Ranking Hayao Miyazaki

If I had to pick I’d say that Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki is the greatest director of animation in cinema history. His last film, The Wind Rises which I saw at TIFF last year, will go into general release this week. Miyazaki announced it would be his last film – each of the last few films he made took longer and longer the complete and he worried that now that he’s in he is 73 he wouldn’t finish another one. He leaves behind an 11 film resume (and countless shorts, as well as work in TV and manga) – and each of his 11 films has something to recommend them – he really did not make a weak film in his career, although some are obviously better than others. Here is how I would rank his 11 films.

11. The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

Miyazaki’s debut film is an extension of a television series (which he directed several episodes for), which itself is an extension of a manga series. The film is an exciting action film, in which the main character Lupin, a thief discovers the money he has just stolen from a Monte Carlo Casino are counterfeit, and his pursuit of the truth leads him to a strange castle in the small country of Cagliostro. There really is nothing wrong with the film – it is an exciting film as far as this type of thing goes, with excellent action sequences (including a wonderful chase sequence). And there are hints at what Miyazaki would do later in his other films. But if I value it a little lower than his other work; it’s mainly because it doesn’t much feel like a Miyazaki film. The other 10 films feel more part of a group, with this one being a very entertaining outlier.

10. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

Kiki is a young witch, and like all witches, she has to leave home and live by herself for a year when she turns 13. She flies off to the big city, with her talkative black cat companion, and while there experiences several crisis while trying to deal with normal adolescence, and a crisis of confidence. There is nothing wrong with Kiki’s Delivery Service – it is a beautiful film from beginning to end, and it tells its story with sensitivity. This is a Miyazaki film aimed more at children than adults though – everything here is perhaps a touch too simplistic, everything a little too cute for its own good. I look forward to showing this to my daughters one day, yet it never quite captures the magic of Miyazaki’s best work.

9. Ponyo (2008)

Ponyo is Miyazaki’s version of the Little Mermaid story about a small fish girl, who wants to see more of the world and ends up bonding with a little boy on land. The film is rather simple – it has been made to appeal to young children – and yet there are magical moments in it – not least of which is the wordless opening sequence, under the sea. The love story between what are basically two five year olds is a little strange to say the least – and yet Miyazaki makes it feel genuine. The film is beautiful from start to finish – and shows Miyazaki’s vast imagination and talent in every frame. If I rank it a little lower than most Miyazaki films it’s because like Kiki’s Delivery Service it is perhaps a touch too simple – and yet doesn’t quite have the same magical quality of My Neighbor Tortoro. It comes closer to Miyazaki’s best – but is still a notch or two below.

8. Porco Rosso (1992)

Porco Rosso is a little bit of a transitional film for Miyazaki. Made after two films made undeniably for children (My Neighbor Tortoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service), and before his move to darker, more adult fare in Princess Mononoke, came this film which is somewhat of a blend between the two. It is about Porco Rosso, a WWI flying ace who flew for Italy, who has been cursed to look like a human with a pig’s head. The story is relatively simple and straight forward – between the wars, Porco Rosso makes his living as a solitary bounty hunter of air pirates, until his supremacy is challenged by an American, and the two square off. But it’s themes are slightly more mature than that of his previous films – there is darkness at the edges of Porco Rosso. Porco is a little older than most anime protagonist – he has been worn down by life, by those lost in the war, and his grief over them. This is still a relatively simple film – beautiful animated as always by Miyazaki – but there are signs of where Miyazaki was going to go next in this film, that make it one of his most interesting, if not quite one of his best.

7. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)

Howl’s Moving Castle looks as beautiful and is as visually inventive as anything Miyazaki has ever done. The title castle – which as the name implies is owned by Howl and moves – is one of Miyazaki’s greatest visual inventions, and the source of never ending discoveries. The story, about a young girl cursed to look like an old woman, who seeks out the title wizard to try and reverse the curse, doesn’t quite live up to the best of Miyazaki’s movies. The story seems more like an excuse to hang his wonderful and exciting animated set pieces on – and when they come, they are truly awe inspiring. But the best Miyazaki movies are more than just a sum of great moments – they are about the perfect fusion of visuals and story, and Howl’s Moving Castle doesn’t quite achieve that balance. It is still light years better than most animated films you will see in any given year – but in terms of Miyazaki’s resume, it’s a notch or two below his best work.

