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Trailer for 'Grave of the Fireflies' director Isao Takahata's PRINCESS KAGUYA
- Thread starter SCULLIBUNDO
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MidnightCowboy
Member
This looks brilliant! Wow, stunning.
Messofanego
Banned
Whoah, that looks brilliant. The loose style reminds me of my favourite short from The Animatrix, Kid's Story.
batigolalone
Banned
Amazing, I hope he is not retiring any time soon. The world need more Ghibi animation.
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Grave made me cry my eyes out.
This will be his last movie with 99% certainty. Takahata's 78 years old and it's been 14 years since his last film.
I don't think that's really true. He said he was retiring after Princess Mononoke but only came out of it because the Whisper of the Heart director (who he was kind of grooming as his successor) had died. I don't think he nearly has the same "I'm done, wait I'm back now" tendency as Kojima.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
You know, I find it kind of funny that Takahata is doing the folktale-fantasy for his last movie while Miyazaki did the "real life" story for his last movie, since they are kind of known for doing the opposite.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
This should be excellent; the color palette definitely needs more color to it, as it's lacking in the vividness characterizing ukiyo-e prints. Otherwise, Takahata's one of the most influential directors working in animation, and not without reason. I wish all of GAF could sit down and watch Gauche the Cellist, such is its power.
Makes for a nice bookend to their Totoro/Grave of the Fireflies duo.
This is more reminiscent of early Chinese influenced ink paintings (sumi-e 墨絵
, not Ukiyo-e. You'd never see wild brush strokes like this in a wood block print. Nor would you see the vibrant colors you typically see in Japanese woodblock in Japanese\Chinese Ink paintings. Here's an example:
This style dates back waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before Ukiyo-e, too.
I also saw Miyazaki's last film's trailer. His anime style really doesn't fare so well for human epics. I had the same problem with Princess Mononoke. The movie looks like it should be directed by Ridley Scott but with Ghibli/Miyazaki's anime style it looks too soft. I also am not crazy about Joe Hisaishi's Mononoke score either. I think it tried to be like a John william score.
For people who have seen the movie, since this is about the Zero plane design, is this a WW2 apologist movie?
For people who have seen the movie, since this is about the Zero plane design, is this a WW2 apologist movie?
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Hah, that in itself is true too.
There's another really short clip in this ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQzW8ZUPw-s
There's another scene which was shown on a TV program this week too, but I'm not going to link the youtube video since the guy has it unlisted. Don't want to get anyone in trouble.
There's another scene which was shown on a TV program this week too, but I'm not going to link the youtube video since the guy has it unlisted. Don't want to get anyone in trouble.
storafötter
Member
Seriously. All Ghibli films look the same and it is just good to see something fresh and original.
Annoying Old Party Man
Member
To all Ghibli lovers,
I am dying to see this documentary, when it's out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsgAt4QB_rw
I am dying to see this documentary, when it's out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsgAt4QB_rw
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
The fuck?
You heard me. He put 2 teenagers in a story that should have starred 2 young adults.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
And you didn't like Hisaishi's Mononoke score? That is what really kills me. I mean.. WHAT?
No, opposite. It doesn't really ever go too in depth on the war all that much directly (just about the entirety of the film takes place before WW2 itself really kicks off anyway), but it does lament Japan's march toward destruction. Basically it presents a situation for the main character where it's sort of like
"well, all of this really does suck, but it's allowing me to make the beautiful planes I always wanted to."
In Japan conservative groups flared up a controversy around the movie claiming it was "anti-Japanese."
Welcome to anime.
I have almost every Joe Hisaishi score, his Mononoke score wouldn't get on the top 20. Totoro is one of my top 3 favorite score of all time. In general I refer his Beat Takeshi score slightly more than Ghibli scores. I have listen to Mononoke score many times, I don't enjoy it.
People asked Miyazaki alot about his intentions with Kaze Tachinu. Some of the questions were downright insulting like "Koreans seem to be offended with your movie, what can you say about that?"
Of all those questions, his answer was always one thing and it was "watch the movie and you'll know. I put everything I have to say in it." That's good advice and one I think people should take.
But this is a Takahata thread. Let's not talk about Miyazaki here. Kaguya-hime looks incredible and I hope it makes as much money as Kaze Tachinu.
