'Mary and The Witch's Flower' Opens in Japan to Great Acclaim & Thumbs Up by Miyazaki

You may not have heard of this new film that has a serious Studio Ghibli vibe, but take a look at why you want this one on your radar!

We've included the three trailers so you can see a range of the goodies awaiting - all three are worth watching for a different perspective on the film:

'Mary and The Witch's Flower' is based on the 1971 English children's novel by Mary Stewart (yes, that Mary Stewart!), 'The Little Broomstick' and is considered a simple 'proto-Harry Potter' type of story. The movie itself shows a lot of Ghibli-like magic, style and Miyazaki-ish imagination, even as it pays close attention to it's source material.

The story is based off a very short novel. The greatest strength of the original story was its vivid and lyrical descriptions, making the world it takes place in feel very tangible despite the brevity of its plot. This same quality is on display in the film, too, which succeeds more because of its attention to detail than anything else. Even brief asides in the novel like “The little broomstick gave a leap, a violent twist, a kick like the kick of a pony” are faithfully recreated in visual form. (Animenewsnetwork)

Here's a brief introduction to the novel, taken from a non-spoilery review:

‘Nothing, thought Mary, nothing could ever happen here’ ‘Everywhere was damp, and decay, and the end of summer’; but then a small black green-eyed cat appears, and adventure and magic begin.
The cat leads Mary to a clump of unusual purple flowers that she shows to Zebedee the gardener at Red Manor, who names both the cat (Tib) and the blooms (fly-by-night). Zebedee also tells Mary of the folklore surrounding the flower , including: ‘And ’tis said that in the olden days the witches sought her [the flower] from the corners of the Black Mountains, and from the place where the old city was and there’s now naught but a pool o’ water’. 

...While sweeping up leaves with a small broom, Mary accidentally smears the broom in the juice of a fly-by-night flower. Immediately, ‘the little broomstick gave a leap, a violent twist, a kick like the kick of a pony’ and Mary and Tib are transported by flying broomstick to Endor College, school of witchcraft. Endor is no Hogwarts: Madam Mumblechook believes that Mary has come to enrol at the school to learn skills such as ‘Turning milk sour, blighting turnips, making the cows go dry’. The ill-wishing of the spells is underlined by the sourness of the rhymes used in the spells: nursery-rhymes that ‘slipped somehow, so that the result was not ordinary, or even nice at all.’ But then Mary makes a sinister discovery about animals that have been ‘transformed’ and begins to wonder if she will be allowed to leave Endor. She does manage to return to Red Manor, only to find that the cat Tib has been kept captive at the College. 

True to the spirit of a Mary Stewart heroine, Mary decides to go back to rescue Tib, which leads to further adventure and dangers as Mary releases all of the animals, breaks the transformation spell and flees Endor College. (extracted from a review at MaryStewartReading)

We recommend reading the whole review for a good overview of the book and it's themes in context of today. What Studio Ponoc does with those themes and ideas, we've yet to see, of course, but it's intriguing to have this as background.

The new studio producing 'Mary and The Witch's Flower', Studio Ponoc, is being considered "the new Studio Ghibli" - or, more accurately "Studio Ghibli 2.0". 

As Miyazaki slips out of retirement (for the sixth?? time) to finish another short film, 'Boro the Caterpillar' for the exclusive Ghibli Museum theater presentations, it's clear that even with blessed longevity, he can't keep un-retiring forever, and speculation mounts as to 'who will be the new Miyazaki?'. (Answer: no one!)

Director of 'Mary and The Witch's Flower', Hiromasa Yonebayashi (director of 'Arriety' and 'When Marnie Was There') is considered a protegé of Miyazaki with this being his third feature film (and his first since leaving Studio Ghibli). Miyazaki - a notoriously critical director - has officially given it his thumbs-up, which is a huge deal. While no one will ever 'do Miyazaki like Miyazaki', Yonebayashi is certain to do his legacy proud at the very least and we can look forward to more of this unique type of storytelling and animation magic in the future.