6. Castle in the Sky (1986)

Miyazaki’s love of flying is on full display is this wonderful animated adventure about a young boy who saves a girl who is being chased by pirates, the army and secret agents – and have to race to find a floating castle. As with many of Miyazaki’s earlier efforts, the story here is fairly straightforward – you know where it’s going from the beginning, and it never truly surprises you. Having said that, this ranks among the most beautiful of all Miyazaki movies – and every frame of the film is filled with invention and something wondrous to look at. Miyazaki loves inventing strange machines – and the flying contraptions he comes up with in this film are among his best work. Much of the film is silly – wonderfully so – as the various bad guys are slapstick caricatures – but they work. It is only near the end of the film where Castle in the Sky gets a little more serious – and Miyazaki’s not overly optimistic view of humanity is on display in the final confrontation in that Castle in the Sky. Miyazaki would go on to deepen the themes in this film in later, better, more complete films – but for what it is, Castle in the Sky is still a wonder to behold.

5. The Wind Rises (2013)

Miyazaki’s last film is his least fantastical – it takes place firmly in the real world, and although there are some dream sequences, even they do not contain his usual assortment of magical creatures and machines. Instead, he tells the story of a Japanese aviation engineer who spends his life making beautiful planes – and then watches as the Japanese military uses them as death machines in WWII. To offset this, the film is also a gentle love story between the engineer and the sickly woman he meets – first as a child and then years later. To some, Miyazaki wasn’t hard enough on the engineer, who creates flying death machines. To others, he was a traitor to Japan for calling them too militaristic and questioning what they did in the war. The fact that he angered both sides probably means he struck the right balance. While The Wind Rises isn’t the fantasy masterwork that most of Miyazaki's films are – that doesn’t mean the film isn’t full of wonderfully animated moments and sequences – the earthquake and fire in the first act in particular are stunning – or that this film is any less beautiful than anything else he has ever created. This film is sadder than most however – a fitting note to go out on for the master animator.

4. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

For a few of Miyazaki’s movies I have pointed out that there are rather simple – and that’s true. Perhaps none of his films is as simple and straight forward as My Neighbor Tortoro, but while I knocked some of the other down a notch or two because of their simplicity, I cannot do the same to this film. Yes it is simple – but its simplicity works in its favor. This is a gentle film about childhood – two sisters with a father who works a lot and a mother in the hospital, who invent some imaginary creatures to help watch over them (or perhaps the creatures are real). There is no false drama here, no bad guys, no action sequences, just a simple film that remembers what it was like to be a child, and get lost in your own imagination for a while in order to protect yourself from the world. It is also one of the most beautiful films ever made – by Miyazaki or anyone else for that matter. While Kiki’s Delivery Service or Ponyo are perhaps too simple, My Neighbor Tortoro gets the balance between simple and profound just about perfect. One of the first films I plan to show my daughters when they gets a little older.

3. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Miyazaki’s second feature is clearly the best of his early work – a complex film about a post-apocalyptic world where humanity is threatened with extinction at the hands of the giant insects that live in the jungle that surround their kingdoms. It’s been 1000 years since humanity all but destroyed itself – and the planet – and they have teetered on the brink of extinction since. The story focuses on Nausicaa, who lives in the Valley of the Wind, one of the few places still inhabitable by humans. Eventually, she will come into contact with two different kingdoms – one of whom wants to wipe out the forest and everything in it, and plans on releasing an ancient spirit to do so – a plan Nausicca is against. Like Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa is the story of a strong princess at its core, and also has a serious ecological message behind it. The film’s plot is complex – but never confusing, and the characters are always interesting. There really are no bad guys in the film – just people with differing perspectives. As always, the film is a wonder for the eye from beginning to end –with an amazing array of insects and flying machines, and some great action sequences. Miyazaki would take a step towards more childlike films for more than a decade after making this film – but this is the film that most clearly showed where he was heading – and it is a great film unto itself as well.