Of all those questions, his answer was always one thing and it was "watch the movie and you'll know. I put everything I have to say in it." That's good advice and one I think people should take.
But this is a Takahata thread. Let's not talk about Miyazaki here. Kaguya-hime looks incredible and I hope it makes as much money as Kaze Tachinu.
This is going to be amazing. There better be an English subbed version soon after release. I need it!
Whoah, that looks brilliant. The loose style reminds me of my favourite short from The Animatrix, Kid's Story.
Kinda late, but the person who animated that skateboard chase (Shinya Ohira) is an extremely close friend of the person who animated the Kaguya-hime trailer(Shinji Hashimoto), and their styles can be confused easily (or have been in the past, at least). Adding to that, Hashimoto was the animation director for that Animatrix short so it looks like him overall.
The people who are having a problem with the trailer in the OP are probably just having a problem with the way Hashimoto animates. The other two bits of footage are much cleaner, with more clearly defined shapes and not as wobbly linework.
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I'm so excited for this film, it looks so amazing and powerful. Takahata is a master storyteller who always crafts the best characters in animation, the people working on the visual side are basically my favourite animators, re-interpretations of folk stories are something I always like to see done... it's more hype than I can handle.
GhaleonQ
Member
It'll probably be more like the 1st teaser than this 1, so don't worry, but animated shorts are where the true masterworks of animation exist. You should explore them to see real innovation and experimentation, as it'll prepare you for streamlined stuff like that in the trailer. Look up Koji Yamamura, to pick 1 of the more well-known ones.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Except Takahata doesn't draw at all!
I Stalk Alone
Member
It is amazing how he started out as an assistant director for animation not knowing how to draw.
So damn cool looking. It's a style that doesn't look like it should be able to move, and when it does it's glorious. If I didn't know this was Ghibli, there's no way I'd pick them out as the studio for this. It has none of the typical Ghibili style. Ghibli makes beautiful stuff, but it's nice to see them go for something completely different.
I'm sad that this is likely Takhata's last film. Dude didn't get enough space to really create to his fullest potential. He should have been able to put out far more work than he got to in his career. I may not be a huge fan of Grave, but it's clear he's a super talented creator. This looks to be a fitting swan song for him and I can't wait to see such a beautiful film on the big screen.
I'm sad that this is likely Takhata's last film. Dude didn't get enough space to really create to his fullest potential. He should have been able to put out far more work than he got to in his career. I may not be a huge fan of Grave, but it's clear he's a super talented creator. This looks to be a fitting swan song for him and I can't wait to see such a beautiful film on the big screen.
He still doesn't. Reportedly, his storyboards for old TV shows look like child scribbles. He's always gotten talented animators to draw the storyboards for his films.
Dunno, I think he did quite a lot of stuff. The three TV shows he directed on the 70s must have been terribly exhausting on the whole. My personal favourite of his is Only Yesterday, but the stuff he was doing in Heidi, Marco and Anne remains unique and unparalleled in animation. I can vouch for Anne as one of the masterpieces in the history of TV anime at least, I have yet to see the other two.
No.
I didn't know he did TV. I feel incredibly stupid/uninformed now.
It's not really unheard of for a director of animation to not actually draw or animate. Tekkon Kinkreet is a more recent example of a film directed by someone who can't really draw and who is also a foreigner working in a Japanese studio. Michael Arias directed the film at Studio 4C, and he's a visual effects designer by training. He mostly used photographs to communicate what he wanted from specific scenes, and worked closely with the storyboarders and art directors.
In the end, animation itself is just the medium used to express a vision. The vision itself can come from someone who has no technical skills in that medium, as long as he or she understands how the medium works and knows how to communicate that to the people who carry out the tasks of executing the vision via that medium.
In the end, animation itself is just the medium used to express a vision. The vision itself can come from someone who has no technical skills in that medium, as long as he or she understands how the medium works and knows how to communicate that to the people who carry out the tasks of executing the vision via that medium.
