Showing posts with label Miyazaki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miyazaki. Show all posts

Friday, July 14, 2017

'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!

Friday, May 19, 2017

'Okja' - An Eco Fairy Tale/Monster Film Coming to Netflix

We just saw this and are pretty thrilled to see a Miyazaki-like story coming to Netflix as live action. While it has nothing to do with Studio Ghibli (that we can find), you can see the influence in the trailer.

Here's the synopsis:
“Okja” tells the story of a girl who travels from Korea to Manhattan to prevent Swinton, head of a sinister multinational meat company looking for a revolutionary product, from kidnapping her best friend, a massive animal named Okja, with some help from a (less extreme) PETA-like organization. The cast includes Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal.

It looks like a somewhat-edgy family film, except that Ms. Swinton does use the F-word in the trailer, so more information is needed on the final rating/age appropriateness.

Take a look (we are smitten with Okja!):
It's clearly another fairy tale-like, fantasy/action film, mirroring the eco-warrior trend of the 80's but with a, very relevant, 2017 twist, and perhaps a little Princess Mononoke thrown in. In some ways it reminds us of Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (remember that little gem, that was also much more violent than you remember?!) except that Okja is a GMO super-pig in serious peril.

Under some controversy at Cannes, due to being backed by Netflix (ie not a traditional/'real' film), Okja is one of two Netflix movies chosen to compete at Cannes. Director, Bong Joon-ho couldn't have been happier with this arrangement though, and his statement makes it easy to see why:
“Netflix guaranteed my complete freedom in terms of putting together my team and the final cut privilege, which only godlike filmmakers such as Spielberg get,” he said. (Variety)
We can hear indie filmmakers getting their proposals in order as we type! In fact, with the current conversations about the representation of fairy tales in films, this sounds like a great option to pursue if none of the big studios seem to be getting on board with a fairy tale vision.

Okja is only on Netflix, June 28.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Totoro Forest Project (in Honor of Earth Day)


Dug by Khang Le
Happy Earth Day!
As a late-in-the-day tribute honor to Planet Earth I thought I'd highlight a project inspired by a film, inspired by a forest. My Neighbor Totoro is a film I now see as synonymous with trees and forest wonders and is one of those films all children, in particular, should see regularly from about age four or five. It's a wonderful, beautiful, modern folk tale by Hayao Miyazaki about a little family (two young sisters in particular) and has fairy tale connections as well (more about that another time).
Dream by Paul Topolos

If you know Miyazaki's work, you know he is passionate about preserving childhood joy and the future of the planet. Ponyo was another fairy tale (with The Little Mermaid roots) that looked at the state of our oceans. My Neighbor Totoro looks at the importance of nature and the forest in our lives and healing. That's not to say they're focused on the ecological issues though. These films are delightful tales in and of themselves but they're told within the framework of folklore, wonder and imagination.
Totoro No by Richard Vander Wende

The Totoro Forest Project came about quite a few years ago now, in 2008, as part of an effort to help preserve a special stretch of natural forest.
The Resting Place by Luc Desmarchelier

In tribute to Miyazaki and to support this cause, artists from all over the globe created pieces to be auctioned to raise money for the forest's preservation.
When I Whisper Totoro's Name by Manuel Arenas

From the official site:
A fund raising exhibition/auction to support the national trust Totoro Forest Foundation that Oscar winning film maker Hayao Miyazaki has been helping over the years, featuring original art created by internationally acclaimed artists in the fields of animation, comic books, and illustration. 
Untitled by Rebecca Dautremer
Hayao Miyazaki has been actively supporting the preservation effort of Sayama Forest for more than ten years. This 8750 acre park in the outskirts of Tokyo is also known as Totoro Forest. It's in these woods in fact that the concept for the film "My Neighbor Totoro" was born. 
Untitled by Andrea Blasich
In the past few decades, the forest has been subject to urban development. Only continued support to the Totoro Trust Fund can help preserve this much needed island of green in the midst of Tokyo's urban sprawl. We intend to donate the entire proceeds of the project to this worthy cause. 
Tree Spirit with Bike by Scott Campbell
This event can also be a symbolic gesture, sending a strong message to the world in terms of environmental and social awareness.  Imagine artists from all over the world coming together to donate artwork to help conserve a forest they have never seen.
Kappa no Tabi - The Kappa Journey by Enrico Casarosa
You can find out more about the project HERE.
Untitled by Jillian Tamaki

