Something to watch tonight: Thursday 11 December
The Boy and the Heron (Miyazaki, 2023)
I don’t often recycle recommendations from the Substack which is strange because there are well over 500 newsletters to choose from.
Two years ago today I’d just seen Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron for the second time. What a marvel!
Here’s what I wrote back in December 2023:
After I came out of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron yesterday I texted this message to the family chat:
“Don’t read or listen to anything about Boy and the Heron before watching. Not even from me.”
This is excellent advice when it comes to getting the most out of the film but it presents something of a challenge for this newsletter. I’m going to make a list of observations that I hope are helpful but that do nothing to
spoilreveal any of the surprises that are in the film. There are many.
This is the fourth excellent film released recently by a director who is in their 80s but this the only one of the four that seems to be personally informed by age and ageing. A dreamlike remembrance of things past, if you like.
The film is set during World War II and – even during the fantasy sequences – all the characters are hungry.
The opening sequence feels like a nod to Grave of the Fireflies, a Ghibli film made by Miyazaki’s colleague Isao Takahata, released on the same day as My Neighbour Totoro in April 1988.
It’s clearly a film that could have been conceived and made by no other director than Miyazaki.
Visually, it feels inspired by Miyazaki’s love of Europe and European architecture and the European tales that he has adapted in the past: The Borrowers (which became Arietty), Tales From Earthsea (actually directed by Miyazaki’s son Goro), Howl’s Moving Castle.
It combines the weird, often nightmarish, qualities of Spirited Away with the realistic context of The Wind Rises.
In fact, it does a wonderful job of showing how fine a line there is between dreams and nightmares.
While there is a lot of visual invention – and cuteness – I don’t think this is a film that children will get much out of.
From memory, there are no Ghibli cats. Lots of different kinds of bird, but no cats.
The final scene – the final shot – is as devastating a personal statement as Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. It stunned me and – even though I generally stay through the credits – I couldn’t move for several minutes afterwards.
I’m going back to see it again on Sunday, that’s how much I loved this film.
Incidentally, Netflix also has a documentary about the seven-year production called Miyazaki and the Heron which I haven’t seen but will prioritise once this Cameron/Avatar craziness is all over.
Also reviewed in that new releases newsletter on 8 December 2023: Taika Waititi’s failure Next Goal Wins and Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé.
Where to watch The Boy and the Heron
Aotearoa, Australia, Canada, Ireland, UK and India: Streaming on Netflix
USA: Streaming on HBO Max
Saw HAYAO MIYAZAKI AND THE HERON recently and it completely changed my understanding of this film, of Miyazaki, of Takahata, and of Ghibli itself.