2. Princess Mononoke (1997)

Princess Mononoke tells an incredibly complex story – set during the dawn of the Iron Age, which according to the movie is when man and nature started speaking different languages, and threw the balance of power off. It centers on a prince, who we see fight a boar monster with the flesh of snakes and win – but become scarred in the process. He sets out into the forest to discover what caused such a strange creature – eventually meeting the title character – a child raised by a wolf god – and a village that is started work in iron – which gives them one kind of power, while stripping them of their connection with nature. Princess Mononoke is not a simple film – Miyazaki has always resisted such simplistic terms as good and evil – and would rather have complex characters, whose point of view we can understand, even when they are at odds with ours, and one another. He has also created one of the best looking animated films ever created. The story is complex, and has moments of shocking violence – but not in the way some anime is shocking with blood and gore, but because the violence shocks even the participants in the action. This was the first Miyazaki film I ever saw – and remains one of the very best.

1. Spirited Away (2001)

Would Spirited Away get my vote for the best animated film of all time? It just might. Miyazaki made several great films in his life, but none of them really come close to me to Spirited Away. Once again, the story seems rather simple at first – a girl and her parents are on a car trip, when her parent’s actions turn them into pigs, and the girl becomes a servant at a bathhouse – whose clients and staff represent pretty much every type of creature you can possibly imagine – and some you never could. She has her name stolen, and must get it back, or else she’ll be trapped forever. That’s the story – it’s probably the most fantastical and inventive of anything Miyazaki has done – but it’s only a small part of the film’s appeal. The rest of it is the gorgeous animation that fills every frame with images that would be impossible in live action – even with the best CGI imaginable. Miyazaki is not afraid to take his time with the story – in fact he often seems at his best in the film’s quietest moments. If this isn’t the greatest animated film of all time, it certainly ranks right near the top of the list – and for me, is easily the best film Miyazaki has ever made.

Movie Review: The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki.
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki based on his comic.
Starring: Hideaki Anno (Jirô Horikoshi), Mirai Shida (Kayo Horikoshi), Jun Kunimura (Hattori), Hidetoshi Nishijima (Honjô), Miori Takimoto (Naoko Satomi), Masahiko Nishimura (Kurokawa), Mansai Nomura (Caproni), Steve Alpert (Kastrup), Shinobu Ôtake (Kurokawa's Wife), Morio Kazama (Satomi).

Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises is apparently the animation master’s final film. Yes, he’s said that before, but this time it’s likely true. At 72, he says he’s slowed down and that it took five years to make the film – and if he started one now, it would take even longer, and he may not finish. If this truly is his last film, than it is a fitting way for arguably the greatest director of animation in cinema history to end his career. The film certainly does feel like a final film – the type of film an aging master feels he simply has to make before he dies. The film may not quite be the masterpiece of Spirited Away (2002) or Princess Mononoke (1997) – but it’s still one of his best.

The movie is a heavily fictionalized biopic of Jiro Horikoshi – the visionary aeronautical engineer who helped push Japan to the forefront of airplane technology in the years leading up to WWII. The movie has already come under fire from some who think it is an apology for a man who designed instruments of death – while at the same time, it has come under attack from some in Japan for portraying its military in such a negative light (neither controversy seems to have affected attendance – in Japan, it’s already a huge hit). The first criticism is ridiculous. From the outset, the movie addresses the conflict between those who build planes – and those who use them. The film has a recurring set of dreams, involving Italian airplane designer Caproni, who tells Jiro that “planes are beautiful dreams” and warns against them being used as weapons. Throughout the movie, Jiro is thoroughly uninterested in the military use of his planes – at one point wanting to eliminate guns from his latest fighter to make it lighter, and give it the ability to movie quicker. The movie even ends with Jiro lamenting that none of his beautiful planes made it back from the war (with Caproni saying “there was nothing to come back to”). The second criticism is fairer – Miyazaki certainly doesn’t portray the Japanese military in a positive light (they are basically buffoons), and there are also disturbing elements referencing the thought police – but that’s part of his point in the movie. He has been openly critical of the current government’s plan to rebuild the Japanese military. It certainly didn’t bother me in the least.