In this post you can see a small (yes small!) selection of the pieces created and made available for purchase. Here are some more:
Tilden Totoro by Emanuela Cozzi

The Tree Man by Paul Conrad

The Keepers by Jony Chandra

Rescue by Noah Klocek

Intruder by Steve Pilcher

Guardian of Autumn by Eric Orchard

A Gift by Jackson Sze

Alive by Enrique Fernandez

Gatherer by James Jean

Come Out and Play by Charles Vess

I just love it when artists come together to help a cause! There was a limited print run of the artworks made for the auction, the cover of which you can see below. I know they've been looking into getting a reprint but apparently it's not a straightforward thing to do, so if you see one, don't let it disappear... (what an interesting parallel that makes!).

Monday, February 23, 2015

Fairy Tale & Folklore Oscar Watch 2015 (Summary)

The three biggies this year were all in the Best Animated Feature category:

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya - the oldest recorded Japanese fairy tale

Song of the Sea - selkie tale based on Celtic folklore

The Boxtrolls - Jungle Book related tale of a boy raised by 'monsters' finding his way (based on Here Be Monsters)

These three were up against industry giants Big Hero 6 (Disney) and How To Train Your Dragon 2 (Dreamworks).
_______________________________________________________________
BIG HERO 6 won for Best Animated Feature
________________________________________________________________

Nominated in other categories:

Into The Woods - Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep lost to Patricia Arquette for Boyhood)
                           - Best Production Design (lost to The Grand Budapest Hotel)
                           - Best Costume Design (lost to The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Maleficent          - Best Costume Design (lost to The Grand Budapest Hotel)

The Lego Movie - Best Song "Everything Is Awesome" (lost to Selma's "Glory")

It should also be noted, mythic storyteller and master animator Hayao Miyazaki, known for My Neighbor Totoro, The Tale Of Princess Mononoke and the Oscar winning Spirited Away, was also awarded an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award (finally!).
I'm completely tickled that the audience were hanging onto their Lego Oscar statues as a tribute to The Lego Movie which deserved to be nominated but wasn't. (That's the Jack-like story, complete with giants of many kinds, that I think is more fairy tale than most people realize.)

Thursday, July 31, 2014

"Into The Woods": New Movie Poster, New Website & Random Thoughts on How We (& the Media) View Fairy Tales

And one more bit of Into The Woods news for Thursday:

Today also saw the launch of the official website (although there's not a whole lot there apart from the trailer, cast list and the photos you've already seen) and new promo poster variations (see above and below).

The Facebook page is finally becoming active too.

The important thing this confirms is that they're still releasing on Christmas Day in theaters in the US. I can see the Winter merchandise and decorations now... although they're mixing up with Narnia a bit in my head at the moment, which I wouldn't mind too much since so much of the first Narnia movie merchandise at the time of the release was just stunning.  I'm going to do my best to be optimistic about this.

One note does concern me though: we're a little tired of fairy tale stories backstabbing us, or the media doing their level best to "shock" the public by uncovering their dark sides via these "OMG did you know..!" lists. Adam over at Fairy Tale Fandom has a great and timely post on this very subject.

One thing my forced downtime made me do, since I couldn't handle computer screens, was to do a lot more reading. While I plan to get to the various books in more detail in the coming weeks, I have to admit my favorites were not the novels but the collections, specifically Jack Zipes' recent wonderful book, The Golden Age of Folk & Fairy Tales from The Brothers Grimm to Andrew Lang and to a lesser extent, though still great to read, Philip Pullman's Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm (with the English version and the German version side by side so I could look at Shaun Tan's sculptures while reading).