Distribution update from Crunchyroll on July 13, 2017:

After a modest opening in theaters in Japan on July 08, 2017, Mary and the Witch's Flower will be casting its spell with an expanded theatrical release that will include some 155 territories worldwide, including the United States, England, France, Australia, China, and South Korea. The film will also see distribution in South America, Africa, and the Middle East.

Yes! We are doubly-excited now!

Film: "The Red Turtle" (And Its Fairy Tale Roots)

“Washing up on the shores of Cannes after nearly a decade of painstaking under-the-radar toil, Michael Dudok de Wit’s hypnotizing, entirely dialogue-free ‘The Red Turtle’ is a fable so simple, so pure, it feels as if it has existed for hundreds of years, like a brilliant shard of sea glass rendered smooth and elegant through generations of retelling...” (Variety Chief International Film Critic Peter Debruge)

Popping up on our fairy tale radar this past week, a new animated film, The Red Turtle. It's a new Ghibli film, released this last Friday (September 23, 2016) and, a first for the Japanese studio, an international co-production, directed by Dutch animator Michaël Dudok de Wit, and animated in France and Belgium by a series of animation companies.

Here's the trailer:

With rave reviews coming from the Toronto International Film festival and critics around the globe, it isn't necessarily obvious that a "castaway and desert island survival" film would have fairy tale connections, but our radar blipped insistently so we went digging and found it did indeed!

But first, what is this film? It's an almost-dialogue free celebration of both Nature and man's indomitable Nature, surviving and thriving against the odds. It's also, reportedly, an immersive film which the viewer just needs to experience. While possibly a risky venture, it's clear the team achieved their intent as we only seen glowing reports about people being very moved.

So where do fairy tales fit here? Reviewers and critics have been intuitively connecting the film to fairy tales in that they say "it's easy to believe this is an adaptation of a little known Hans Christian Andersen classic or perhaps a rare tale from some remote Pacific Island", even though it isn't, it's original. They're right, it is original but there is a also a fairy tale connection, though not perhaps the type that most readily spring to mind.

The fact that there's a magical turtle might initially be misleading, so we had to dig a little deeper.

We found an interview with writer and director Dudok de Wit, in which he said this:

On the inspiration for the magical turtle in the film: 

As a child, I was a voracious reader of fairy tales and myths and legends. When I started on this, Takahata sent me a book called Kwaidan, by Lafcadio Hearn, which has Japanese traditional fairy tales about transformations of people and animals. 

Subconsciously I had a basis [for the story]... [the protagonist] wants to go home, the island is not his home. But he can't. Why can't he? I wanted a sea creature [to stop him], a shark, etc. Hang on — a turtle. Intuitively, it felt really good. My rational side looked at it a bit later, and the color came later, but at that moment, I thought, "Not only do we have our main character, but it's probably going to be the name of the film." So rationally, I can say I needed a mysterious sea creature that gives the impression of being immortal. It's a peaceful animal, non-aggressive, it's solitary, it disappears into infinity, which I find very important in this film. There's something very moving about a turtle leaving where she belongs, the sea, and going on the beach with a lot of effort, digging, laying eggs, filling the pits, and going back. I've seen one doing it — I've seen umpteen video clips. It looks like they can't make it, because it's such an effort. For a moment, they become like us, mammals who breathe, with arms and legs. And then they disappear [into the sea] again, and become part of infinity. So that all clicked together beautifully.

(You can read the rest of the interview HERE.)

Kwaidan can be translated as Japanese Weird Tales, or Tales About Strange Things (Sometimes you see it titled Stories and Studies of Strange Things.) Although Japan has more "fairy tales" as we might define them than China (which have more supernatural tales), Kwaidan is definitely a mix, and includes ghost and supernatural tales in addition to what you would find in a book specifically titled Japanese Fairy Tales. If you read both, however, you see overlaps and how they often exist in that same "fairy tale place". We highly recommend reading the volume if you haven't already!

So keep an eye out for The Red Turtle. It's clear that among filmmakers, at present, there's a big interest in going back to the "old" fairy tales, legends and myths and creating new works inspired by them. Although this won't be considered a "fairy tale film", it's already widely regarded as a fable, and it's refreshing to see creators explore new narratives (even if they're mostly silent), spring-boarding from old tales, instead of just retelling familiar ones. It brings a nice balance to the storytelling people are engaging in, in the 're-boot' age, with nods to both history and the future.

