VIFF Review: The Boy and the Heron

A grey heron taunts Mahito when he arrives in his new home

One of the films at the Vancouver International Film Festival that sold out on the first day tickets were available was Studio Ghibli's The Boy and the Heron, which was believed to be 82-year-old Hayao Miyazaki's swan song, but apparently since then he has said he will continue working.

However The Boy and the Heron does seem to be Miyazaki's parting gift, yet another of his fantastical stories on a massive scale, with deep themes about youth and old age, selfishness and selflessness, birth and death, trauma and devotion.

At today's screening there was a very long line of people waiting in the standby queue, hoping for the slim possibility of being able to view the feature-length animation, but only a few were able to get in as almost all the seats were taken except for seats in the front.

This may not be Miyazaki's last film...

Many in the audience were young people, some even brought young kids along, but it was not a My Neighbour Totoro kind of film...

The year is 1943 and during the Pacific War, Mahito's mother dies in a fire in the hospital she works at. The boy has traumatic flashbacks and has trouble processing her passing. A few years later, Mahito is now 12 years old, and he and his father move from Tokyo to the countryside where he meets his new mother, Natsuko, who is his mother's sister. And she's pregnant.

It's a lot for him to process, and on top of it Mahito is not liked by his classmates in his new school because of his relatively wealthy background.

But he quickly notices a grey heron following him and soon it speaks to him in a human voice, taunting him about his mother... and there is an abandoned tower that looks like a brick castle on the property that takes him to another world that involves pelicans, giant parakeets and the cutest little white blobs called waruwaru.

It's interesting to note many of Miyazaki's storylines seem to involve children who are left to their own devices, usually in the countryside, and discovering a supernatural world where they make friends and allies to help them on their mission or journey. The Boy and the Heron is definitely in this category, as numerous characters help Mahito.

Mahito meets many characters who help him

It seems this 124-minute film is Miyazaki's most autobiographical film to date. His family also evacuated from the city to the countryside during the war, and he lost his mother at a young age. She was apparently known to be opinionated and was a source of inspiration for Miyazaki's films, and one can see that in films like Ponyo, Porco Rosso, and now The Boy and the Heron.

The title is a bit of a misnomer because it's not just about a boy and a heron; it was inspired by a novel written in 1937 called How Do You Live?, about a 15-year-old boy and his relationship with his uncle. The book is literally in the film, left by Mahito's mother for him to read.

The fantastical worlds that Miyazaki creates are so interesting and creative, which also results in funny dialogue to create a bit of levity.

In a time where computer-generated animation is the norm these days, Miyazaki still hand draws all the scenes, a tedious process that also results in a look that doesn't have a perfect sheen, like say those of Pixar. 

Definitely worth watching again, as it's a lot to absorb the first time around!

The Boy and the Heron

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

124 minutes