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[Shig]

Anyway sorry to get long winded. I'm definitely done buying movies for a little while. Speaking of which, this bugs the hell out of me:

We couldn't keep the same formatting throughout?

I mean, they're published by different companies, of course they'd have different spine formats. GKIDS ones follow the same format all their releases do (though their From Up On Poppy Hill one is a bit different and doesn't line up right with the others, argh).

It's a shame Disney skimps out on the cardboard slipcases past their initial shipments. The metallic gold/blue on those looks way better than the flat yellow/blue. Half mine have them, half I missed out on, it's a bummer.

 

[aadiboy]

Her smile was really unpleasant to look at, imo

 

[RedSwirl]

Man, Porco hit me out of nowhere.

I went in expecting a kids' movie about airplanes, not goddamn aviation noir.

What else should I try to catch from Ghibli?

I've seen:
--Cagliostro
--Castle in the Sky
--Nausicaa
--Porco
--Mononoke
--Howl
--Spirited
--Ponyo

 

[Vault Dweller 111]

Man, Porco hit me out of nowhere.

I went in expecting a kids' movie about airplanes, not goddamn aviation noir.

What else should I try to catch from Ghibli?

I've seen:
--Cagliostro
--Castle in the Sky
--Nausicaa
--Porco
--Mononoke
--Howl
--Spirited
--Ponyo

Wind Rises, Whisper of the Heart, and Totoro are all excellent.

 

[Blizzard]

My favorite Miyazaki movie is probably Arrietty and then Castle in the Sky.

The main character in The Wind Rises really annoyed me because of how he seemed kind of selfish:

Spoiler

I seem to recall him basically pressuring the girl into following him, despite her needing medical care.

.

 

[GamingOblivion]

I hated The Wind Rises.

My favorite Miyazaki movie is probably Arrietty and then Castle in the Sky.

Oh jesus its 2016 people should know that Miyazaki isn't the only one at Ghibli

 

[not psycho]

Man, Porco hit me out of nowhere.

I went in expecting a kids' movie about airplanes, not goddamn aviation noir.

What else should I try to catch from Ghibli?

I've seen:
--Cagliostro
--Castle in the Sky
--Nausicaa
--Porco
--Mononoke
--Howl
--Spirited
--Ponyo

As always, the correct answer is "everything except Earthsea." The top two I usually recommend are Spirited Away and Whisper of the Heart, but really, it's everything except Earthsea.


The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

Whisper of the Heart

Conan, The Boy in Future

 

[Vault Dweller 111]

I hated The Wind Rises.



Oh jesus its 2016 people should know that Miyazaki isn't the only one at Ghibli

Such a beautiful movie.

 

[daffy]

I would've liked them to have spent more time on the denouement of Wind Rises but yeah it was a pretty good watch.

 

[dallow_bg]

Totally agreed on Only Yesterday.
Trailers made it seem like I would love it but man it went nowhere.

 

[GCX]

I love Porco Rosso.

For such a fun little movie it has a surprising amount of layers. There is a lot of great comedy but also hints of deeper themes about love, war and so on. I also love how the movie never tells in detail what caused Porco to turn into a pig and also leaves the ending open.

Adriatic Sea as a setting is also really great. All those shots with bright blue sea are so beautiful and set a perfect contrast to Porco's plane.

 

[gfxtwin]

Miyazaki's intent and the thematic relevance of The Wind Rises is well documented and not a mystery. It was clarified and expressed long before the movie was even released into theatres. It is a story about passion and loss. There are two main components of The Wind Rises - the love story which is a loose adaptation of Hori Tatsuo's novel "The Wind Has Risen", and the biographical story of Jiro Horikoshi's engineering ambitions and passion for aircraft. Miyazaki fuses the two tales into one to emphasize that everything one loves and works hard at can be crushed and destroyed by things beyond our control. It is a story of a lover who can do nothing but watch his wife taken from him - both by societal norms related to the illness and ultimately by the illness itself.

It is definitely that. But, I mean, it is also a story somewhat based on a Japanese Howard Hughes-esque human being who chose to design war machines for axis powers in WW2. And I'd argue that Miyazaki is aware of this, and is on some level testing the viewer's response by humanizing Horikoshi as much as he did. This doesn't make him a nationalist either (he's a pacifist last I checked and is critical of many aspects of Japanese culture old and new) but a gifted artist not too unlike Kojima, Lucas and RR Martin who are known for successfully taking on the challenge of humanizing terrible people who don't fit the current standards of morality/ethics. Big Boss, Darth Vader, Jamie Lannister, etc. Its a satisfying challenge for artists to do that, and can make for compelling viewing/reading. I just can't help but find it weird that he chose to base his character on a real historical figure who had a real part in being responsible for so many deaths. Because of this, it is one of my least favorite Miyazaki movies. I don't think it is as universally successful at what it wants to do as most everything else he's made has been.