Extended "Princess Kaguya" Trailer (Best Animated Short of the Year..?)

It's not eligible, of course, despite being around 6 minutes long, but it still may be the most beautifully told animated short story you will see this year. The trailer is truly beautiful and the inspiration of ancient Japanese illustration is clear in every scene.

The lovely thing is, even though it's not as 'slick' (read, completely fluid) as the hand drawn animation we've gotten used to, nor has the flashy effects that are now standard of CG production, people everywhere are LOVING this! Almost every report, article, blog post I've read since we first saw footage remarks on how beautiful it is and how refreshing - "like a story scroll brought to life".

Possibly the most telling thing is that you don't need any translation or narration for the visuals, despite it being created in a foreign language (at least, for most of the readers here). The art here speaks loud and clear of its story and that's very much resonating with everyone who has seen this.

The film, (The Tale of Princess Kaguya-hime no Monogatari) adapts the Japanese story The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, in which an aged and childless bamboo cutter slices open a glowing bamboo stalk to find a tiny child inside. He and his wife raise the girl, Kaguya, who grows into a delicately beautiful woman. The cutter also finds himself rich as his work, impossibly, yields gold from bamboo. The strange truth of her existence is revealed, as hopeful suitors arrive to ask for Kaguya’s hand in marriage. (Slashfilm)

With this very extended trailer we get to see much more of the gorgeous animation (the baby stuff is so nicely handled!) and the subtle human touches (like where her hair falls out of her bun as she's putting it together feeling 'of the moment' rather than a practiced gesture) that help make the story feel very relatable and human.

Sit back and enjoy - no Japanese required and there are no subtitles in the way either:

Ah... :) So lovely, yes?

While a bittersweet ending, typical of the story, is likely under Takahata it will still feel like a fairy tale and will be beautiful. I'll be very interested to hear the Japanese response once it's released since this story is truly precious to them (and Ghibli is taking somewhat of a risk in making it as a result).

There are no release dates set outside Japan as of yet, but the Japanese theatrical release is next Saturday, November 23rd.

Kaguya-Hime Gets A Full Trailer (And It's Beautiful!)

This is one film that shouldn't disappoint. Everything about the trailer, from the brushwork style, to the iconic scenes in the 10th Century tale, to the scroll-like artwork, to the very human moments, evoke a beautiful and beloved story - and show a film that does it's best to uphold all that people love in the legend, bringing it to life as best they can.

Miyazaki has always held the title as the fable keeper of Ghibli, while Takahata has been better known for exploring themes of human tragedy, though both have been equally as impressive as animation artists and directors. With Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya), Isao Takahata is showing the world that he, too, can make beautiful and beloved tales for families, and his place in the hearts of the people in Japan is secured with bringing their most ancient and beloved tale to life.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this film. Here's the full trailer:

There's still no word on a release date outside of Japan, but Japanese audiences will see their beloved fairy tale in theaters starting November 23, 2013. Studio Ghibli's current film playing in theaters is Miyazaki's The Wind Rises, which will be released in theaters in the US on February 21st, so Princess Kaguya won't come out till after then. Remember they will be putting together the subtitles, translation and foreign voice actors. Theatrical releases outside Japan will either have subtitles with the original cast or a whole new English-speaking voice cast - no word yet on which way they've decided to go, but we should see news on a release date at least, very soon now.

Note: The images are from a flyer/pamphlet promoting the movie in Japan, found on eBay.

Another Peek Into "Princess Kaguya"

Studio Ghibli's official Twitter account just posted some new stills from their fairy tale film, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, being released in November (in Japan, at least) this year.

Although we've seen a couple of these before most are new and all show a lovely calligraphic quality of line. You can almost feel the hands behind these drawings.