The movie charts not  only the leaps in airplane technology spearheaded by Jiro, but also Japan’s transition into being a more modern country. One of the most gripping sequences in the movie happens near the beginning – where an earthquake leads to fires that destroy much of the country. And Japan is still a country where epidemics of TB were still commonplace. Through the course of the movie, the planes Jiro gets built become more modern – and are no longer pulled to the runway by oxen – and the country changes as well. Miyazaki doesn’t shy away from saying that not all these changes were for the better.

In addition to being a movie about planes, the film is also a gentle love story (some critics have already complained it’s too much Love Story for them – but screw the cynics). For much of the movie, Jiro seems lost in his dreams of flight – but then he meets a beautiful young woman (they are brought together by the wind – a recurring motif in the film). They love each other deeply – but she is ill, and he is driven by his work. And yet, they do not let these obstacles stop them. The love story, as obvious as it may be, gives the movie it’s emotional core.

Of course, as with any movie by Miyazaki, the animation in impeccable. In most of his other films, he has created strange mystical creatures, and fantastical worlds, but other than the dreams sequences, Miyazaki doesn’t create anything fantastical this time out. But that doesn’t mean the film isn’t a wonder to behold – it is, from the aforementioned earthquake, to the flying sequences (both real, and in the dream world), and even the quieter moments, Miyazaki’s film is a wonder to behold from start to finish.

In North America, animation is still mainly seen as kids’ stuff. In the past few years, even the consistently excellent Pixar has faltered a little bit, meaning it’s been a few years since I saw an animated film I thought was truly wonderful. While The Wind Rises isn’t quite up to the level of the best Miyazaki has ever made – it’s pretty close. It is easily the best animated film I’ve seen in a number of years – and a fitting way for Miyazaki to end his career.

Note: This review is based on a screening at TIFF 2013, and is posted because apparently the film will be released for an Oscar qualifying run in New York and LA this Friday. The version I saw was in Japanese, with subtitles, which is what is being released this week. The film will apparently go wider sometime in 2014 – when it will have been dubbed into English.

The Best Movies I Have Never Seen Before: My Neighbor Tortoro (1988)

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki.
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki.

There is a simplicity to the films of Hayao Miyazaki that is quietly beautiful. He is probably the greatest animator in film history. He has made 10 features – and somehow I managed to see all of them except for My Neighbor Totoro (one of his most famous ones) years ago. There is not a clunker in the bunch – although his first film The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) is markedly different than his other films, and doesn’t have the same look or feel to them.

My Neighbor Totoro is perhaps the simplest of all Miyazaki films – and I do not mean that as an insult. This is a leisurely paced film that I think it ideal for very young viewers. The film takes place in an innocent world. This is not a film that amps up the action, introduces bad guys or fight scenes or even quick movement. It is a purely innocent film, even at the end, which does involve a search, the results are never really in doubt.

The film is about two sisters – Satsuki and Mei – who along with their father move into a new house, out in the Japanese country. They have moved to be closer to the hospital where their mother is staying with some undefined long term illness. While the children miss their mother, they are excited about moving into a new home. They haven’t been there long before they encounter the first of many, perhaps imaginary, creatures – which may just be dust bunnies, but to the girls, they appear to have eyes, and legs and can run away when you try and catch them. Eventually there will be more creatures – when Satsuki is at school, Mei wanders off into the forest, and first encounters a small totoro – a little triangle creature, who eyes her suspiciously, and tries to run away. Eventually, she will crash through some sort of unseen barrier and come face to face with a giant totoro – a hulking, furry mass, while he sleeps. Mei curls up on his belly and is quickly fast asleep herself. There really isn’t much plot in the movie to speak of. It is about these two girls and their friends, who whether they are imaginary or not, doesn’t really matter.

