Review: Kiki's Delivery Service

Kiki and Jiji fly to a seaside town

Yesterday morning I watched the remastered 4K version of Kiki's Delivery Service at the Park Theatre. Sadly the cinema only had about 20 people, but the little girls who came had bows in the hair; one child even had her dad have a bow clipped to his head.

I hadn't watched this Hayao Miyazaki feature length animation before and purposely didn't research it much before I went to see it on the big screen.

It's about Kiki, a 13-year-old girl who must leave her parents for at least a year to complete her witch training. She gathers some belongings in a satchel along with her cat Jiji and they fly off on her broom at midnight with her parents' blessing.

Kiki finds a job working in a bakery

She finds a seaside town and tries to survive day-to-day and make new friends as she starts a delivery service.

What's wonderful about this film, based on a book by Eiko Kadono's 1985 novel, is that most of the main characters are women who readily welcome Kiki and support her in her endeavours. 

There's Osono, the owner of a bakery who gives Kiki and Jiji a room in exchange for work; Ursula, an artist who helps the young witch, who in turn inspires her painting; and an elderly woman who is grateful for Kiki's help around the house.

It's so refreshing to see female characters encouraging Kiki, while Tombo is a boy who takes an instant liking to her because she can fly on a boom stick, and he wants to know how she does it.

Kiki is a strong character, resourceful and kind. When she starts meeting her delivery customers she begins to see the personalities of the recipients, in particular ungrateful children, which sharply contrasts with how she was brought up. 

Tombo is interested in Kiki as a witch

Even though Tombo is from a privileged background, he is more impressed by her independence than her dowdy appearance, unlike his pretentious friends.

Jiji is a sarcastic cat, providing most of the humour in the film; it's as if he speaks what the audience is thinking at times.

We watched the English-dubbed version, which meant the voices were of Kirsten Dunst, Jeanane Garofalo, Phil Hartman, and Debbie Reynolds. The credits had a tribute to Hartman, who was tragically killed in 1998.

Kiki's Delivery Service

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

102 minutes

Some Golden Globes Winners

Murphy giving his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes

The awards season has begun and tonight the Golden Globes were held in Los Angeles. It's hard to believe it's been a year since Michelle Yeoh won best actress for Everything Everywhere All At Once, and from there the multi-genre film went on to win big at the Oscars. She has had an amazing year flying everywhere all at once, getting married, having a grandchild -- on her husband's side -- and releasing a series called The Brothers Sun on Netflix.

This past year I saw a few films and was pleased to see some of them do well at the Golden Globes.

Yeoh on the red carpet earlier this evening

Oppenheimer, about the father of the atomic bomb won five Globes for best drama, best director nod for Christopher Nolan, best actor for Cillian Murphy, best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr, and original score.

It's quite an intense movie and if you haven't seen it yet, best to read up on J. Robert Oppenheimer first as the film goes over his background, from being a philanderer to his questionable communist links. It's unfortunate the women in his life don't get more opportunities to reveal more of their characters though. Nevertheless, both Murphy and Downey were fantastic going head to head in this story that is hard to tell, even over three hours.

One can't mention Oppenheimer with out saying something about Barbie. I liked the premise of the film and it started off funny, but then the laughs soon disappeared. Even Will Ferrell did his best to get the comedy going, but it wasn't enough. Yes, America Ferrera's monologue got cheers from women in the audience, but it seemed to be contrived like the rest of the film.

The Boy and the Heron is Studio Ghibli's first ever Golden Globe! And it comes days after Hayao Miyazaki's birthday too! This is also an intense World War II film about coming of age, destruction and reconstruction, where a boy yearns for his mother who has died, and a mysterious heron that speaks may lead him to her. 

Studio Ghibli wins for The Boy and the Heron

Toshio Suzuki is a Studio Ghibli co-founder and producer who posted a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying he was very happy to hear The Boy and the Heron won a Golden Globe, that it was "a very special feeling."

"Since the beginning of this year, Japan has been hit by a series of tragic earthquakes and accidents. When I hear the reports of many people still waiting for rescue in the disaster areas, I am filled with a sense of despair. In such a situation, I hope the bright news of winning an award can bring a smile to everyone's face, even if only a little. Together with our U.S. distribution partners, we look forward to further success with The Boy and the Heron. Thank you very much to the Golden Globes for this honor."

From this statement Suzuki must have felt it was not appropriate to go to the awards ceremony, but we are thrilled for Studio Ghibli.