Note: I just want to cheer on behalf of the health of babies everywhere for the tasteful portrayal of a mother breastfeeding her baby - and, if I'm correct, this is her adopted baby too [and yes, that is possible, it's just a lot of work to make happen]. Part of the reason I'm even mentioning this is that when kids see this sort of role modeling by good parents in movies and stories, it doesn't seem like a foreign concept when they get older and they have more tools in place to make active and informed choices.

The famous Japanese folktale Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) centers on princess named Kaguya who was discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant.Taketori Monogatari has inspired dozens of manga and anime stories, such as Reiko Shimizu'sKaguya Hime and Arina Tanemura's Sakura-Hime Kaden. (Source)

For those who follow casting in anime, the confirmation of the Japanese voices may interest you. Here's the summary:

Aki Asakura will lead the cast as Kaguya, and Takeo Chii, who passed away in June of last year, will still play the role of Okina (Old Man), as he had recorded his part before his death. Kengo Kora and Nobuko Miyamoto round out the main cast as as Sutemaru and Ouna (Old Woman), respectively. Other cast members include Atsuko Takahata, Tomoko Tabata, Tatekawa Shinosuke,Takaya Kamikawa, Hikaru Ijūin, Ryudo Uzaki, Nakamura Shichinosuke, Isao Hashizume, Yukiji Asaoka, and Tatsuya Nakadai. (Source)

I'm looking forward to seeing a hand-drawn "picture book comes to life" approach to a fairy tale/folktale again. It's been far too long since seeing that kind of magic.

Miyazaki-sama (aka "Japan's Walt Disney") Announces Retirement

Miyazaki made out of his movies - portrait by ~C3nmt

Although Miyazaki is indeed known as "Japan's Walt Disney" for reasons of his animated features and whimsical, fantastical and family-friendly storytelling, he is very much his own person and visionary. The news of his retirement from feature films is, though, as big a deal worldwide as if Walt were alive and announced a similar retirement of his own.

As such, I don't really know how best to present this news:

• sadness that Hayao Miyazaki is retiring from feature film directing?
• hopefulness for other projects he will no have time to give his attention to?
• gladness that he'll be able to enjoy some of his retirement and family without the pressure of giant films?
• gratefulness that I was as aware of his Mastery as I was and took note of the films he made after Princess Mononoke onward?
• honored to have shared the planet with such a visionary of both filmmaking and fairy/folk tales?

I have to choose all of the above. And I would add that I feel we are privileged in this age to have the technology we do to share his work worldwide right now. (Remember when we had to wait 7 years for a Disney feature to come back to the theater to see it?!)

Totoro with his Dad

Update: Hayao Miyazaki's Official Retirement Press Conference to be Streamed in English (as well as Japanese) today, Friday Sep 6th, at 2pm JST, on Niconico HERE.

Here's a summary of the initial brief announcement by Studio Ghibli head, Hoshino, on Sunday September 1st, 2013:

✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

"The Tale of Princess Kaguya" - Production Stills Teaser Trailer

We've been treated to another peek at Studio Ghibli's Fall-release fairy tale, The Tale of Princess Kaguya.

Unlike the teaser we recently saw, this time, instead of animation, it's production stills (we assume, since scenes from the trailer are included and mesh well with the style).

Although in Japan Kaguya-Hime has had many incarnations and been included in shows and films of all sorts, it will be the first "big budget" animated feature of Japan's oldest known fairy tale, so there's a lot of excitement (and pressure!) on this one.

From crunchyroll:

As far back as 2009, the talk was that Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata's first movie since his 1999 water color style adaptation of family comic strip My Neighbors the Yamadas would be a retelling of 10th century Japanese folktale Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) - the story of moon princess Kaguya-hime, discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant. The story figured into many other anime, from Oh! Edo Rocket to to Leiji Matsumoto's Queen Millennia to Sailor Moon.

While this is promising the film will be lovely, it would be truly wonderful if we could see a little more animation... right?

Hopefully a full trailer will be available soon.

Fairy Tale for Fall from Ghibli: "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" (A Japanese Thumbelina)

Maybe it would be more accurate to say Thumbelina is a Danish Princess Kaguya since the Japanese fairy tale predates Andersen's by... a VERY long time!