The film is, as all Miyazaki films are, a wonder to behold visually. Miyzaki’s visuals are magical in a way that can only be done in animation. His Totoro’s are big, round, hulking creatures, but they are never scary. In perhaps the films best scene, the two girls go to meet their father’s bus – and as the rain picks up, and the night grows darker, they become scared – and the Totoro appears by their side to help them get through the minutes. A magical, 18 legged cat bus pulls up and wisks him away right before their father’s bus arrives – he is no longer needed, and away he goes.

I’m not sure what else needs to be said about the film. It is a simple, beautiful film about children, for children. It doesn’t offer quite the pleasure of Miyazaki’s masterpieces – Princess Mononoke (1997) or Spirited Away (2001), and is a probably a notch or two below other Miyazaki films like Nausicca (1984) or Castle in the Sky (1986) as well. Those films offer more plot, although none of the false theatrics of American animated films, and are perhaps even more beautiful to behold than this film. But I also know that My Neighbor Totoro will be among the first films I show my daughter. She was with me when I watch it this time – but at only 18 months old didn’t understand it obviously. Yet there were moments when I saw her staring at the screen, unable to look away (normally, she completely ignores the TV if it’s on). I want her first movie experiences to be pleasant and wondrous – and that pretty much perfectly describes My Neighbor Totoro.

Movie Review: From Up on Poppy Hill

From Up on Poppy Hill
Directed by:  Goro Miyazaki.
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki & Keiko Niwa based on the comic by Tetsurô Sayama and Chizuru Takahashi.

One of the great things about the work of Hayao Miyazaki is that although his movies are often fantasies, they remain grounded in the real world. Yes, his films are filled with wizards and witches, floating castles, spirits and all sorts of strange creatures, but when at their most basic level, they are still relatable stories for children, that address their lives in a subtle, sometime sad, sometimes joyous ways. The new film From Up on Poppy Hill was not directed by Hayao Miyazaki – although it was written and “planned” by him – but his son, Goro Miyazaki. The apple has not fallen far from the tree this time. And From Up on Poppy Hill is more grounded in reality that any of the older Miyazaki’s films – no mystical creatures exist here at all. It tells the haunting, beautiful and sad story of a Japan intent on building its future by tearing down its past.

The film takes place in the early 1960s – specifically in the run-up to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics – although the film doesn’t take place in Tokyo, and we see no games, the Olympics, and what they represented serve as a metaphor for the entire film. As a nation, Japan wanted to press forward, modernize, exorcise or at least forget about the war that had crippled their country. The same thing is happening on a smaller scale in a small town.

The heroine (and there is always a heroine in Japanese animation, a refreshing change to the male dominated heroes in American animation) in Umi, a teenage girl who still misses her father – a ship captain killed in the Korean war. Her mother is away studying, which leaves Umi at home with a grandmother, younger siblings and quite a few kindly, yet eccentric, boarders. She is constantly busy – but she likes it that way.

At school, there is a mini-war brewing as the school wants to tear down the old, rundown clubhouse – used by many male members to house their various clubs, ranging from the school newspaper to astronomy club, to a very large student who makes up the Philosophy club of one. The place is a dirty mess, and the school wants to replace it with something new. But the students who use the clubhouse love it – they feel it connects them to the past. Umi it gets drawn into their fight, when she develops a crush on Shun, and the two dance around each other in that way that young teenagers who don’t quite know how to express themselves do. But there are darker secrets yet to be revealed. From Up on Poppy Hill, although outwardly a sweet, innocent film, is also one haunted by war and death.

I cannot think of a higher compliment to pay to the film than to say that I could easily believe it was a Hayao Miyazaki film. The animation of the film is beautiful, rendering the smallest details – the leaves, the flags that Umi raises every morning, etc. with detail and a sad beauty. The film will likely be a little slow for young children – the story doesn’t feel the need to rush, to be loud and noisy and all constant motion and action like American animated films. It takes it’s time getting where it’s going. Older children will likely appreciate how the movie doesn’t talk down to them – and while the film has dark moments, it’s the type of darkness that isn’t going to scare children. They can relate.

