Ryan McNeil
This leg of the anime syllabus was mostly a fantastical spin. Like both the first leg and the second leg, there were moments where I drifted from the story at hand. However, this time around my focus was retained more than the last few selections because this time out I caught all of my entries on a big screen.
This stretch of watching – all of which were Ghibli films by the way – began with Miyazaki’s CASTLE IN THE SKY from 1986. The funny thing about this selection is that I actually haven’t the foggiest clue how I ended up choosing it, because it wasn’t on the original watchlist (no was it suggested by anyone after the fact). Part of me thinks I got it mixed up with HOWL’S FLOATING CASTLE.
Regardless, I recently heard Pixar director (and undeserving JOHN CARTER scapegoat) Andrew Stanton call it one of his favorite traditional animated films of all time, so I must have been on to something.
As I watched it with a packed house, I found myself a little shifty in its first half. The adventurous tale of the “sky pirates” and the way the kids navigated the peril felt a little reminiscent of the Astro Boy episodes I used to watch as a kid. However, as the final act began and the story finally arrived at the castle in the sky I was drawn in. That beautiful giant robot…those cute little woodland creatures, and the ultimate fate of the castle and all its would-be looters. In the final forty minutes or so, I felt like a kid again for the first time in the series.
A slightly unexpected development, and one I might not have been party to had I watched this at home amongst the usual distractions.
Not only was the next film definitely on the list, but it was the first one Miss Kittle wrote down for me last fall. I have to start this part with an anecdote:
The TIFF Bell Lightbox that presented all of these Ghibli films has been showing both dubbed and subtitled versions of the films – paying close attention to telling would-be patrons which version was showing at which time. Want to see a packed house of anime fans get restless in a hurry? Tell them they’re seeing the subtitled version and then start up the dub. (Happily, Lightbox rethreaded the film and unspooled the subtitled in a mere ten minutes).
WHISPER OF THE HEART was a curious selection, which Alex recommended as a great romance/drama between two young protagonists (sidenote: Are anime protagonists ever grown-ups?). At first folks, I was beginning to think she was a little nuts. The film seemed to be going down a similar road as 5CM PER SECOND, but without the visual elegance.
But then, right around the time my focus was waning, a handful of old dudes joined the central young couple to act as a back-up band on a truly beautiful version of John Denver’s “Country Road”. From there, the film takes off as Shinzuku feverishly writes her fanciful tale. So for the unassuming way in which it became so delightful, the precocious cat that I won’t soon forget, and the fact that I still haven’t got that damned song out of my head, this selection is a truly inspired one by Alex.
Finally, at yet another full house, I finally arrived at PRINCESS MONONOKE. My anticipation for this title was a smidge high knowing how truly beloved it is by devotees of the genre. I also found myself a bit worried given how much I’d heard about “The Second Half of Mononoke”. What the heck happened in the second half? Was the whole cast taken over by leprous goats?
With my expectations as high as they’ve been in this series since I started it all with SPIRITED AWAY, I settled in and hoped not to be disappointed. I’m happy to report that I was not even remotely disappointed.
The first half wowed me, and got me thinking that this was the sort of story Kurosawa might tell if he ever felt like incorporating scary, wormy monsters. For the first time in the series, the action showed up and showed me what happens when the format marries all of this fancifulness with some true energy and violence. As for that second half, hopefully someone can leave me a comment about what puts people off about it. For my money, it was some of the most imaginative visuals I’ve seen in the series since SPIRITED AWAY and PAPRIKA, and really played up the mysticism of the whole story.
Getting to see these three selections together on a big screen was an unexpected treat, and I suspect went quite a ways in drawing me deeper into the genre. Interestingly, I enjoyed ’em all despite crowds peppered with fans that were giggling at details I didn’t get. However, I was undeterred. I drowned in those bright colours and all of that endless energy on the screen. I came to these titles at just the right time, and now am eagerly anticipating the close of the syllabus next month.
No matter what happens next month, I think we can call this experiment a success.
Princess Mononoke is a fantastic film and I think I had a bit of worriment (being engrossed in Miyazaki films at the time) the first time I saw that scene where the protagonist (don’t ask me his name now) shoots the arrow at the warrior and it lops his arms off. I had never seen Miyazaki show violence like this. His films were more closer to War Horse than Drive in how he decided to depict violence. It was always off in a corner where you (if adult) knew it was happening but you never really watched a character have body parts chopped off or anything like that.
I think what I love about Miyazaki’s films most whenever I revisit them (other than the brilliant animation and adventure love) is how much of Japanese culture (especially in respect to their core values towards nature) comes off in them. In a lot of his films he has the idea of progress vs. a life balance. In Mononoke you have the wolf girl vs. the “Queen” who’s working to get her iron business going by breaking into the forest to get the resources but it’s blocked by this mystical creature. It’s fantastic.
I’m happy that you loved your experiment (and I have a list of films that whenever you get the time you should definitely check out, other than just completing Miyazaki’s work obviously), but yup… glad to see one more soul happy to call anime something more than flashing lights.
My memory is a littl fuzzy at the early hour, but I *think* MONONOKE was my first run-in with violence in this whole series. It caught me off-guard too (I think I let out an audible “woah!”), but took it in stride.
The progress vs. tradition story came up in one of the only anime films I saw coming into this project, FROM UP ON POPPY HILL. In that case, the crux is about Japanese life in the early sixties and its state of flux. It’s a moment in history where they were still picking up the pieces from WWII, but also looking forward to the 1964 Olympics and showing the world they’d turned a page.