It is a story of an artist and visionary who has grand idealistic dreams of making something beautiful and great, only to face the reality that his sole contribution to the world at large and his historical footprint would be as an engineer of weapons of war that led to the deaths of so many people, both innocent and misguided.

It is not a celebration of life or effort like his past works, nor is it a cautionary tale. It is an eulogy for artists and art itself, told as a period piece set in a bygone era just before Miyazaki's own childhood.

It's not a just a love letter to aviation. There is very deliberate intent in WHY it glosses over the war, and what it means to Jiro. The movie ends the way it does because that is the end of his dreams. The crushing defeat and realization that his art and dreams meant nothing. All is ash, just like his love. You cannot take the love in The Wind Rises without also seeing the loss. They are two sides of the same coin.

I mean, regarding how it is a cautionary tale, didn't I cover that in my previous post? I agree. And IMO it's also a bold choice to emphasize more of a sense of loss for his dreams than for the lives his planes took, but again, that might be intentional because I don't know if the real Horikoshi's would feel any differently about his failures as a human, which makes Miyazaki's vision fair in how uncompromising it is. So I give it that, even though I still feel the concept of the movie is not what I look for in Miyazaki films.

 

[DigitalRicket]

As I watching Only Yesterday I was taking a return flight from Tokyo and I was not really feeling the movie. However, afterward I had this nostalgic feeling for it and I ended up watching it again with my wife and I thoroughly appreciated it the second go around.

 

[Stumpokapow]

We couldn't keep the same formatting throughout?

Disney is the domestic licensor of a bunch of the library, while GKids has the rest.

 

[mrklaw]

Fine, I'll buy wind rises on bluray - happy now?

What is missing on bluray - ideally in the uk but ok to import US versions. Think I'm missing
- wind rises
- Marnie
- nausicaa (only have on DVD)

Is there a big upgrade from DVD to bluray?

 

[BorkBork]

Interesting, OP. I would flip the reactions.

The Wind Rises - 7/10
Porco Rosso - 9/10
Only Yesterday - 10/10

Maybe I just caught Only Yesterday at the right period in my life. I wrote about my love for it here. And no, the cheekbones didn't bother me.

Porco Rosso is one of those gems that just gets better with each viewing - it strikes such a great balance of comedy and poignancy. It feels a bit autobiographical too, and I liked that layer more than when it showed up in The Wind Rises.

 

[Vault Dweller 111]

As I watching Only Yesterday I was taking a return flight from Tokyo and I was not really feeling the movie. However, afterward I had this nostalgic feeling for it and I ended up watching it again with my wife and I thoroughly appreciated it the second go around.

I'll keep this in mind. I'm already feeling like I was a bit too harsh on it. If nothing else it was a nice feel good movie. The pineapple scene and not understanding how the fraction division works by looking at the apple were both good scenes that felt real.

Interesting, OP. I would flip the reactions.

The Wind Rises - 7/10
Porco Rosso - 9/10
Only Yesterday - 10/10

Maybe I just caught Only Yesterday at the right period in my life. I wrote about my love for it here. And no, the cheekbones didn't bother me.

Porco Rosso is one of those gems that just gets better with each viewing - it strikes such a great balance of comedy and poignancy. It feels a bit autobiographical too, and I liked that layer more than when it showed up in The Wind Rises.

Thanks for posting this. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and I'm bummed that I didn't get the same feelings. One of these days I'll rewatch this movie with an open mind, and hopefully it strikes me a bit more strongly.

 

[Diabelli]

Not only is it my favourite Ghilbi, but Only Yesterday is one of my favourite films, period. I've read it before, but BorkBork's article is wonderful. I share the same feelings, just that I could never articulate it as well. Maybe leave it alone for the time being, but do give it another watch Vault Dweller. It stuck with me the second time I watched it.

I also can't agree that the soundtrack is poor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch1k99N3FAk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_TxP4nA0P8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogy5JVextNA

 

[BorkBork]

I'll keep this in mind. I'm already feeling like I was a bit too harsh on it. If nothing else it was a nice feel good movie. The pineapple scene and not understanding how the fraction division works by looking at the apple were both good scenes that felt real.



Thanks for posting this. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and I'm bummed that I didn't get the same feelings. One of these days I'll rewatch this movie with an open mind, and hopefully it strikes me a bit more strongly.

Don't worry about missing out or having to like something. If it clicks it clicks. Maybe you'll think back on it one day and find that it relates. Or not. No biggie.