Cross post from the anime thread:
http://neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=90964583&postcount=6524
Kaguya-hime Monogatari
I find it difficult to give an impression of this movie like I had a hard time giving an impression on ther other Ghibli movie, Kaze Tachinu, but for the completely opposite reason. While Miyazaki's movie was complicated and had required you to get into the head of the main character and appreciate the very Japanese shokunin mindset, Kaguya-hime is all about simplicity. The story is straightforward and is something everyone knows. It doesn't try to bash you on the head with anything and this simplicity in turn allows the viewer to bask in the beauty of the movie. The movie is about innocence, its about love, its about family. Its all of those things yet not of those.
Art and Animation
While nothing more can be said about the ability of Studio Ghibli, this movie stands on a class of its own. You should take a moment and bask at the sheer beauty that is on display.
All the backgrounds are painstakingly hand painted giving off the look of a sumi-e painting for each and every frame. This is one of those movies where you can feel that they really did spend a great amount of effort drawing and checking each frame. As in true sumi-e fashion, the coloring is super light and they make use of the whites of the canvas as well as they did the parts with color. The movie just gives off this mellow vibe like you're watching a moving painting rather than anime.
Because they made use of such an abstract art style, they could play around quite a bit with the backgrounds. Sometimes they're static, they're just there and it looks like the characters are moving around in a painting like it was some kind of theater set but sometimes the background is part of the movie itself, moving around frenetically, shifting, changing based on the actions and mindset of the characters. The sakura sequence above is bright and colorful while the winter sequence below is dark and foreboding.
Music
Ghibli, of course, doesn't skimp on the music either and they have a great soundtrack from Joe Hisaishi on here. Its very folksy in a old Japanese way. The song they sing throughout the movie (of which I can't find a link of) is a simple song about the beauty of life (birds and trees included) and the main theme is beautifully haunting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud5lD8SQDr4
Unlike Kaze Tachinu, Takahata took voice casting seriously and I have no complaints with any of them.
Story and Impressions
As I said up top, the story is dead simple. It is based on the classic Japanese folktale, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, and tells the story of this little girl a bamboo cutter finds who grew out of a bamboo stalk and who he and his wife raises up as their own. This is a story all Japanese people know and the target audience of the movie pretty much knows how the story starts and ends before entering. What Takahata did here was basically Disney-ify it but without all the negative baggage that entails. He took a well known story and arranged it to give the characters backstory and motivations.
Kaguya-hime and the bamboo cutter couple first live in the mountains and that is where she grows up. She makes friends with the indigenous kids living around and generally lives a happy life. Her father, however, loves her so much and can't get it out of his head that she needs a better life than the one they have now so with the aid of some gold he found magically from the bamboo, he takes their family down to the capital so she can live like a princess.
I won't go further into the story than that summary (and you shouldn't really spoil yourself more than that tbh, its more fun that way) but I want to say that, like Takahata's earlier works (Heidi, Anne) it shows his love of the countryside. Everything is so much simpler when you don't have to burden yourself with responsibilities or worry about appearances. He also puts an emphasis on family. No matter what happens, through good or bad, it is your family that will be there for you and take care of you.
Final Impressions
Takahata said that this movie took him 7 years to make this movie. Seeing the care put into nearly every frame of the movie, you will understand why. This is a very personal project for Takahata and I am very glad that we got to see what is likely the very last animated feature from one of the masters in the form that he wanted it made.
I don't think the two are comparable but if I had to make a choice, I'd vote this movie for movie of the year.
It was very surprising for me to see Isao Takahata, the man who directed Grave of the Fireflies make a fantasy movie. Its very weird seeing the bookend of the Totoro/Grave double bill to basically have both directors switch roles but I think it worked out for the best. Even if Takahata made a fantasy movie, he didn't forget to put in his human touch. Nothing is unbelievable in the movie. It just happens to have magic in it.
http://neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=90964583&postcount=6524
Kaguya-hime Monogatari
I find it difficult to give an impression of this movie like I had a hard time giving an impression on ther other Ghibli movie, Kaze Tachinu, but for the completely opposite reason. While Miyazaki's movie was complicated and had required you to get into the head of the main character and appreciate the very Japanese shokunin mindset, Kaguya-hime is all about simplicity. The story is straightforward and is something everyone knows. It doesn't try to bash you on the head with anything and this simplicity in turn allows the viewer to bask in the beauty of the movie. The movie is about innocence, its about love, its about family. Its all of those things yet not of those.