Do you remember THIS POST from waaaaaay back in 2009 about Japan's oldest fairy tale, "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter", coming to us soon from Studio Ghibli? Well, we're (finally!) getting close!


From MoviePilot (older info, so the title has changed):

Grave of the Fireflies director adapts the oldest Japanese fairy taleThe legend of princess Kaguya - a pocket-sized baby who was discovered by an old bamboo cutter named Taketori no Okina, while growing inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant. With Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter, Isao Takahata is creating his interpretation of the oldest surviving work of fiction in the Japanese language Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter. The story is said to have existed since the 9th or 10th century, and is known by virtually every Japanese child on Earth.

From the Japan Daily Press:

The film is directed by Studio Ghibli’s co-founder Isao Takahata of Grave of the Fireflies fame. [Edit FTNH: the same studio that brought us other fairy tale films such as Ponyo, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro ] Kaguya-Hime no Monogatari (“The Tale of Princess Kaguya”) is a retelling of an old Japanese folk story, “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”, in which a princess discovers a baby in a bamboo plant. In the film, a baby girl, Kaguya-hime, the size of a thumb is discovered asleep in a glowing bamboo stalk. The film is set to the style of traditional Japanese picture scrolls.

[FTNH edit: I added a link to the information available on Wikipedia in the above statement if you're interested in the (sparse) details. There are a couple of additions to information such as Producers and the film score HERE as well.]

Although there isn't much to look at yet, we do have a poster! (See top of post.) Interestingly, the tag line apparently reads: "A princess' crime and punishment." That may be confusing to people who intimately acquainted with the tale, like the Japanese are, but it does make sense.

The film was going to be co-released this Summer with Studio Ghibli's other film du jour, The Wind Rises (directed by Miyazaki) but due to some internal story-hiccups Princess Kaguya won't be released now until Fall*. With The Wind Rises still on target for release in July (in Japan), there's a chance we'll be treated to a teaser for Ghibli's new/old fairy tale around the same time. (We can hope!)

The Tale of Princess Kaguya is reportedly in post-production (though how that can be when they were still changing story boards in February, I don't know! Must have an amazing set of very hard working animators!) and last available information still confirms a plan to release in Autumn 2013, but it's still difficult to find out much else about it at this point.

I'll keep my FT news hound nose to the Ghibli wind for you!

*(Quoted from the Ghibli blog) The Japanese film distribution company Toho said Kaguya Hime no Monogatari needed to be pushed back in order to give Studio Ghibli to enough time to make it the best it can be. Toho added that The Tale of Princess Kaguya, which is based on the traditional Japanese folk tale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, needs more time than originally expected to work out the plot. While this has no effect on the movies’ release dates for outside of Japan, which haven’t even been announced yet, its sure to disappoint domestic Studio Ghibli fans just a touch.

"The Secret World of Arrietty" Is A Hit

It's official: Studio Ghibli's new film The Secret World of Arrietty is a much loved hit. It's getting rave reviews from all over* with many repeats of the words "wonder" and "enchanting".

Here's a trailer:

My son (5) is completely hooked by the previews he's seen and is asking for stories about little people so, thankfully, I have plenty of fairy tales to fuel his imagination while he waits to see it.

So far my list includes Thumbelina, Tom Thumb, Thumbling and Hop o' my Thumb and I'm throwing in some Gulliver's Travels for good measure along with a few Katharine Briggs collected folklore stories on fairies and other wee folk found at the bottom of the garden. According to my son, it appears, from all the mischief happening, we have wee folk INSIDE the house too... ;)

But we're not limiting stories to "people who are teensy" but also looking at heroes who have to deal with things waaay bigger than they're used to. Jack and the Beanstalk is getting lots of repeats thanks to Jack's encounters with a giant and his wife. What other stories would you tell to kids enamored by the idea of The Borrowers?

