August
8, 2005
Howl's
Moving Castle - The highest grossing Japanese film from
the past year is now being shown (and subsequently buried) in the
States courtesy of Disney. Howl's is the best movie to be released
in American theatres this year; a deep, affecting episodic story
about romance, war, and the fountain of age. There's enough depth
to fill three or four lesser movies. Is this Hayao Miyazaki's finest
film? I always think that after watching one of his movies, but
there's something definitive about Howl, playing out like the Beatles'
medley on Abbey Road. It's a summarizing film; it is also his most
distinctly personal, a devoted poem to his marriage, and his wife
who had to sacrifice her career so he could pursue his.
Americans
expected Harry Potter or another paint-by-numbers Disney fairy tale.
What they got was a surrealist collision between Nights of Cabiria,
Juliet of the Spirits, and Apocalypse Now. If you know your Miyazaki,
truly know his films inside and out, then Howl's Moving Castle will
force you to see everything in a whole new light.
(A
much longer review will soon follow, either on this page or at my
weblog Conversations on Ghibli. Thanks for being patient, and keep
looking for the skees...I mean, skies.) |
