miyazaki and his films

i'm thinking this belongs here.

i love miyazaki!

ahem.

for those of you who don't know him: he's a japanese filmmaker and thusly makes animated films with studio ghibli.

they have done so many and they aren't always available on dvd.

i fell in love with his style when i watched princess mononoke. the layers of the story and the execution was marvellous and breathtaking. it's about our responsibility for the environment and how we deal with change. that's the hero a****aka here [image=http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/9652/a****aka2ec.gif]

then i watched spirited away, which is wondrous and beautiful. it's a very alice in wonderland type story with a little girl getting trapped in this strange world of the shinto gods. [image=http://img319.imageshack.us/img319/9628/1859802zn.gif]

then a friend showed me my neighbor totoro which is just beautiful. well, they all are, which might make it a little tough to talk about. here's a study for the film: [image=http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4277/mh9cf.gif]

so far i was only really disappointed with howl's moving castle, which bored me. and miyazaki shouldn't bore, he entertains usually. so, whoever is looking for recommendations: howl isn't the thing!

 

If you haven't picked up Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind yet, do it now.

 

I only have seen Princess Mononoke and Sprited away. Both good movies.

 

Go watch every other one of his films, plus the filmes that Isao Takahata did under Studio Ghibli.



RIGHT NOW. I COMMAND IT.

 

oh, thank you for stopping by...! i had lost hope

nausicaa has made it to dvd release so i suppose i can get that in due time.

what did you guys make of howl's moving castle? i had many a dispute with a friend about that it was stil good but i didn't see what was good about it.

 

I've actually not seen it yet. Not had the chance just yet, will wait for it to come out on DVD so I can check it out.

I'm happy with the rest of my Ghibli library at the moment, though, with the exception of, say, 'The Cat Returns'.

 

just wish there was more stuff available. it seems the issuing is really reluctant. totoro hasn't been properly released, i think. bah!

 

Not YET, no, but there's a release coming out very soon.

I'd love to see a release of his 'Journey of Shuna' manga stateside, but I don't think that will ever happen.

 

tell me about it.

 

Howl's Moving Castle is one of my favorite films of all time. I've also watched Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke.

There's something about HMC that is just so dreamlike. It's a slow-moving film, like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, but in such a strange way, that's a good thing, because you don't want the dream to end.

If you haven't seen any of the above films, I'd highly recommend that you go out and rent (or buy them if you trust me enough) right now!

 

Quoted for undeniable truth.

 

yeah, HMC is slow, but it felt like eternities until things happened.

mononoke and spirited away were both films that i can watch over and over, but with HMC i didn't even get the craving for a second time. oh well...

 

Both the movie and the manga.

For reals.


Anyway, The Journey of Shuna is sortof a prototype of Nausicaa and Mononoke. Holdon, let me get you a link.

Here's a partial translation.

It's all done in Miyazaki's watercolors, and very good. He's got a few more manga out there--mostly things to do with tanks and planes, as is his want, but none of it's been brought over here either, that I know of. Just the Nausicaa manga, which almost makes up for all of it.

 

whoah, beautiful! thank you!

 

i watched Mononoke the other night on TCM, it was intresting, very wierd. It had a great message though about caring for the enviroment.

 

i like mononoke because it really moves from place to place, from point to point. the pacing is not awfully fast, it takes time to drink things in. it's just really rich. also i'm always thinking i will never fully understand the story, there always seem to be things lurking under the surface.

mononoke is a bit message heavy, spirited away is lighter and more suited to children, i think. mononoke tries to tackle many things in its two hours or so of running. but what amazed me was that it was full of story. rather than have a song every couple of minutes, it went on and on with dialogue and story, very unlike disney movies.

 

I think his 'environmental' movies are very rich in meaning-- Mononoke and Nausicaa (only seen that one once...)-- and I liked all of his movies I've seen, but my favorite may be Kiki's Delivery Service. I just enjoyed it the most. Maybe that's because it's about young people finding their place in the world, but it's just clever and of course has great cinematography, and every time the song 'fly away' comes on I just find myself imagining myself in Kiki's place on the broomstick.

 

These sound really good.
Upon your recomendations,
I'll have to check a few out.
Apparently not 'Howl' though!

 

If this hasn't been mentioned:TCM has just shown Princess Mononoke this past Thursday along with another film-both dubbed and subtitled.TCM all this month is doing a special on Thursdays.Nausica is next this coming Thursday at 8pm on TCM cable along with another anime by the same director.Also-a lttle seen american fantasy-5000 fingers of Dr T will be shown at 430am after the animes!YAY!

 

I really loved Princess Mononoke. I have a stuffed Forest Spirit in my room somewhere. I love those things and it rattles too.

~PK~

 

uh, that sounds lovely!
wish i had that, too!

one day i really want to go to japan and visit studio ghibli and the museum. but it's limited access, isn't it?

 

I've always been a partial fan of anime, but I've never felt so into it until watching Spirited Away. This movie totally blew me away with the way it was made. It really felt like watching a dream or something...it's like nothing makes sense, but in some way, everything makes sense. A filmmaker that can do that should really be proud of himself.

I haven't seen any of his other movies...can someone post a list of the ones that are out on DVD, and English dubbed, not subbed, cuz I can't stand subs.

BTW, I've heard a lot of great reviews on Howl's Moving Castle, I wonder why you don't like it...

 

What's wrong with subs? Dubs are often done..pretty badly. Ghibli's are ordinarily darn good, but still, not perfect in the least. San's whining "I don't WANT to be a demon!" in Mononoke comes to mind.


Anyway...everything Ghibli/Miyazaki's done that's worth watching and is out on DVD, off the top of my head:

Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (this is his directorial debut)
Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (my favorite, though the manga is better)
Castle in the Sky (what I think is his least-good film, personally, though many others disagree..)
Porco Rosso (his most 'adult' film. Kinda.)
Grave of the Fireflies (this one's by Takahata, his longtime collaborator, but it's EXTREMELY good, and rather difficult to watch)
Pom Poko (also by Takahata, involves tannuki with expanding testicles. Yes.)
My Neighbor Totoro (childlike wonder galore!)
Kiki's Delivery Service (same, but through the eyes of a preteen, with one of the most understated climaxes ever, I love it)
Princess Mononoke (I just keep coming back to this film...)
Spirited Away (this movie also makes me happy)


I think that's everything that's out (that's worth watching) right now. You can go to nausicaa.net to doublecheck, though.

 

it happens, i guess. maybe my expectations were different.

 

*points to user name*

One guess what my favorite Miyazaki film is

I just love Princess Mononoke. Spirited Away was wonderful too, though I felt it was aimed more at children and thus probably for the American market. Other than that I've only seen Castle In The Sky, which I thought was more simplistic. But just the title sequence in woodcut-style art showing the rise and fall of a whole floating civilization was, in my opinion, worth the price of admission.

Haven't seen Howl yet, and I didn't even know Nausicaa existed - that sure makes this thread useful!

What are some of your favorite Miyazki images? Like, the take-your-breath-away stuff?