I don't know if we'll be able to get to the theater to see it, but I prefer to watch Studio Ghibli movies in Japanese anyway and read the subtitles. The first time we saw Ponyo we had a screener in Japanese with no subtitles and just loved it. We really didn't miss any of the story at all. The animation told us everything we really needed to know. We've since seen the English dub and the subtitled Japanese and we still prefer watching it in Japanese. I'm guessing Arrietty will be the same. In the meantime we may be able to pick up some of the beautiful books that are coming out. The "Art Of" book looks stunning, of course, but there's a graphic novel/film comic (vol 1 of 4 shown above) which promises good nights of family story time ahead too. Looking forward to it!

* Yes, lots of rave reviews, except for one that accuses it of Left-Wing propaganda. As someone who comes from a background in which fairies may very well have been at the bottom of the garden and were known for many generations to cause their own brand of mischief I have to wonder what happened to these people's bed time story time. Did they miss it? I feel sorry for them.

Japan's Oldest Folktale "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" Next In Line From Studio Ghibli

"The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" a.k.a. "TheTale of Princess Kaguya" a.k.a. The Bamboo Princess" (Taketori Monogatari or Kaguya Hime), Japan's oldest known folktale from the 10th century (also considered Japan's first fairy tale) is coming to the big screen courtesy of Studio Ghibli (the animation studio that created "Ponyo", "Spirited Away" and "My Neighbor Totoro" among others). While it won't be directed by Miyazaki it will be the same team, so expectations will be high.From Asian Movie Pulse:

Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli co-founder and director (Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, My Neighbors The Yamadas) has made the very exciting announcement that he will be directing a new feature-length film. Takahata is the “other” half of Studio Ghibli (edit FTNH: Miyazaki being the more well known "half"), and one of Japan’s most famous anime directors. With this new film, Takahata will be breaking a 10-year hiatus (his last feature film, My Neighbors the Yamadas, was released in 1999). His new film, Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter), is a movie adaption of the classic 10th century folktale (also popularly known as Kaguya Hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya)).

Taketori Monogatari has directly and indirectly inspired many Japanese manga and anime, such as Sailormoon and Inuyasha. This beloved story is considered to be the oldest surviving example of Japanese narrative, and every Japanese person knows this story. A little baby is found inside the stalk of a glowing plant by a bamboo cutter. He takes her home, and raises her with his wife as their own daughter, and they give her the name Kaguya-Hime (radiant-night princess). She grows into a beautiful adult woman, with many suitors, even the Emperor of Japan – and she rebuffs them all. Then, things become even more complicated as her true lineage becomes revealed, and her special relationship with the moon...

This would be Studio Ghibli’s first foray into remaking a classic folktale (unlike Disney, which is famous for such remakes – Cinderella, Snow White, etc.). Taketori Monogatari has been made into live-action and animation remakes many times, and while it has not been announced whether Takahata intends to faithfully follow the original story, it is more likely that he will surprise us. For one thing, a faithful rendition of this story has been done many times, and it might not be interesting for Japanese locals; for another, he is well-known in Japan for his originality and creativity. So it is certainly a treat to look forward to.

And if you're wondering how this film will differ from other well-loved Studio Ghibli films, here's what the official Ghibli Blog has to say about Takahata's directing style:

What sort of movie will Taketori Monogatari become? We can expect a stunning attention to detail and documentary realism, emotionally-charged human drama, and Takahata's patented style of logic and precision. His adaptations are more logical and calculated than Miyazaki's instinctive, almost impulsive style. He doesn't scrap the original source material as Miyazaki-san always does (Conan, Kiki, Howl). Instead, Takahata gets to the core of the story, fleshing it out, adding depth and color and bringing them to life.

This tale can be found everywhere and will be familiar to those who've read any collection of Japanese fairy tales. The Golden Book of Japaneses Fairy Tales is a good place to find a copy as it also has some lovely illustrations. Online, there's a sweet child-friendly site HERE where you can read the story with the illustrations shown here (which are actually animated gifs at the site) for each page and some Japanese music that's optional to listen to as well.

And what will the 68 year old beloved Studio Ghibli Director, Hayao Miyazaki, be doing? Not retiring. He's reportedly in the planning stages on TWO more films right now - set to be released 2011 and 2013. Miyazaki-san creates animation which is unapologetically for children, so we can expect more fantasy family films coming our way.