Ramblings on Cinematic Matters
Having just finished a Tokyo Olympics this month, let’s look back at the last time the Olympics were held in that part of the world. Next in my Ghibli retrospective, I review From Up on Poppy Hill. Among Ghibli fans, one occasionally hears the plaintive wish to live within a Ghibli movie, or perhaps some …
Continue reading “Japanese Graffiti: From Up on Poppy Hill Review”
Next in my Ghibli retrospective comes The Secret World of Arrietty. In reviewing a movie about diminutive—as in, only a few inches tall—people, the temptation is to use a lot of adjectives that are variants on the theme of small size. I must admit I cannot resist this temptation, if only because those adjectives are …
Continue reading “Small Pleasures: The Secret World of Arrietty Review”
I continue my Studio Ghibli retrospective with a look at Ponyo. Studio Ghibli, as a globally preeminent maker of animated features, inevitably invites comparisons with Disney. Perhaps no Ghibli movie invites such comparisons more than Ponyo (2008), or Ponyo on the Cliff, as its original Japanese title goes. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Ponyo …
Next in my Studio Ghibli retrospective, I turn to the not-quite-beloved Tales from Earthsea. Back in the 1980s, Peter Hyams wrote and directed a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Titled 2010: The Year We Make Contact, the sequel provided a follow-up to the basic events of the original movie but was …
Continue reading “The Anti-Hero’s Journey: Tales from Earthsea Review”
Next in my Studio Ghibli retrospective comes Howl’s Moving Castle. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, boasts perhaps the most memorable opening shot of any Ghibli movie. We open with a near-blank screen, as the frame is filled with fog that shrouds the landscape. Through the mist, the silhouette of some …
Continue reading “A Beautiful Contraption: Howl’s Moving Castle Review”
Next in my Ghibli retrospective, I look at The Cat Returns. The Cat Returns (2002), directed by Hiroyuki Morita and written by Reiko Yoshida, marks the beginning of an interesting new phase in Studio Ghibli’s work and hence in my retrospective of Ghibli movies. The studio’s previous movie, Spirited Away, was a turning point in …
Continuing with my Studio Ghibli retrospective, I turn to the Big One: Spirited Away. Among Studio Ghibli’s movies, Spirited Away (2001) is the crown jewel. Certainly it is the most commercially successful movie the studio ever produced, grossing over 30 million yen and standing for almost 20 years as the top-grossing movie in Japanese history …
Continue reading “A World Transformed: Spirited Away Review”
Next in my Studio Ghibli retrospective, I look at My Neighbors the Yamadas. Imagine the kind of single-panel cartoon made famous by the New Yorker. Such cartoons are typically ironic, perhaps somewhat satirical, and, above all, elliptical. The limitations imposed by one drawing with a caption often require you, the reader, to fill in the …
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I continue my Studio Ghibli retrospective with a look at the outstanding Princess Mononoke. “This book is like lightning from a clear sky…[I]n it heroic romance, gorgeous, eloquent, and unashamed, has suddenly returned…here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron; here is a book that will break your heart.” The passage …
Continue reading “A Myth Realized on Screen: Princess Mononoke Review”
Twice in a generation, Disney has tried its hand at the tale of Mulan; let’s see how these efforts compare! In this dual review, I look at Mulan (1998) and Mulan (2020). The Ballad of Mulan is a Chinese poem, from the fifth or sixth century C.E., of a young woman who disguises herself as …
Continue reading “Devoted Daughter, Wartime Hero: Mulan (1998) and Mulan (2020) Review”
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