And finally so pleased to see Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph win best actor in a musical or comedy film and best supporting actress in a motion picture respectively for The Holdovers. This is a film that at first seems like it is a comedy full of wry humour, but it goes way beyond it and has a message for everyone, that we never really know a person until they reveal the truth to you. It ties in very well with one of the most searched words on the Internet -- authentic.

Randolph kisses her award for The Holdovers

The next awards are the Emmy Awards on January 15, Baftas on February 18 and then the Oscars on March 10.

Review: The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises is a fictional story of Jiro Horikoshi

Since spring, VIFF has held a Studio Ghibli film festival, showing some of the best animated films during spring break, the summer and now a few more to wrap up the year. This past weekend I watched The Wind Rises for the first time and really enjoyed its message and how the story unfolded.

Just before the film began, a guest speaker gave a short introduction to explain the meaning of the title. The Wind Rises is from a line from a poem by Paul Valery called Le Cimetiere Marin, or The Graveyard by the Sea.

The romance between Jiro and Nahoko is sweet

The last stanza starts with: "The wind is rising!... We must try to live!", which is the theme of Hayao Miyazaki's 2013 swan song film (since then it's become The Boy and the Heron). Basically, it is about living life to the fullest and feeling alive.

The Wind Rises is a semi-autobiography or Jiro Horikoshi, who was the chief engineer of many Japanese fighter planes used in World War II. Originally Miyazaki published a manga series about Horikoshi from 2009-2010, and was later persuaded by his staff to make it into an animated film three years later.

His personal interest in planes comes from his father being a director of his brother's company that manufactured rudders for fighter planes in World War II. As a result planes feature in many of his films.

In The Wind Rises, the animated film follows Horikoshi's life from when he was a boy fascinated with planes and later went on to study aeronautical engineering, and later worked on designing planes for the military. However, Miyazaki added some fictional characters, including Jiro's love interest Nahoko Satomi, and fictional encounters with Italian aeronautical engineer Giovanni Battista Caproni. It's funny that he starts speaking Italian and then suddenly switches to Japanese.

Horikoshi was an engineer

The pace of the 126-minute film is never rushed, giving time for each scene to unfold and breathe before moving onto the next one. The dialogue is thoughtful and at times sprinkled with wry humour.

Many sarcastic lines come from Jiro's boss, a short man with spectacles and is basically a slave driver, but Jiro is so passionate about planes he is willing to work overtime and calmly takes on assignments even though his boss is anxious about meeting deadlines and pleasing clients. 

The romance between Jiro and Nahoko is very sweet and the storyline shows how fate -- or rather wind -- brings them together many times.

However, the plot has a strange detour when the Japanese secret police are after Jiro, so he hides in his boss's home; this storyline doesn't seem to be resolved at all in the end.

Nevertheless, The Wind Rises is a good reminder that we should not take anything for granted and appreciate what we have. Life is too short for regrets and to always move forward enjoying what we love to do.

The Wind Rises

Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki

126 minutes

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

  

Review: Ponyo

Sosuke finds a fish and names it Ponyo

Following its successful launch of showing films by Studio Ghibli during spring break, the Vancouver Film Festival has restarted the series with a part 2 and I saw one of my friend YTSL's favourites -- Ponyo!

Before her obsession with Funassyi, the pear fairy, YTSL was in love with Ponyo, a red goldfish princess that magically transformed into a little girl. YTSL even carried around a Ponyo plushie around and took many scenic photographs with her while traveling.

But I digress.

They are both thrilled by their noodle dishes

I finally saw the movie the other day and enjoyed it very much. Director Hayao Miyazaki really understands children, how they think and act which makes Ponyo a delight to watch. 

We meet her as a goldfish under the sea, escaping from her wizard father Fujimoto, who feels obligated to teach humans how they have destroyed the natural environment. As if by fate she meets a little boy, Sosuke who finds her and really cares for her as a fish in his green bucket.

There is another story about the Sosuke and his mother Lisa, and how his father is constantly away as captain of his ship. While Sosuke is an obedient child and helps his mom, she gets frustrated that her husband often breaks promises.

Lisa works in a senior's home that's conveniently next door to the primary school that Sosuke goes to; the seniors who live there are a hoot, and even better when one of them is voiced by Betty White!

