As far as Miyazaki films go, I’m agonizing over which is his best film anyway. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t choose the one I could consider the best. All of his films have their own charm, but at the same time they share a common denominator that prevents one from rising above the other. It’s the same with The Boy and the Heron, which is why I’ve come to the conclusion that Miyazaki doesn’t have a better film, at least not in the traditional sense. He’s a bit like Wes Anderson in that when a director has developed a very coherent and distinct style and themes that he focuses on, it’s hard to pinpoint an example.
Just as, for example, Anderson’s “The French Mission” could be called the most Andersonian film, Miyazaki also has “The Boy and the Heron.” At first glance, the new film doesn’t seem to contain anything that hasn’t been seen in any of Miyazaki’s previous films; rather, it’s full of lessons, visual language and themes that have already been used before. This is Miyazaki’s most Miyazaki film, and if you think about it in this dimension, it can truly be said to be the old master’s best film.
If you have already seen a Miyazaki or Ghibli film, then you already know more or less what the film is about, because the themes are more or less the same: growth, pain, the world of the living and the dead, war, the connection between man and nature, etc. – it’s very universal. More specifically, the fulcrum of the story is Mahito, 12 years old, who in 1943, after the bombing of Tokyo in which his mother was killed, moved with his father to live in the countryside, together with the new woman, Mahito’s. aunt, who is to become the boy’s new mother.
Adaptation and pain are difficult and Mahitos withdraws, becomes cold. Even a strange heron sets out to terrorize the boy in the countryside. The heron reveals that Mahito’s mother is alive, but trapped in another world, accessible through a mysterious tower once built by Mahito’s mysterious great-uncle. When at a certain point Mahito’s aunt Natsuko also disappears, the boy rushes to save them both, a magical adventure begins, during which the boy finds himself.
“The Boy and the Heron” Author/Source: SCANPIX / AP
“The Boy and the Heron” refers to Miyazaki’s early work, but also to the animator’s childhood. What you see on the screen is therefore very personal: on the one hand Miyazaki said that his first memory is the bombing of Tokyo. On the other hand, the film is very familiar, as it plays with references to the director’s previous films, offering both the joy of recognition and a kind of nostalgic slap.
Perhaps more reminiscent of the movie “Ghosts”, the structure and building blocks are quite similar in some places. While Miyazaki’s films have generally had a female protagonist, here he took a different route in order to insert himself into the film. However, both films focus on growing up, in both a mysterious tunnel leads to another hidden world, whose inhabitants would be happy to get under the skin of the main character, where a young man must save himself and his parents. “The Boy and the Heron” simply has the fate of entire worlds at stake in addition to internal character development, which means “The Boy and the Heron” is larger in scale. Plus, it’s much denser.
It is because of this density that the viewer sometimes tends to lose the thread of the conversation. Sometimes it was difficult to find that moment to think about the more philosophical questions that Miyazaki asks the viewer. These thoughts were often expressed very quickly, but then immediately followed by a more sudden scene or a new sequence of symbols, which is why I didn’t have time to calmly think about what it all meant. The film then requires a second viewing to realize all the minor thoughts on their own.
In the big picture, the central theme of the film is to accept the inevitability of life, move forward, and find beauty in an imperfect world. In the film, Mahito has the opportunity to create a completely new world, free from evil and problems, but he decides to return to his home world, to let go of the pain, to transform what was into love and beautiful memories. With his potentially final film, Miyazaki wants to instill one last hope in this world, where there is less and less of it due to wars, pandemics, increasingly expensive living conditions and everything in between.
In terms of animation, the film is top notch and you can clearly feel that it took 10 years to make. The eye rests on a fluid and soft sequence of hand-drawn frames. The film opens with the bombing of Tokyo, a fire in which the boundaries between people and fire disappear, which makes the atmosphere extremely feverish. Furthermore, the film also has that crisp Miyazaki animation style, whether expressed in the twitching of the bow hand (an obvious reference to “Princess Mononoke”), Mahito’s mother’s melting water, the tangled boys , or even in the way Mahito runs. Thanks to this, the characters are full of life and energy.
In the film the boundary between the beautiful and the grotesque is thin. One moment we see a graceful heron, but then it opens its toothy mouth and caws menacingly in human speech. Or colorful, cute, human-sized anthropomorphic parrots, who at first glance are very cute, but a moment later their true bloodthirsty nature is revealed. It seems scary, but at the same time also absurd, giving the film its dual character, which takes place in the liminal space of dreams and real life.
“The Boy and the Heron” Author/source: Image from the film
And who better to go hand in hand than Hayao Miyazaki and Joe Hisaishi, who wrote the music for all but one of Miyazaki’s films? It is music that plays the fundamental role in establishing the identity and atmosphere of Miyazaki’s films. If in general “The Boy and the Heron” is characterized by a certain constant and quiet melancholy, which is created through the synergy of music and the sometimes rather calm visual rhythm, brighter notes also sound from this sadness – hope.
Miyazaki made one of the best films of the year and one of the best films in his filmography. It is a truly magical adventure that conveys the nostalgia of childhood and the joy of discovery and teaches that remembering is important, but we must always move forward. In addition to the title of director, Hayao Miyazaki also deserves the titles of “teacher” and “philosopher”. Thank you, Miyazaki-san.
2023-12-28 06:07:00
revision-the-boy-and-the-heron-is-miyazakis-best-film-movie
#Revision #Boy #Heron #Miyazakis #film #Movie