THE BOY AND THE FISHERMAN
Rating: 4 stars
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Year: 2023
Premiere: October 27, 2023
It may not be the last movie in his filmography. Hayao Miyazaki Even though he was promoted in this way – after all, the Japanese master has repeatedly announced his retirement since then. 25 years ago– but in any case, ‘The Boy and the Heron’ certainly has testamentary ways. From the start, it operates as an exuberant compilation of themes and visual motifs already present in his 11 previous feature films, and indeed its plot premise is closely linked to his most universally acclaimed fiction. ‘Spirited Away’: An introverted teenage girl who finds herself thrown into a strange alternate universe filled with strange creatures and dazzling environments. metaphor profession; in this case, the process of grieving for a dead mother and, in general, the fantasies we form in a vain attempt to avoid harsh reality.
But also with the movie, Author of ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ and ‘Princess Mononoke’ It suggests a painful but also strangely comforting reflection on the temporary situation of our loved ones and, of course, one’s own. In this way, Miyazaki seems to have accepted the idea that he will leave this world without completing his artistic project. While he is gone, the world will continue to revolve around itself.and perhaps his successor to the throne of animated cinema may or may not be even more wildly inventive and tenacious in defending his ideals. And being a spectator to this acceptance process Frankly, I’m moving.
Meanwhile, ‘The Boy and the Heron’ shows that it is one of the director’s boldest works on a formal level. Keep it up jumping and tumblingand follows the kind of free association that governs children’s imaginations, connecting a multitude of exaggerated ideas – abnormal beings that look half-human and half-bird, pirates sailing on seas of dreams, cute insects that inflate like balloons, giant budgies with fascist tendencies; and it does this, as always in Japanese cinema, by conveying it through a series of incredibly detailed drawings that illustrate it perfectly. both beauty and ugliness and they seem to come from a higher power, not from the pen of an artist. Miyazaki’s last work? I hope not, but you can’t find a more appropriate movie to say goodbye to.