Review: Princess Kaguya

A delightful hand-drawn animated film based on a folktale

On the weekend I watched my final Studio Ghibli movie of the year, Princess Kaguya, recommended by my friend YTSL, who prefers it over The Wind Rises.

Princess Kaguya was co-written and directed by Isao Takahata, based on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, a Japanese folktale.

It's about an elderly bamboo cutter who is in the forest and finds a glowing bamboo shoot. Intrigued he comes closer and discovers a miniature girl and scoops her up, believing she is a sign from heaven. He excitedly shows his wife and suddenly the girl is the size of a newborn baby. The childless couple believe she is a princess and calls her that, and in months she quickly grows into a toddler, child and then teenager.

An elderly man discovers a princess in the forest

While the girl loves being in the rural area hanging out with boys, her elderly father has other plans. He has managed to collect a lot of gold that he found in bamboo he has cut in the forest and decides to build a home for her in the city where she can be trained to be a proper lady, now known as Princess Kaguya.

Word of her beauty perks the ears of five suitors who try to woo her through a screen by professing their love to her with metaphors of exotic things that don't exist, to which she cleverly demands they must bring these items to her.

The characters in Princess Kaguya are drawn with quality of a drawing, as if pencil or charcoal strokes, and yet viewers are gently enticed into the story, which has numerous touches of humour which keep things light and fun to watch, in particular the training she goes through, and the suitors who try to win her love.

Even more interesting is the feminist quality of Princess Kaguya -- she has an independent streak and thinks for herself, but this clashes against what Japanese society and tradition expects of her -- to be demure, accept her fate and follow the life cycle of a woman. It is ironic she has the power to decide who can marry her but she cannot choose to return to her simple life.

Five suitors try to win the princess' love

Her father seems obsessed with having his daughter married off to one of these suitors, and neglects what she really wants, whereas her mother only towards the end has clued into the young woman's desire to return to their home.

At times throughout the film, there are scenes that play out that later turn out to be dreams, and so viewers may wonder what is real and what is imagined. 

In the end, is there a lesson in the end? Men should be more attentive to women's needs? Fathers should listen to their daughters? Or is it just a folktale to enjoy?

It's an interesting insight into Japanese culture, though sadly its society has not progressed fast enough to value women today. Princess Kaguya was definitely ahead of her time.

Princess Kaguya

Directed by Isao Takahata

Written by Isao Takahata and Riko Sakaguchi

137 minutes