Why? Because they were just "as is" - no emphasis on the happily ever after or the magic but also no emphasis on the dark, gruesome, grimness either. They were just tales in which something out of the ordinary happened and people had to choose how to respond and what, if anything, they should do about it.

When I started getting a lot better and could watch TV again, I also spent some time showing my kid some more of Miyazaki's movies and discussing extraordinary, ordinary things (if you follow me) and it struck me just how similar the sensibilities are - which is probably why I love the movies so much. While the fantasy creatures and impossible things were notable, it was clear that many of these things could have been either frightening or wondrous, depending on the context they were seen in and particularly how the child (usually it was a child) at the center of the story saw it. We weren't told "this is beautiful" or "this is scary", we had to hold our breath and see what the kid thought.

Here is an excerpt from a wonderful set of images, illustrating Miyazaki's philosophy in storytelling. It's something I sincerely wish more filmmakers, especially regarding family films, in English speaking countries would adopt:

The excerpt above is slightly out of context so you can see the full five illustrated page summary HERE.

Anyway - these are my random musings as I watch fairy tales being presented to the public once again. I'm actually hopeful that Into The Woods will work in favor of balancing some of the glitter vs gruesome polarization we currently see when the public contemplates fairy tales.

Friday, September 6, 2013

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) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea- Miyazaki's Little Turtle-Mermaid

I've had this Ponyo post in the works for ages, hoping to verify which tales ACTUALLY inspired Miyazaki-san's story but can find nothing quoting him as confirming one main source of inspiration the other. Instead this post will refer to you what is being said by sites who are well versed in Miyazaki-san's work (as well as the man himself). After that, you get my opinion. :D

You can also read SurLaLune's post on the movie (which includes more of what it's about) HERE. Please note there are some interesting comments on that post worth reading by Miyazaki-san 'fans' too.

So, regarding the majority of reports/articles/etc floating around the (Western) internet and media, Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (崖の上のポニョ Gake no ue no Ponyo) is being called Hayao Miyazaki's* version of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. Others are saying Miyazaki didn't reference The Little Mermaid at all but instead (probably) used the popular traditional Japanese folktale Urashima Taro (a Japanese Rip Van Winkle variant that takes place under the sea with the turtle being the daughter of the Sea King who rewards a fisher boy for saving her. I think it falls into the category of 'fairy tale' but I'm not certain).

Instead of siding with one or the other it seems the most reputable sites (who generally have the 'inside track' on Miyazaki's work and Studio Ghibli's films) are saying Ponyo was loosely inspired by The Little Mermaid AND Urashima Taro. Wikipedia states Miyazaki-san as saying The Little Mermaid was his inspiration without a source that I can verify, but this interview HERE with Studio Ghibli's former President and Executive Producer Suzuki Toshio, sheds some interesting light on a popular Japanese collection of nursery tales, Iya Iya En, that also influenced the film's beginnings. (Miyazaki did, in fact, animate one of the Iya Iya En stories in a 16 minute film called Kujiratori (くじらとり, lit. "Whale Hunt") in 2001. It's only shown only in the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Japan.)
Miyazaki-san at ComiCon 2009

With this is mind it's easy to find parallels from both the mermaid and turtle stories in Ponyo but then again, if you thought Miyazaki was referencing another Japanese mermaid story, The Serpent and the Sea Queen**, you'd find a lot of parallels there too - especially with regard to the visuals (eg the masses of teeming fish/sea creatures, the undulating 'animated' sea [the waves have eyes], the giant goddess/mother, the island and more). Mind you, I haven't found any mention of this tale in connection with Miyazaki but, being one of the more popular tales and the fact that he's a well read man of both Eastern and Western stories, he's likely to be aware of it, even if only subconsciously.

Whatever the case truly is, in the tradition of fairy tales, it would appear Miyazaki-san has created a new tale using classic elements. It's also very likely this tale will have it's own unique influence in both Western and Eastern cultures (helped along by the marketing and distribution power of Disney), just as My Neighbor Totoro has to date.

