Princess Mononoke

[xela]

It's been two or three years since I've watched any Miyazaki, which is far too long. Princess Mononoke isn't my favorite of his films: bearing in mind that I've probably only seen five of them, that distinction would go to Kiki's Delivery Service or My Neighbor Totoro — both of which make me smile a bit just thinking about them, though it's been years since I"ve seen either. But Mononoke certainly has some stunning visuals: the portrayal of demonic possession as being covered with writhing snakes is particularly effective: even thought I knew it was coming, I still flinched with the giant pig-demon first appeared out of the woods. (I'm pretty sure I looked away from the screen when I first saw it, in a theater.) And I suspect I could happily sit through an hour of watching the forest spirit's footsteps — so beautiful! Mononoke may also be a more ambitious movie than the other Studio Ghibli films I've seen. There is no cartoon villain here: all the parties are aggrieved; all are portrayed with sympathy. As is generally the case when conflict arises in our own world, all of the parties are justified. And in that, the movie provides much food for thought.

Seeing it agian certainly had one good effect: It reminded me that I haven't watched anywhere near enough of Miyazaki's work. I looked into netflix when they were still fairly new, and at the time they didn't carry several of the titles I tried searching for, so i didn't sign up. I'd been thinking recently about giving them another look, and with that in mind went to their site and searched in Miyazaki. And I am now a netflix member, with a queue consisting of

• Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro
  
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
  
• Castle in the Sky
  
• Porco Rosso
  
• The Cat Returns
  
• Howl's Moving Castle

So my Miyazaki education should proceed significantly in the next few weeks.

Comments

[kareila]

If you like Mononoke for those reasons, you should really like Nausicaa as well.

You should also rent Whisper Of The Heart. The relationship it portrays is more like the early relationship between me and Robby than anything else I've seen on screen or in print. Also, The Cat Returns seems slightly less random if you've seen Whisper first.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I've seen all of those except Cagliostro (which I will get hold of some day.) I'm a bit of a fan of Miyazaki myself, though not of all the Ghibli films it has to be said.
I wrote a (sort of) review of Whisper of the Heart on my LJ a while back, and I'm afraid I was not kind about it. I would rather stick pins in my eyes than sit through it again, that and Grave of the Fireflies, which people are always raving about but which I found depressing with unlikable, annoying characters.

The Cat Returns is Ghibli rather than Miyazaki, but it is silly and cute, and much more to my taste!

Kiki and especially Totoro are films you need to buy to keep, so you can watch them any time you're feeling blue for an instant pick me up. While Spirited Away remains my favorite, as it seems to reference a lot of Western fairy-lore as well as Eastern, which tickled me.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

Kiki and Totoro are films I've bought to keep. Unfortunately, I bought them on tape. I can watch DVDs on my MacBook, but it's going to be at least another month before I can get the TV and VCR, etc., unpacked and set up. Once I do, watching both of those will be high on the list.

[gardenfey.livejournal.com]

I have to second Spirited Away as the best Miyazaki move.

The Cat Returns, Howl's Moving Castle, and Totoro are also amazingly wonderful.

[the-gadgetman.livejournal.com]

I do a lot of RC airplane building, and for some reason always parse the move title as "Princess Monokote".....