The whole theme – which I do see in many of these other stories, is, as you say, fantastic.
I’d definitely be curious to see the list of additional viewing. Send it along whenever you pull it together. No promises on how quickly I’ll mow through it.
Awesome, I’m so glad you enjoyed all of these! I know WHISPER OF THE HEART is sort of off at the start, but I think it’s a great example of anime that doesn’t really fall into the stereotypes so many non-fans have of the genre- it’s more reserved. Although yes, young people, like I think I said earlier- it’s a definite Thing. I feel like I see adults star in more series than films, generally. Though Satoshi Kon deals with adults usually.
And PRINCESS MONONOKE, mind=blowing, I know! I was so happy I got to see this in a theater recently myself. I love how complex the story becomes with all the various factions and motivations that arise.
Did I not put SWORD OF THE STRANGER on there? I don’t remember. That’s a samurai one, if you’re interested. Excellent film, great action scenes. And it’s got adults! (plus one kid)
It wasn’t that WHISPER was “off”, so much as it was me thinking that it was familiar. It could just be that taking all of these in a relatively concentrated dose knocked my expectations off-kilter. But like I say – when that band started playing, I was hooked.
MONONOKE is quite complexed isn’t it? I didn’t even quite catch everything during that showing, I just went along with it in places. That’s one that I’m looking forward to watching a few more times so I can get my stories straight. But damn – talk about nuance…
You might have put THE SWORD AND THE STRANGER out there but been overruled by Allison and Helms (I do remember seeing a few titles not make the cut). It might just have been one that didn’t neccessarily drop into that “Anime 101” framing.
…but now I’ll add it to my own watchlist.
Very glad you loved these. I saw Whisper of the Heart for the first time last year on blu-ray and I agree that version of ‘Country Road’ is great. It has that classic quick ending that Ghibli films are known for. Whether or not I love that remains a debate, but it makes sense.
Castle in the Sky is my second favorite Ghibli film after Spirited Away because it makes me feel like a kid again. That sense of adventure is amazing.
It’s hard for me not to smile when I think about that final bike ride in WHISPER. I think for childlike wonder, I preferred SPIRITED AWAY. If I had switched their positions in the watching order, I might not have had the enthusiasm for the project that I do, since (as I mentioned) CASTLE felt a bit familiar to me.
To this day, I still have no clue how I ended up adding it to the queue.
Glad to see your take on these great films and that you’re liking the syllabus. Laputa and Whisper are two of my dear favorites but Mononoke just doesn’t do it for me. Spirited Away might not have been the best Miyazaki film to starts with as it sets the bar pretty high but it’s good to know, like you saw in Whisper, that not everything is all 100 miles and hour with a focus on magic and witches and stuff:P Imagine my shock going from Spirited to Totoro:)
Paprika is great to look at but suffers from its own bogged down story. Still, it’s so great you’re doing this and like reading your thoughts Ryan.
Totoro was playing at The Lightbox too, though I decided to skip it. Missing out on it and HOWL’S FLOATING CASTLE are quite likely choices I may live to regret down the road…but “only so many hours” and all that jazz.
Why doesn’t MONONOKE do it for you?
Don’t beat yourself up, those movies aren’t going away. You’ll get another chance;) But I guess for me, the ending to Mononoke just doesn’t seem worth the trip. Kind of like the end of The Matrix Revolutions…all that build up and that’s the ending. I guess since Miyazaki’s a big environmentalist all he was trying to say was “save the trees”:P But I guess I’m a hypocrite for saying I recommend Pom Poko as it has about the same “that’s it?” ending. Eh, I got weird tastes.
BTW, its Howl’s ‘Moving’ Castle. Possibly the best score of any Ghibli film imho. Also if you haven’t seen it, Ponyo comes highly recommend and maybe one of the cutest films you’ll ever see.
I think I might still have a chance to see both HOWl and PONYO at The Lightbox before the retrospective is up. Here’s hoping I haven’t missed my window…otherwise I’ll have to make do with dvd.
I would love to see Ghibli movies on big screen and that too in full house, that would really be great. I saw Castle in the Sky recently myself(working my way through Miyazaki stuff) and loved it a lot. It was great to see that many things that we know as Ghibli Trademark were there right from the start.
And to tell you the truth, I do not remember what put me off but Princess Mononoke did not work for me either. It is not bad but I have few others above it like Spirited away, Grave of the Fireflies and probably even Castle in the Sky.
So what do you have set for next installment ??
I’m a big champion of the theatrical experience, and had I known these showings were coming I might have waited even longer and caught some of the other titles at Lightbox too.
The last leg of the series, which will post in a few weeks, has me watching TEKKONKINKREET, THE GIRL WHO LEPT THROUGH TIME, and AKIRA.
A fantastic trio of films. I get how the beginning of Castle in the Sky could be a bit too, childish, I guess, but I enjoyed it a lot.
Whisper of the Heart is one of my favorites, so I like it a lot, but I can also see how you might find the protagonist a little crazy. I saw her more as deeply passionate.
And Mononoke is great adventure in the style of a great Kurosawa flick. I think the whole film is fantastic so I don’t understand what people might find in the second half that would annoy them.
Of the trios of films I’ve watched so far for this series, this is easily the cluster I enjoyed the most. In hindsight, I have to smile at how much CATSLE and WHISPER had me at first so antsy but then both drew me in so deeply. Guess it’s my own comeuppance for how many times I’ve told people to stick with film.
And I totally saw Kurosawan influences in MONONOKE! When I eventually buy myself a copy, I’ll have to make sure I line it up as a double feature with something like RAN.