Cast:
Soma Santoki (Mahito Maki), Masaki Suda (The Grey Heron), Aimyon (Lady Himi), Yoshino Kimura (Natsuko), Takuya Kimura (Shoichi Maki), Shōhei Hino (Granduncle), Ko Shibasaki (Kiriko), Kaoru Kobayashi (Noble Pelican), and Jun Kunimura (The Parakeet King) Written and Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (#1111 - Spirited Away, #1233 - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, #1480 - Castle in the Sky, #1758 - My Neighbor Totoro, #1934 - Kiki's Delivery Service)
Review:
“Being the work of a retiree, it’ll have to feel like it had to be made. I insisted no more was needed, after all. I don’t know, but it’ll be something new. A place I’d never been before.”
In 2013, upon the release of The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki had announced that he would retire from feature filmmaking due to his age. The funny thing is this was not even the first time he said this, because he stated his intent to retire after the release of both Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001). And yet, a man in his seventies retiring seemed ideal to believe. And yet, two years after his third attempt from retiring, he was approached by producer/co-creator of Studio Ghibli Toshio Suzuki) if he wanted to make a short film for exclusive screening at the Ghibli Museum (the result was Boro the Caterpillar in 2018). In 2016, he even brought plans to propose a feature film. The eventual result, done in the course of several years that had no deadlines (from the studio that used eight years to do The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) is this film, which apparently is one of the most expensive films made in Japan. On release there in July 2023, it was released with the name of a 1937 novel called How Do You Live? by Genzaburō Yoshino, which is referenced in the film (incidentally, the English translation of the book only came out in 2021); the film isn't really an adaptation of the book, and yet a good deal of folks went out in search of it online, go figure. One person Miyazaki has cited was the desire to leave something for his grandson. This is the first feature film for Studio Ghibli since Earwig and the Witch (2020), which had been directed by his son Goro (which, well, his father had thought about being behind that film, but instead here we are). This is the kind of film that was released in its native Japan with no usual marketing campaign, save for exactly one poster, as planned by Suzuki. The film was released in July in Japan, but only now in America can see the film in a theater, and for those who specialize in dubs, GKIDS spearheaded the distribution for American release.
So yes, for a good chunk of folks, you have the choice of what type of language to hear in a Ghibli film, and audiences gave it a pretty good first weekend in the States (after already making its round of impressions in Japan). Miyazaki apparently is in the middle of planning to do another film, which would be his 13th, and, well, who knows? The way to understanding the film is to see it as one where living for others is that key step in life, as opposed to just being adrift as oneself. It is a gradually paced film of 124 minutes that rewards those interested in a tale of self-discovery and absorbing animation. Ranking it among Miyazaki's previous eleven films would be a tight task for anyone, but I would say it would rank favorably among the ones I have actually seen, which is "pretty good". Wrapped in a deluge of wonderous animation and a winding road of growth within truths and lies is a film that ponders mortality and choices with seemingly semiautobiographical manners from Miyazaki (well, his mother did not die in the Pacific War, but spending eight years in treatment for spinal tuberculosis certainly does have an effect on oneself). Santoki carries this with the worthy journey required in someone that has to forge their own path with choices that have the facets of compelling drama. The struggle is transcendent while mattering more than just being familiar for the sake of it. Suda provides that spark of wily creature of mischief that is more than just the image one sees. The rest of the actors do well in the lines of making the line between fact and fiction work with general amusement and investment that goes beyond just having varying sizes of creatures (such as parakeets). The drama is in the decision to make more than anything. It is evident to see where the craft can go with dedication of time in terms of visual wonder, that much is certain. In short: the film (like Miyazaki) accepts the mortality that comes with deciding to make a place for themselves as grown people and sets forth to make something out of such things with a ready glance that isn't forced. Whenever one watches it, they will have found a pleasant experience yet again from Miyazaki in terms of engaging animation and boisterous storytelling for both youth and adult alike in ways that shouldn't be a surprise from the old master, and one should savor getting to see his particular vision on screen as long as one can.
Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.
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