Lisa passes out after drinking beer

Amidst all this Ponyo arrives and on top of that becomes a little girl. The scenes of her discovering how things work are just as one would imagine a real child reacting to things they had never seen before. 

But then one day the seas become extremely rough, causing Sosuke's father to wonder if there is a tsunami; there is a disturbance in the equilibrium of the earth, and only Ponyo and Sosuke can make it peaceful again...

The version I watched was the English one, dubbed with the voices of Liam Neeson as Ponyo's father Fujimoto, Noah Cyrus as Ponyo, and Tina Fey as Lisa. Fey's voice was not recognisable to me, while Neeson and White were.

Nevertheless the dialogue especially of Lisa was funny, reflecting the stress of marriage and relationships. Most hilarious was her irate messages to her husband via signalling lamps.

However, one did have to suspend reality to believe a goldfish could become a little girl, but Ponyo is such a cute character that viewers are keen to watch what happens next with her and Sosuke. 

Cute underwater scene with sea creatures too

Miyazaki purposely chose Sosuke to be a five-year-old boy -- not too young to take on some serious tasks, and not too old to dislike girls. 

Meanwhile the animation, particularly under the sea in the opening scene is so imaginative; later on there's a scene of a huge flood and an octopus finds its way into the entrance of Sosuke's home.

Ponyo is an enjoyable film that hardly feels like 101 minutes, that has themes of love, the environment and relationships all rolled up neatly into this story.

Ponyo

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

101 minutes

Review: Spirited Away

Chihiro inhabits a place full of spirits in Spirited Away

I'm still trying to digest what I saw in the afternoon showing of Hayao Miyazaki's 2001 masterpiece Spirited Away, an animated fantasy story about a girl who matures very quickly, encounters spirits and learns a lot about human nature.

Ten-year-old Chihiro Ogino and her parents are driving to their new home in the countryside when her father takes a short cut and they stop in front of a tunnel. At first she is scared going in, but her parents check it out, and not wanting to be left alone, Chihiro goes with them.

Her parents start eating food in a deserted place

On the other side they discover a deserted amusement park, emblematic of Japan's boom years. Her father smells something delicious and follows it to a restaurant that is strangely open but no staff inside. Both parents sit down to eat, but Chihiro doesn't think it's right and goes off exploring and discovers she is in a spirit world.

When she goes back to the restaurant, she finds her parents have gorged so much they have morphed into pigs and to save them, Chihiro needs to work for Yubaba, the female owner of a bathhouse for spirits, and it's not an easy task.

Yubaba is a granny with a massive head, but in fact she is a witch, and all her staff are indentured labourers; she has taken their real names so they are stuck in the spirit world.

Yubaba is a pretty scary person to deal with!

As daunting as her task is, at each step of the way, someone helps Chihiro, perhaps because they think she can be of use later on? Or they are keen to see her succeed?

There's a lot of metaphors in the film, as previously mentioned her parents like gluttons eating every dish in sight that refers to human consumerism, while a spirit called No Face (he wears a mask) tempts the bathhouse staff with "gold" that magically appears in his hand, and so they will do whatever he wants as long as he pays them handsomely, a reference to greed.

When No Face tries to get Chihiro to accept his "gold", she refuses, which shows how focused she is on her goal of saving her parents, and that money cannot corrupt her.

The spirit characters are quite an eclectic bunch, from dust sprites that lug lumps of coal to a fiery hot furnace, to a trio of green heads that hang out with Yubaba, and for an elderly lady who also flies like a bird, she sure has a gigantic baby to take care of!

Spirits like No Face help Chihiro along the way

Spirited Away not only has adventure, fantasy and spirits, but also a romantic element when Chihiro meets Haku, a boy who helps her initially, and has been cast under a spell. 

Chihiro's growing maturity is evident, from a girl miffed that she has to start school elsewhere and only cares about her bouquet of flowers, to being determined to do whatever she has to do to save her parents, while learning how the world of work can be physically demanding.

The storyline for Spirited Away has been so well thought out that it's no wonder Miyazaki won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Best Asian Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards, and Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival among others.

It's a film that resonates with many people who saw it 22 years ago and it continues to inspire them to this day. Even this morning I heard a reference to the film in a radio interview. It was a conversation with Tasli Shaw, an artist and boat captain who makes portraits of marine mammals. When she was asked her all time favourite movie, she immediately answered, Spirited Away.

Romance blooms between Chihiro and Haku

Spirited Away

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

125 minutes