And adults, who love animation, will love the film. It is a beautiful, lovely film – and a nostalgic one. We shouldn’t tear down the past to make way for the future – as this beautiful, haunting sad film shows us.

Movie Review: Ponyo

Ponyo ****
Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki.

Written By: Hayao Miyazaki.

Starring: Cate Blanchett (Gran Mamare), Noah Lindsey Cyrus (Ponyo), Matt Damon (Koichi), Tina Fey (Lisa), Frankie Jonas (Sosuke), Kurt Knutsson (The Newscaster), Cloris Leachman (Yoshie), Liam Neeson (Fujimoto), Jennessa Rose (Kumiko), Lily Tomlin (Toki), Betty White (Noriko).

I hesitate to use the word magical in my reviews too often, because after all, it is rather clichéd and cheesy. But with a movie like Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo, it really just about the only word that properly describes the movie. It is an animated children’s movie from Japan about two children and their relationship together. It is a sweet, innocent movie full of eye popping imagery. It is a rather simple movie, but often I find that the simplest movies are the most touching, and dare I say it, the most profound.

Sosuke (with the voice of Frankie Jonas, the brother not in the terrible band) is a sweet and innocent five year old boy who lives in a house of cliff with his mother Lisa (with the voice of Tina Fey), and occasionally his father Koichi (Matt Damon), although he is more often away on his boat than he is at home. One day, Sosuke finds a goldfish in the ocean by his house, and brings her home with him. He names the fish Ponyo, and the two share a connection right away. What Sosuke does not realize is that Ponyo is not a regular goldfish - she is a magical goldfish. Her father is Fujimoto (Liam Neeson), who creates all the creatures in the sea. He hates humans, and the pollution they cause to their beloved ocean. He tries his best to keep Ponyo away for Sosuke, but cannot. Ponyo is magical, and uses her magic to transform herself into a little girl, which ends up throwing out the whole the nature of things out of whack. A tropical storm hits, and floods the entire town, leaving Ponyo and Sosuke to fend for themselves, and prove their love for each other.

Miyazaki is a master animator, revered by animators the world over. He has won an Oscar for his brilliant Spirited Away, and probably have won another for Princess Mononoke if they gave out the award back then. His last few films have been distributed in North America by Disney, who with the help of Pixar. I could not be more grateful to them for bring these films to the big screen here, which is the best, make that the only way, to see these films properly.

Ponyo opens it a marvelous wordless sequence underwater with Fujimoto floating in an under water bubble, creating the undersea life. Ponyo is the most curious of his creations. She cannot help herself from exploring her surroundings, which is how she ends up being caught by Sosuke in the first place. The film is full of magical undersea creations, from the prehistoric fish who swim around, to the evil looking waves that Fujimoto uses to track Ponyo down. Then there is Gran Mamare (Cate Blanchett), the sea goddess who is Ponyo’s mother. She is a great, flowing woman who floats through the water with ease. She is a wonderful creation, that only Miyazaki could come up with.

There is not a moment in Ponyo that is not filled with great visual imagination. The images in the film are wonderful, awe inspiring works of art. The film is one of the most stunning looking films of the year. It is matched by the great story. Yes, the story is simple enough for a child to follow, yet in that simplicity, Miyazaki reaches some rather profound truths. If the film is not as complex or quite as intriguing as Mononoke or Spirited Away, that’s because Miyazaki is not reaching quite as far here. He knows its story strength lies in the simple, innocent emotions of the two children at the heart of the story, and he follows that through to the end.

What can I say to make people want to see a film like this? Parents may not take their kids to see the film because it doesn’t advertise as much, as the traditional, hand drawn animation is not as “exciting” as the computer animation that everyone else seems to like. Adults without kids will not go to see the film by themselves because it’s a kid’s movie. What I can say is that Ponyo is one of the great movie going experiences of the year. If you miss it, you have no one to blame but yourself.