Art and Animation
While nothing more can be said about the ability of Studio Ghibli, this movie stands on a class of its own. You should take a moment and bask at the sheer beauty that is on display.
This isn't really promo art. The entire movie is made up of shots like this.
All the backgrounds are painstakingly hand painted giving off the look of a sumi-e painting for each and every frame. This is one of those movies where you can feel that they really did spend a great amount of effort drawing and checking each frame. As in true sumi-e fashion, the coloring is super light and they make use of the whites of the canvas as well as they did the parts with color. The movie just gives off this mellow vibe like you're watching a moving painting rather than anime.
Because they made use of such an abstract art style, they could play around quite a bit with the backgrounds. Sometimes they're static, they're just there and it looks like the characters are moving around in a painting like it was some kind of theater set but sometimes the background is part of the movie itself, moving around frenetically, shifting, changing based on the actions and mindset of the characters. The sakura sequence above is bright and colorful while the winter sequence below is dark and foreboding.
This is probably my favorite sequence. The background turns crazy dark and basically engulfs the character while she's running. It was super effective in showing not just what was happening but reflecting her frame of mind.
Music
Ghibli, of course, doesn't skimp on the music either and they have a great soundtrack from Joe Hisaishi on here. Its very folksy in a old Japanese way. The song they sing throughout the movie (of which I can't find a link of) is a simple song about the beauty of life (birds and trees included) and the main theme is beautifully haunting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud5lD8SQDr4
Unlike Kaze Tachinu, Takahata took voice casting seriously and I have no complaints with any of them.
Story and Impressions
As I said up top, the story is dead simple. It is based on the classic Japanese folktale, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, and tells the story of this little girl a bamboo cutter finds who grew out of a bamboo stalk and who he and his wife raises up as their own. This is a story all Japanese people know and the target audience of the movie pretty much knows how the story starts and ends before entering. What Takahata did here was basically Disney-ify it but without all the negative baggage that entails. He took a well known story and arranged it to give the characters backstory and motivations.
Kaguya-hime and the bamboo cutter couple first live in the mountains and that is where she grows up. She makes friends with the indigenous kids living around and generally lives a happy life. Her father, however, loves her so much and can't get it out of his head that she needs a better life than the one they have now so with the aid of some gold he found magically from the bamboo, he takes their family down to the capital so she can live like a princess.
I won't go further into the story than that summary (and you shouldn't really spoil yourself more than that tbh, its more fun that way) but I want to say that, like Takahata's earlier works (Heidi, Anne) it shows his love of the countryside. Everything is so much simpler when you don't have to burden yourself with responsibilities or worry about appearances. He also puts an emphasis on family. No matter what happens, through good or bad, it is your family that will be there for you and take care of you.
Happiness is being with the people you love and doing the things you love
Final Impressions
Takahata said that this movie took him 7 years to make this movie. Seeing the care put into nearly every frame of the movie, you will understand why. This is a very personal project for Takahata and I am very glad that we got to see what is likely the very last animated feature from one of the masters in the form that he wanted it made.
I don't think the two are comparable but if I had to make a choice, I'd vote this movie for movie of the year.
It was very surprising for me to see Isao Takahata, the man who directed Grave of the Fireflies make a fantasy movie. Its very weird seeing the bookend of the Totoro/Grave double bill to basically have both directors switch roles but I think it worked out for the best. Even if Takahata made a fantasy movie, he didn't forget to put in his human touch. Nothing is unbelievable in the movie. It just happens to have magic in it.
Crossposting from anime thread.
Kaguyahime no Monogatari
This was really fantastic.
Personally, I don't have much experience with Takahata's stuff. The only movie I've seen by him is Grave of the Fireflies, which was effective, if also a little manipulative. So I don't have a lot of points of reference to compare this with.
It's kind of interesting to have this arrive in the same year as Kazetachinu. Both of them are ambitious tales spanning the scope of a person's life, and both have things to say about what a life is and how it should be lived. And both thesis statements reflect (what I understand of) their creators. Jiro is a driven, obsessive man in the mold of Miyazaki. He dedicates his life to his work and his dreams, which are the same thing. Those are the places where he finds fulfillment.
