First impressions of Hayao Miyazaki how do you live? It comes from the fact that the movie was released in Japan. No U.S. release plans for the film have been announced yet.
10 years have passed since then the wind risesat the time, fans of Japan’s famous Studio Ghibli expected that the film would be Hayao Miyazaki’s last project, the director of classic works such as: My Neighbor Totoro and spirited away. But Miyazaki, who famously retired multiple times without noticeable interruptions in his work, returned at the age of 82 with another animation project. how do you live? , known internationally as boy and heron. And while that lengthy development period strained Studio Ghibli’s resources, the budget would be quickly recouped by the same people just watching over and over again until they finally got the hang of it. .
After just one viewing, it seems that the only question Miyazaki wants to answer clearly is why. how do you live? It wasn’t marketed at all. Until the premiere there was no trailer Or an advertising campaign promoting a new Studio Ghibli film… because any scene or shot in this movie will only confuse the audience if taken out of context. Adorable human-sized man-eating parrots and hordes of rubbery grannies eating pudding on their bones are probably just a few of the things that made Ghibli’s marketing department cry.
Let’s start from the beginning. In Japan during World War II, a boy named Mahito moves to the countryside when his mother dies and his father marries Natsuko, the sister of his late wife. Suddenly, a heron begins to harass Mahito, finally telling him in a human voice that his mother is alive. Mahito follows the bird to a strange tower built by his great-uncle and enters another world where he seeks his biological mother, tries to save his stepmother, and meets fantasy challenges while finding new growth. deal with.
Photo: Katharina/Vandeville/Gamma Rafo via Getty Images
On the surface, all of this is on par with a Miyazaki movie course, with trace elements. spirited away, My Neighbor Totoro, again Kiki’s Delivery Service. Let’s face it, the confusion turns out to be a parakeet, a causal-breaking out-of-time character, and a heron a little gnome-like man wearing a live bird-like suit. It starts when Are all of these elements intentional trolls from a director known for his acerbic personality, to put it in sensitive terms? Perhaps, but there seems to be a statement behind this madness: It’s as if Miyazaki is declaring, “This is my life’s work.” I don’t care if you enjoyed it. good bye. “
how do you live? It seems to refer to past Ghibli movies. Mahito, like in Satsuki and Mei, is forced to leave town because of her mother. My Neighbor Totoro. The tower, which takes Mahito to another world, whose construction seems alive and impossible, and with the addition of a magical flame scene, is no less reminiscent. howl’s moving castle. But the most important echo is no wind, His previous work, The Last Miyazaki, was also set in World War II and dealt with the theme of creation and how it borders on destruction. how do you live? goes back to that idea, but it feels like Mr. Miyazaki is talking more about himself and his own creative process.
A few points suggesting that Mahito intends to represent Miyazaki himself. In the profile about the screenplay and director, BBC wrote Miyazaki also said he had a strong bond with his mother, and how during World War II he took refuge in the countryside with his father, who, like Mahito’s, made parts for fighter planes.
There’s also the fact that Mahito, like Miyazaki, is deeply angry for much of the film. Miyazaki isn’t just a mean person. in numerous interviews, he is cynical and appears to be very nihilistic. A lifelong environmental activist, he often gives the impression that he does not believe in the long-term survival of mankind in the face of technological and industrial advances.The theme is particularly prominent in his films. Princess Mononoke, There humans (in a metaphor on the nose) murder forest gods in the name of progress. Mahito shows no aversion to modernity or technology, but clings to the comfortable world of the past.
title how do you live? “” refers to Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 novel of the same name (director Miyazaki’s favorite childhood novel), which Mahito finds and reads in the film. The book tells the story of a 15-year-old boy living in pre-war Japan (essentially a different world compared to World War II and the turmoil of the post-war period), who displays courage and bravery and respects those around him. I want to know more about the world. This is an old-fashioned story from another era that may not apply to today’s world.
And there is also a connection between Mahito and the world of Japanese mythology. For example, the numerous references to Mahito’s stepmother Natsuko closely resembling her deceased mother seem to foreshadow a later tragedy: her disappearance into a fantasy world.may be helpful The myth of Amenowakahiko and Ajisukitakahikone, which tells us that we are unlucky to comment on the similarities between the living and the dead. Amenowakahiko also died in circumstances related to bows, arrows and birds, which is reflected in Mahito’s weapon of choice and his companion heron in the film. There’s also a scene where Mahito is ushered behind his pregnant stepmother’s curtains and breaks the rules to peek around the curtains, almost catastrophically. That scene shares some superficial similarities with the following myth. Princess Toyotama and Hoori.
Like Yoshino’s novels, these myths represent a bygone era, and given how fantasy worlds are depicted, this idea seems important. how do you live? It ages, crumbles, and decays. It is tempting to see these themes as Miyazaki looking back on his own death and the disappearance of his own era.
The fantasy elements in this film are very beautiful, and of course there are shots of classic Ghibli dishes that look incredibly delicious. But they come with a certain sadness for the days gone by and a completely non-sentimental realization that they can’t be brought back. It all feels like the director is taking one last look at his career before stepping down. how do you live? It has all the ingredients for a perfect swan song. For the time being, I don’t know if that’s true, or if Miyazaki’s retirement is firm this time as well. In the meantime, his fans can watch this film again and again, always finding something new and exciting in it. Last movie or not, it’s still Hayao Miyazaki’s work, and they’re worth rewatching almost endlessly.
how do you live? Currently being released regularly in Japan, on an IMAX screen. No U.S. release date has been announced, but GKIDS has acquired the film and will release it later this year. boy and heron. Polygon will update this article once plans for the film’s US theatrical release are revealed.
