful, “The Boy and the Heron,” a new film from Japanese animator, filmmaker and manga artist Hayao Miyazaki, now playing in theatres, is a unique look at life, death and friendship.
The twelfth film by Miyazaki and the 23rd film from Studio Ghibli centers on Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki), a 12-year-old boy whose mother is killed in a 1943 Tokyo hospital bombing. A year later, Mahito’s father Shoichi (Takuya Kimura), owner of an air munitions factory, marries his late wife’s sister Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura) and moves to her country home. Still racked with grief over his mother’s death, Mahito has a tough time in his new home and does not get along with his step-mother/aunt.
Then there is the Grey Heron (Masaki Suda) who bedevils him daily.
Mahito feels lost, cut adrift from everything he once knew until he discovers a mysterious tower, built on the property by his granduncle, a famous architect who went missing.
The chatty Heron tells Mahito that his mother is inside, and if he wants to find her, all he has to do is go have a look. Inside is a mystical, alternate universe inhabited by the living and the dead. With the heron at his side, Mahito enters a world of wonder, with strange creatures, like man-eating parakeets, souls waiting to be born, secrets and just possibly, a path to happiness.
“The Boy and the Heron” is a work of great texture. Miyazaki infuses every frame with warmth and wonder, poignancy and poetry. The story can be convoluted and introspective, but at its heart, it is a simple tale, with an “Alice in Wonderland” vibe, of coming to grips with heartbreak.
The hand drawn animation is beautiful. Miyazaki uses symbolism, metaphor and fantasy to draw out his themes of grief, loneliness and fear. It’s a complex movie, with equal measures of whimsy and pathos, that shows that octogenarian Miyazaki is still working at the top of his game.
“The Red Turtle” shares the basic plot points of “Castaway” and “Robinson Crusoe” but there’s not a volleyball or man Friday in sight just a giant turtle and allegories galore.
Director Michael Dudok de Wit has made what amounts to a silent film—there’s no dialogue, only hypnotic visuals coupled with the sounds of nature, a beautiful score from Laurent Perez del Mar and the occasional grunt from it’s main character—about a man shipwrecked on a deserted island with only a giant red turtle for company.
“The Red Turtle” is a very simple film, but achieving beautifully pure simplicity like this is harder than it looks. In its humble story are broad, primal issues of man’s relationship to nature are silently explored, adding subtext to this tale of isolation. It’s elegant and poetic; its “The Old Man and the Sea” with a turtle, a movie that embraces it metaphysical leanings as well as raw emotion. It’s not a movie for children or for people looking for easily answers to life’s existential questions. It’s art house animation, a treat for the eyes as well as the brain.
Why not celebrate the big day a few days early with the gift of tickets to a unique and one time only event featuring the films of Studio Ghibli AND commentary from the one and only Guillermo Del Toro!
Here’s some info from TIFF:
Following its spectacularly popular run in the spring of 2012, Spirited Away: The Films of Studio Ghibli returns from December 13, 2013 to January 3, 2014 to delight new and familiar audiences. This dazzling 18-film showcase, including a blend of new 35mm prints and digital presentations in both subtitled and dubbed versions, pays homage to the legendary animation studio whose trademark visual style, deeply felt humanism and powerful storytelling has made them “the Disney of Japan.” TIFF is honoured to finally feature the rarely-screened masterpiece Grave of the Fireflies (1988), one of Ghibli’s supreme accomplishments and regarded by many as the greatest animated film of all time. Other highlights include beloved classics such as My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997) and Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989); the rarely seen titles Only Yesterday (1991) and The Ocean Waves (1993); and Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award®–winning Spirited Away (2001). To kick off the series, celebrated director Guillermo del Toro leads a Master Class session on December 12 with an extended introduction and post-screening discussion of Castle in the Sky (1986). The Master Class is currently off sale, however a limited number of tickets may be available to the rush line 10 minutes before the start of the screening on a first come first served basis.