Kaguyahime, supernatural creature that she is, is as brilliant as Jiro, but her life couldn't be more different. She wants to live freely and experience the wonders of the world and the joy of companionship with her treasured family and friends. The conflicts between what Kaguyahime wants herself to be, what she is, and what others want her to be move the movie forward.
The movie captures the vibrant emotional extremes of life while remaining largely realistic in tone. The art direction delights at every turn, the simple lines and faded white negative space conjure the feeling of old Japanese paintings to represent this ancient fairy tale. But the world never feels flat or lifeless. Kaguyahime doesn't exhaustively detail every corner of the world, but enormous amounts of attention are poured into all kinds of animations and touches that bring out the humanity in the cast, and give vibrant energy to the world itself. The environments never overwhelm, but they always feel remarkably true.
Kaguyahime carries a tempest of extreme emotions, capable of quickly going from childlike delight to stone faced depression or tear-filled lamentation. But she never feels any less than a human girl. Her affected displays of perfect noble bearing never overwhelm our memories of the child overwhelmed with the sheer joy of being alive, and that energy and intensity makes the inevitable conclusion all the more affecting.
I may not be the best sample, since I usually don't seek out works that might draw tears, but Kaguyahime no Monogatari had me sobbing during the credits, which I don't think has happened to me with any movie since I was 10. It's not exactly subtle, but you'd have to be pretty fucking heartless for it not to reach you.
I don't think it has Wolf Children's cinematic efficiency, and one could argue that it drags a bit in the middle, but it's still a masterpiece. It's a celebration of the joys and hardships of life. Absolutely, unconditionally recommended.
PS: Kaguyahime's handmaid servant girl is adorable beyond words. Would consider making her my avatar if I had a good image to draw from.
Kaguyahime no Monogatari
This was really fantastic.
Personally, I don't have much experience with Takahata's stuff. The only movie I've seen by him is Grave of the Fireflies, which was effective, if also a little manipulative. So I don't have a lot of points of reference to compare this with.
It's kind of interesting to have this arrive in the same year as Kazetachinu. Both of them are ambitious tales spanning the scope of a person's life, and both have things to say about what a life is and how it should be lived. And both thesis statements reflect (what I understand of) their creators. Jiro is a driven, obsessive man in the mold of Miyazaki. He dedicates his life to his work and his dreams, which are the same thing. Those are the places where he finds fulfillment.
Kaguyahime, supernatural creature that she is, is as brilliant as Jiro, but her life couldn't be more different. She wants to live freely and experience the wonders of the world and the joy of companionship with her treasured family and friends. The conflicts between what Kaguyahime wants herself to be, what she is, and what others want her to be move the movie forward.
The movie captures the vibrant emotional extremes of life while remaining largely realistic in tone. The art direction delights at every turn, the simple lines and faded white negative space conjure the feeling of old Japanese paintings to represent this ancient fairy tale. But the world never feels flat or lifeless. Kaguyahime doesn't exhaustively detail every corner of the world, but enormous amounts of attention are poured into all kinds of animations and touches that bring out the humanity in the cast, and give vibrant energy to the world itself. The environments never overwhelm, but they always feel remarkably true.
Kaguyahime carries a tempest of extreme emotions, capable of quickly going from childlike delight to stone faced depression or tear-filled lamentation. But she never feels any less than a human girl. Her affected displays of perfect noble bearing never overwhelm our memories of the child overwhelmed with the sheer joy of being alive, and that energy and intensity makes the inevitable conclusion all the more affecting.
I may not be the best sample, since I usually don't seek out works that might draw tears, but Kaguyahime no Monogatari had me sobbing during the credits, which I don't think has happened to me with any movie since I was 10. It's not exactly subtle, but you'd have to be pretty fucking heartless for it not to reach you.
I don't think it has Wolf Children's cinematic efficiency, and one could argue that it drags a bit in the middle, but it's still a masterpiece. It's a celebration of the joys and hardships of life. Absolutely, unconditionally recommended.
PS: Kaguyahime's handmaid servant girl is adorable beyond words. Would consider making her my avatar if I had a good image to draw from.
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