It all started with Howl's Moving Castle on a lazy Sunday. My good friend rented the movie earlier on a whim. I recalled watching it while abroad, but the details escaped me. Together we snuggled into one of Miyazaki's fantastical films to date. Eventually it all came rushing back to me and I remembered the scope of his film at once so personal and still so grand. It was both pensive, dreamy, and endearing all at the same time. Then I thought back on some of his other movies and recognized a similar theme. So I went back and watched as many movies as I could.
From Howl's Moving Castle I went on to Princess Mononoke. Onwards I crept to Tales From Earthsea and My Neighbor Totoro. I stalled out there mostly because my local DVD rental shop went out of business and the summer movie season exploded on to local screens. But I still remember Spirited Away, that capstone of Miyazaki films.
One thing I want to celebrate is the music in these films. Sweeping scores performed by entire orchestras carried me off my seat to it's very edge. Battle scenes took all the emotional context of such orchestral grand pieces. Lonely piano keys echoed the character's loneliness. Even the opening song of My Neighbor Totoro (a catchy Saturday morning cartoon theme) sells the tone of the film all by itself. The music, on many different scales, conveys emotion and tone so thoroughly that often entire scenes run on ninety percent music.
The second thing I want to celebrate is the fantasy in these films. Miyazaki's unique blend of period and fantasy in Howl's Moving Castle distinguishes it as a uniquely visionary piece. Not quite steampunk but nowhere near fantasy alone. It toes the line. There's a clear evolution to his work from the pure fantasy of Tales From Earthsea and Princess Mononoke into modern fare like Spirited Away and Howl's with a transition of Totoro to demonstrate his interest in staying periodically relevant. His movies contain magic, and not the kind of magic you can explain but the kind you have to take for granted. Whatever the gimmick it is easy to sea Miyazaki does not waste time explaining.
The third thing I want to celebrate is his character's complexity. In many films whoever starts as the villain becomes a victim later in the film. Miyazaki speaks often about his interest in displaying the complexity of every character. In his films there is no outright villain. The story wraps these punishing characters in it's own melodrama releasing them as protagonists instead of the antagonists they once were. There is no moral black and white in Miyazaki's films.
The fourth thing I want to celebrate is his love and respect for nature. We can debate over the meaning of Spirited Away forever or Howl's Moving Castle forever, but I think they're just extensions of his message from earlier films. Mankind's fractured relationship with nature sets up a majority of his movies creating the source of dramatic tension. In the outright respectful tones of Mononoke we see his most distilled form of demonstrating a respectful relationship or we reap the repercussions. In his later films the consequences of our violent actions against nature take on a more nuanced perspective in the form of anti-capitalist or anti-imperialist sentiments. Either way, they're all just branches on the same tree.
The fifth, and last, thing I want to celebrate is his use of the beat. Miyazaki's films leave me with a sense of serenity. I often find myself finishing a film and staring dreamily out my window to the world around me. His stories take time to develop. Totoro doesn't even appear for the first thirty minutes of the movie. Even when his stories take off and run along at speed Miyazaki takes the cinematic equivalent of a deep breath. They are the moments we remember the most about Miyazaki films: Totoro holding an umbrella over a little girl in the rain, A girl sitting on the train with her friends as it travels, the beauty of a forest lake ensnaring a young warrior. He never rushes the story and these soft beats allow us as an audience to gorge on all the cinematic details I mentioned above. Miyazaki, as a filmmaker, combines elements of many disparate genres to create stories centered around empowered women (even girls) that talk about our relationship with the natural world and give us time to breathe.
I can't wait to watch another Miyazaki film considering the inner peace it gives me. To Mister Miyazaki, I salute you. Please continue making films, under whatever guise you decide. Thank you!
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