But let's get to the film itself, with a couple of things you may not have read or heard in other reviews or articles.


THE TECH STUFF

Miyazaki did some experiments with currently trending CG animation before deciding to stick with the traditional hand drawn method, saying he felt he could get more expressiveness and subtlety. (You can see some images in this post of him working directly on the art for the film along with the storyboards - the latter being something which, I understand, is done almost exclusively by himself.)
Miyazaki-san working on some development art for Ponyo

While he obviously made an excellent choice in choosing hand drawn animation as the medium for the film, I have to say, he really put his animators through their paces. I found it difficult to see any animations cycles (re-used drawings) anywhere, even in the 'obvious' places. No shortcuts for these guys!

From Wikipedia, quoting other articles:
Miyazaki was intimately involved with the hand-drawn animation in Ponyo. He preferred to draw the sea and waves himself, and enjoyed experimenting with how to express this important part of the film.[LINK] This level of detailed drawing resulted in 170,000 separate images—a record for a Miyazaki film.
More development art from Ponyo and Miyazaki-san
A note regarding the above quote - I saw somewhere that approximately 80% of this film takes place underwater. Considering he already does the storyboards essentially solo - that makes for a very busy man!

You can find a lot more technical details HERE.

Regarding the name "Ponyo" here's what Miyazaki said at ComicCon this year:

The name, Ponyo, comes from sort of onomatopoetic…When you touch something, and it goes boing, poing, poinyo, poinyo…That kind of soft, squishy softness.

Cute huh?
Ponyo transforms to human with the help of her goldfish sisters

THE STORY
(here's the opinionated part)

I was fortunate enough to see Ponyo for the first time in Japanese, with NO subtitles and, if you haven't seen it already I strongly suggest this is THE way to watch the movie.

Why? The animation tells you all you need to know. This has been noted by a few critics and is a testament to the mastery of the animation - that the film can stand alone without needing any dialog at all.
But there's another reason to watch it in Japanese only: quite frankly, the English dialog - subtitles included - doesn't seem to line up with what's happening visually. I have the distinct impression the English audio (and subtitles) go 'beyond' translation and try to 'retell' the story for Western audiences and that this waters down the story substantially (though it does have a lovely poster for the US version!).
Please note, I have nothing to base this opinion on (of Ponyo being rewritten for an American audience) except my own viewing but when the English dialog is superimposed on the visuals there's a definite disconnect (despite the fact you don't need any help from dialog exposition to understand what's happening or how characters feel).

Ultimately I see the English version as having two problems:

1) the amazing voices of acting luminaries such as Liam Neeson and Cate Blanchett, while gorgeous to listen to and beautifully acted, are SO recognizable it pulls you right out of the story.
2) the dialog just seems wrong - it's heavy handed, explaining things that are right there on screen (not typical of Miyazaki at all) or saying things that are at complete odds with what appears to be going on.

The English trailer makes it out to be a story of 'goldfish girl saves the world' but even if that's in any way part of the original intent, it's not the feel, nor the focus, of the movie at all. The story is about the magic of friendship and it's 'plenty powerful'.

Take a look at this French trailer (there's no dialog in this one) for a different taste of the movie - one that's much closer to my overall impression of the movie than most of the other trailers:


The essence of 'fairy tale' comes through beautifully in the visuals. I'll be getting the Japanese version for my son to watch as he grows.

NOTE: *Sometimes you will see Hayao Miyazaki written as Miyazaki Hayao - this reflects more the way his name is said in Japanese. The term Miyazaki-san is an honorific, essentially meaning 'Mr. Miyazaki', something which is said to show respect.
** If you click on the link to read The Serpent and the Sea Queen please note it has annoying music that plays automatically on loading so turn down your sound! It also has trails of fish that follow your mouse around (remember when they were popular?). The fish fit the website/story well but can still be annoying. Just a heads up. :)