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| A strange, animated image of a boy who may be flying makes up this poster for Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron |
Mahito
is a big boy when, during WWII, a major hospital blaze takes his mother
from him. A new life in the countryside with his father and new
stepmother follows, where Mahito goes exploring in a mysterious tower and
befriends a bizarre heron.
The Boy and the Heron is written and directed by Japanese master filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Mirai shônen Konan (1979)), whose 14th feature it is. The original Japanese title translates to, 'how do you live?'.
The film is a departure from the whimsical, fantastical, gripping animation classics of Miyazaki's past, and the master's old age seems apparent in it and regrettably not as a good thing. Miyazaki is one of the greats whose films plummet in quality in his last years as a filmmaker. Despite the overwhelming praise for the film, - seemingly an automatic reaction to anything released by Miyazaki, - The Boy and the Heron is an unsatisfying film. It revels in its maker's childhood memories and idiosyncrasies in a free-form adventure that is too preoccupied to make the narrative sensible and meaningful for the viewer.
War, death, self-harm, hatred and universal destruction are some of the gloomy themes that this almost fun-free and often quiet film mulls over. The boy is hard to understand; the story, - which sees him searching for a lost stepmother in the tower with the big-nosed, heron-caped male companion, seemingly fall in love with a girl, and meet a kind of god figure, - is obscure and generally uninvolving.
The sound design is terrific, and the animation is striking but lacking in warmth, depth, sweetness and personality, - qualities that make Miyazaki's best films transcendent. The Boy and the Heron mostly leaves you cold and puzzled.
Related posts:
Hayao Miyazaki: The Wind Rises/風立ちぬ [Kaze Tachinu] (2013) - Miyazaki's beautiful but languid last film
2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Ponyo/崖の上のポニョ (Gake no Ue no Ponyo) (2008) - Magical animation masterpiece from master Miyazaki
Top 10: Best fantasy movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Howl's Moving Castle/ハウルの動く城 [Hauru no Ugoku Shiro] (2004) - Miyazaki's hugely successful, gibberish fantasy
Spirited Away/千と千尋の神隠し [Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi] (2001) - Miyazaki's highly Japanese, enormously weird story of a girl
Princess Mononoke/もののけ姫 (Mononoke-hime) (1997) - Miyazaki's grand, magical adventure masterpiece
1992 in films - according to Film Excess
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: 167.2 mil. $ and counting
= Uncertain
[The Boy and the Heron was released 14 July (Japan) and runs 124 minutes. Miyazaki began working on it after he had announced his retirement in 2013. The production dragged out for years due to his slow working pace, making producer Toshio Suzuki claim that it is the most expensive film ever produced in Japan, - but failing to back the boast up with a specific cost figure. It was released without any marketing campaign in Japan besides a single poster. The film opened #1 to a 13 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#3) and grossed 45.8 mil. $ (27.4 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 2nd biggest market. Its biggest was Japan with 56.1 mil. $ (33.6 %), where more than 5.5 mil. paid admission, and South Korea was 3rd biggest with 14.9 mil. $ (8.9 %). It is nominated for the Best Animation Oscar. It has won a BAFTA, 1/2 Golden Globe nominations and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Despite this being lauded as his career's last film, Miyazaki is reportedly working on another, yet to be announced film. The Boy and the Heron is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Boy and the Heron?
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