Hayao Miyazaki, who turns 80 on January 5, has declared his retirement on more than one occasion, but he cannot help himself from enjoying his passion like so many great artists, from Steven Soderbergh to Cher.
Just to get our gears running and ready for Studio Ghibli’s new releases like “Earwig and The Witch”, here are six movies from them that would set you off a good start and maybe recall how their style and choice of art were, if the upcoming films by them decided to take a new approach!
1. My Neighbour Totoro (1998)
This masterpiece is arguably the best piece of work that Studio Ghibli has ever produced – it could just be on par with Micky Mouse.
This movie gives us a new look on the world, the thought that what if we live alongside mystical creatures or spirits who are always there to help us. This idea is inspired by Japanese culture, which Miyazaki creatively turns something that could be seen as disheartening, into something so cute and cuddly!
The story is about a pair of sisters, Satsuki and Mei, that move to the countryside to be in close proximity to their sick mother, who recuperates in a hospital there. Whilst exploring the woodland surroundings, they discovered forest spirits that come in many sizes. The most iconic spirit is Totoro, the ginormous gray rabbit-like beast with a big smile and boomerang markings on his chest.
Soon enough, “My Neightor Totoro” went from being known as a cult item to today’s children’s classic, a film of adventure and wonder for young minds, which contradicts the idea that cartoons rely on conflict and promotes quiet observation of everyday details, finding wonder in the dull instead.
2. Spirited Away (2001)
Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning marvel was the first Ghibli film to gross more than $10 million in the U.S. and is therefore the one that established most Americans’ idea of the Japanese toon studio.
The films ambition is of the likes of “Alice in Wonderland”, where a girl goes into a mysterious place to carry out a certain mission, and if not careful, she might never be able to return – but with a Japanese twist in it.
The movie portrays the ultimate expression of Miyazaki’s vision, full of iconic images and unique characters, unfolding as per the dream-like narrative of the filmmaker. In all of Miyazaki’s films, this is something to watch for, as his plots do not follow “traditional” storylines, but instead shift from scene to scene in such a way that whatever surprises are around the corner can never be completely expected.
A boy that transforms into a dragon, adorable like spirits or the mysterious ‘No-face’ that seems to haunt us – you’ll wish you didn’t have to blink just because you need to see every moment of it and not miss a single thing.
3. Grave Of the Fireflies (1988)
Astonishingly enough, the two biggest successes of Studio Ghibli were released as a double bill, which would have surprised viewers at the time, considering the radically different moods of “My Neighbor Totoro” (a featherweight fantasy) and Miyazaki’s mentor and colleague Isao Takahata’s more realistic World War II-set drama.
The animation is too often dismissed as a children’s medium, and yet “Grave of the Fireflies” (adapted from the 1967 novel by Akiyuki Nosaka) represents the unique ability of the artform to discuss subjects that are too grim for most audiences to deal with through live-action, a lesson later extended to films such as “Waltz With Bashir” and “Funan.”
Here, Takahata reveals the Japanese side of a destructive war to viewers, seeing the wrenching toll this fight takes on two children, 14-year-old Seita and his 4-year-old sister Setsuke, who were orphaned during Kobe’s U.S. fire-bombing. Seita struggles to shelter and distract his sister from the tragedies that surround them, homeless and starving in unimaginable circumstances. It’s the sparse moments of joy that remain with you, but it still wouldn’t make it up for the ultimate ending that awaits them.
4. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
Years before J.K. Rowling started writing her Harry Potter novels, Japanese author Eiko Kadono published her story of an apprentice witch, who uses her flying ability to find work in the big city.
Jiji, the wide-eyed black kitten who accompanies the 13-year-old trainee to Koriko, is almost certainly Miyazaki’s next most recognizable character after Totoro, where she attracts the interest of an aeronautics-obsessed teen boy, Tombo.
A sweet tale of young friendship based around a precocious female protagonist (another recurrent theme in Miyazaki’s filmography), “Kiki’s Delivery Service” poses a rather gentle challenge to her young heroine: Kiki learns that her powers seem to be diminishing, just one of the clever metaphors of the film for growing up, far from home and somewhat doubtful of her abilities.
Simplicity, once again, serves Miyazaki best as he invites viewers to identify with a girl who can soar on her rickety broom through the sky. (It will take more than a decade for live-action movies to catch up with this very basic special effect.)
5. Ponyo (2008)
Takahata and Miyazaki collaborated on the 1974 TV series “Heidi, Girl of the Alps” more than a decade before establishing their own studio, so it should come as no surprise that in their tenure at Ghibli, they returned time and again to the European source material.
Some, such as “Howl’s Movie Castle,” “Arrietty” and “When Marnie Was There,” provided the animators with an opportunity to feature red- and blonde-haired characters, or to set their tales in quaint cottages and towns in the European style, for which they obviously have a great fondness of.
But Miyazaki’s extremely loose retelling of “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen, which borrows only the concept of a sea creature (in this case, a rudimentary “goldfish” that looks like a bright pink sock puppet) who longs to encounter life on land and the 5-year-old human friend she makes onshore, is more successful.
The makers of Studio Ghibli also say that they do not produce their films with any specific demographic in mind, but there is no denying that “Ponyo” is younger than any of their other characteristics. That makes it an appropriate gateway drug to get your children hooked on the pleasures that Miyazaki and company have to offer.
6. Only Yesterday (1991)
Although “Ponyo” appeals most to preschoolers, “Only Yesterday” stands out as the most grown-up film from Studio Ghibli. A film about nostalgia and those half-forgotten ties to our past, rekindled by the 27-year-old Taeko’s trip to the small town where her sister now lives, is not dark or challenging in the least.
So many of the movies in the studio are about going forward, while Takahata’s introspective drama deals with looking back instead. Unmarried Taeko works in Tokyo, but she is unhappy with her life there, and so she goes “home,” where she meets Toshio, who offers to drive her around the city, unlocking childhood memories that play as a kind of parallel story.
In live-action, the movie could easily have been made, and yet animation gives the material a kind of timelessness, enabling viewers to lose or even find themselves in the reminiscences of the character. It’s a melancholic but also a very moving film and one that seems to end one way, just under the closing credits, to change the result. Stay up until the very end for a good emotion-swell that could leave you thinking for days!
Source: Variety
