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The Boy and the Heron
君たちはどう生きるか
2023 · Film · 124 min
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."
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11 comments on Hacker News
Well their top directorial talent is retired (and even if it's another fake retirement like his last two, he's too old to do too much more) or dead. Miyazaki's films seem to be more popular and well known than Takahata's (personally Grave of the Fireflies and The Cat Returns are the only Takahata films I've seen), but both men were the heart of the studio. Goro Miyazaki has improved since his debut but is still nowhere as talented nor as visionary as his father.
Also The Boy and the Heron was quite a letdown for me for Miyazaki's final film. I understood the point he was trying to make, that the films he made were his attempt at creating a perfect world, but the malice in his own heart made him unable to accomplish his vision. But the rest of the film didn't really seem to be built around that message, it seemed like an afterthought for the final scenes where the great-uncle is trying to pass the mantle on to him.
In any case, Princess Mononoke is my favorite film of all time, and the closest that Miyazaki (and Studio Ghibli) ever got to perfection. If you haven't seen it you should absolutely check it out.
Turning everything into Ghibli has renewed my love of photography as I search my phone for the perfect pics to Ghiblify. I didn't even know there was a movie, The Boy and the Heron, released by Studio Ghibli in 2023, but now I am going to watch it (streaming on Max but I might as well buy it if it has replay value, which Studio Ghib movies tend to).
A couple things:
1. The academy has had a significant increase of young voters in the past 10 years or so. Generally speaking, young voters are more likely to take animation as a "serious" medium.
2. These interviews were always somewhat overstated. Of course some voters have stupid rationales, but I don't think this dominates the academy.
3. Disney's Inside Out 2 was nowhere close to winning the award this year - Flow's biggest competition was The Wild Robot, which did gross far more than Inside Out 2, but far below Inside Out 2.
If you look at the past couple years, The Boy and the Heron (Studio Ghibli) won over Across the Spider-Verse (with Pixar's movie Elemental nowhere close) in 2023, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio won over Across the Spider-Verse (with Pixar's movie Turning Red nowhere close) in 2022, etc.
I'm curious what year you're thinking about above. Perhaps Toy Story 4 over Klaus in 2019?
"There’s a perfect example of this in the leafy western suburbs of Tokyo, home to one of the city’s most popular attractions: the museum of the famed anime production company Studio Ghibli, creator of globally acclaimed films including Spirited Away (2001) and The Boy and the Heron (2023). Inside the immaculately designed and managed facility is a replica of the director Hayao Miyazaki’s workspace. It is a glorious mess."
>What am I missing? What should an old fart who's becoming convinced things were better in the old days put myself infront of?
I think no reply are really getting at this question.
If you consider the two latter Miyazaki movies not being included, I think "greats" to you must be something that is "very unique and distinct from the western (animated) movie but also distinct enough from its own (anime) peers".
If you see it that is way, Howl's was not distinct at all (based on a UK book & doing what worked in spirited away) and boy and the heron (essentially reusing expressions from all the works of Miyazaki).
I think you're just looking for that "wow" factor again. Something that put your mind at edge because your brain couldn't predict what will happen next, because they don't follow usual (selling) clichés in story telling or cinematography.
I don't think many anime of today really have that. The only one I can think of is the original Evangelion but that's quite old now too. Maybe Attack of Titan, Pluto, but that's a bit subjective.
I can think of multiple Mangas that would fall in to that. Mangas allow more artistic freedom because it's made by a smaller team, and requires smaller fan base so can be bold in trying new expressions. But might lose its charm when (if) adapted to animation. Ghost in the shell mentioned in the original post too, is Very different from the Manga. (source material) and to people that really got intrigued by the deeper theme about consciousness they might prefer the Manga more.
I haven't watched it myself but maybe the recent adaptation of Junji Itos horror might fall under that "wow" category. His style (in writing) is very unique.
Try this: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/24/movies/hayao-miyzaki-the-boy-and-the-heron.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Bk0.PHlj.F3xHBsVxHuJ0&smid=url-share
In somewhat related news Studio Ghibli recently released new last Miyazaki animated movie - The Boy and the Heron - with pretty much no marketing, as in not even a trailer. Its opening box office surpassed that of Spirited Away.
I just saw Miyazaki's latest "The Boy and the Heron." I'll refrain from commenting on it as I intend to respect Studio Ghibli's intention of giving audiences a fresh viewing without any prior notions.
Like with most Miyazaki films, the entirety of Japan is rushing into theaters. Tickets are difficult to get. I wish there were many more filmmakers that captured the public's attention like this.
I'm not sure how I'd title it if I were the American distributor, to be honest.
It's not an adaptation, but 君たちはどう生きるか is the name of a book for young adults that the Japanese audience might be familiar with; the reference will be lost on an English-speaking audience, draining it of some of its meaning and nostalgia. Imagine a film called "The Little Prince" or something...but of course, The Little Prince isn't the same book, with the same themes, as 君たちはどう生きるか. And even if there were a book which the reference mapped onto well, it still feels like referencing a different title in the translation would be egregious.
In that sense, I'm somewhat fond of "The Boy and the Heron", though I acknowledge it isn't ideal and, as someone who prefers more literal translations, wouldn't necessarily be the route I'd take. Without injecting any specific (and thus wrong) reference, it evokes the nostalgic feeling of English childhood fables and aphorisms - and it lends it their feeling of moral weight, too, just as the Japanese title does. It's a good and evocative title.
The literal translation everyone's using, "How Do You Live?", isn't ideal. There's a couple of grammatical mismatches between the two languages; whereas the "you" in English can be both singular and plural, the Japanese is explicitly plural; and Japanese doesn't explicitly differentiate present and future tense, and here the meaning is actually likely more future tense. But the big problem is that, to my ears, it sounds deeply accusatory in English, along the lines of "How do you live with yourself?" - and given Miyazaki's views and temperament that wouldn't have surprised me! But in truth the intended Japanese meaning is more inquisitive and philosophical. The original title, in the original novel, is from a book inside of the book, left as a question to the reader. In prose I might translate it as, "How will you, readers, choose to live your lives?", but there's countless variations I've considered; none of them are quite right, and to be honest none quite have the original's punch of a good title!
(disclaimer: I'm a reasonably advanced student of the Japanese language but not a native speaker. Apologies if I've gotten anything wrong.)
Miyazaki's new movie "The boy and the heron" was released just last week in Japan. Not sure when it's coming to the west but it's the first movie by Miyazaki since 2013.
It's also quite unique in the sense that there was no trailer or marketing for this movie. Even in Japan.
From article:
> The highly-anticipated film released in Japanese theaters earlier on Friday as “Kimitachi wa Do Ikiruka” (“How Do You Live”). In an unprecedented decision by producer Studio Ghibli no images, trailers, synopses, advertisements, or other information about the film have been made available to the public prior to its Japanese theatrical outing.
> “How Do You Live” has been the movie’s informal English title throughout its production phase, but Gkids says that “The Boy and the Heron” is now the official international title. In keeping with Ghibli’s Japan omerta, Gkids says it will not release any further details or marketing materials at the moment.