It's been a decade since Hayao Miyazaki's last film, "The Wind Rises," and fifteen years since his last fantasy film. In that time, animated films have exploded in number, with studios around the globe tuning out exceptional work. However, nobody makes an animated film like Miyazaki, and "The Boy and the Heron" is one of his best. After having seen the film once, I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping to. However, there are enough moments of sheer wonder and brilliance that I know this is one of those films I'll be revisiting over and over again, the way I have with "Spirited Away" and my other Studio Ghibli favorites.
"The Boy and the Heron" is reportedly Miyazaki's most autobiographical project. It follows a boy named Mahito (Soma Santoki) in wartime Japan. A year after his mother dies in a fire, his father (Takuya Kimura) is going to marry Mahito's aunt Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura), who lives in the countryside. Mahito is suddenly thrust into a new environment and forced to confront his unresolved spiritual and emotional turmoil. The impetus for his journey into the unknown is a Grey Heron (Masaki Suda), who keeps appearing to Mahito and claims his mother is alive. The first hour of the film is fairly slow and sedate, as Mahito explores his new home. The second half, when he goes on an adventure, and we meet characters like Kiriko the fisherwoman (Ko Shibasaki), fire manipulator Lady Himi (Aimyon), and a Wizard (Shohei Hino), is an overwhelming bombardment of fantastical creatures, places, and concepts. It's the second half I had some trouble with, and I think I'll need a few more viewings to really get my head around it.
This film feels in many ways like a spiritual cousin to "Spirited Away", where the rules of the fantasy world are not explained, and dream logic prevails. Mahito travels through several different worlds, and some have suggested that they represent Miyazaki's other films, with the Wizard standing in for Miyazaki himself, or his mentor Isao Takahata. However, there have always been recurring elements in Miyazaki films, like the appearance of cute, benign spirits. Here, we get the Warawara, who are revealed to be people who haven't been born yet. Lady Himi is the intrepid girl heroine, the Grey Heron is revealed to be the childish scallywag in disguise, and there are ecological and war parables going on everywhere you look. Oh, and there are the adorable elderly ladies, of course. "The Boy and the Heron" has seven of them (and they're diminutive enough to be dwarfs), acting as Natsuko's loyal troupe of maids and housekeepers.
I was more impressed by the quieter, more immersive moments in the first half that really got me into Mahito's headspace. There are wonderful, simple shots of him staring at slippers on the floor, or crossing an empty courtyard, that are incredibly evocative. I love seeing the slow, but deliberate way that simple tasks are carried out - cooking, getting dressed, and even carrying a suitcase. The fantasy segments have some of this, particularly Kiriko sailing and fishing, but the pace of the story is so rushed in the final scenes that there's far less time to take in the artistry. And I so wanted to slow the movie down as it approached its conclusion so I could take in every frame of animation and every note of the score. Every detail feels imbued with meaning, from bird droppings to lost bandages.
"The Boy and the Heron'' is one of Miyazaki's most ambitious and difficult films. It is likely the most expensive Japanese film ever made, and took seven years to complete. And more than ever, this feels like Miyazaki bidding farewell to the medium that he helped to transform, by putting more of himself onscreen than he ever has before. After multiple attempts, it's clear that he will have no successor, and Studio Ghibli will never be as it was without him and the dearly departed Isao Takahata. I'm clearly biased, having adored Miyazaki's work for decades now, but the appearance of this movie after such a long absence feels miraculous, and I'm already looking forward to watching it again.
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