I used to think that all japanese animation was called anime but apparently that's not the case. I would like to know if anyone could clarify this.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 3 April 2020 17:06 (four years ago) link
ponyo (the only good film) is now on netflix
― mark s, Friday, 3 April 2020 19:05 (four years ago) link
obviously i am watching it, i will always watch it
― mark s, Friday, 3 April 2020 19:06 (four years ago) link
anime as the term is used in the west just means any animation produced in japan
― ciderpress, Friday, 3 April 2020 19:32 (four years ago) link
I can't remember who it was that said differently. Might be something like the way people said gekiga is not manga?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 3 April 2020 19:39 (four years ago) link
when lisa and sosuke are fleeing the tsunami in the little pink car and ponyo is running on top of the storm fishwaves is the most exciting scene in cinema history sorry if this offends
― mark s, Friday, 3 April 2020 19:54 (four years ago) link
also the high stylisation of the sea
― mark s, Friday, 3 April 2020 19:55 (four years ago) link
ponyo is running on top of the storm fishwaves is the most exciting scene in cinema history
it is certainly the most exciting scene in the film. it is a very good scene! the whole thing, from the old folks home to the house. lisa's driving is terrifying. love how calmly accepting she is at the end, 'my son's favourite human-faced fish has turned into a little girl, ok'. tina fey is a+ voice talent in this.
watched howls, it is now in my top 4. sure the end with the scarecrow/prince is hugely out of the blue but till then it almost matches spirited away for a wild thrill ride. As usual with Miyazaki there is a wealth of detail and a dearth of explanation (this is good not bad), e.g. all the childhood ephemera in Howl's bedroom. The only thing I thought was unduly skipped over was a scene with the witch of the waste: after she's had her powers taken she becomes entirely simple, except briefly after Sophie's mum visits she perks up, deals with the black wriggly spy thing, smokes a cigar and says she wants a little chat with Howl - but then she goes right back to being simple and it's not mentioned again. I've started reading the book, will be interesting to see how much of this is fleshed out. Already some major changes - Sophie's sisters are dispensed with, Howl saves Sophie from sleazy pickup guys but in the book he is the sleazy pickup guy!
― Paperbag raita (ledge), Monday, 6 April 2020 10:30 (four years ago) link
... also love how sophie occasionally wavers between an old woman/a not so old woman/her normal younger self.
― Paperbag raita (ledge), Monday, 6 April 2020 10:38 (four years ago) link
The film takes a sharp left turn from the book round about the time Sophie meets the King, iirc. It's more 'inspired by' than 'based on' from that point on.
― la légende d'beer (Matt #2), Monday, 6 April 2020 11:21 (four years ago) link
@mark s:
I mentioned upthread that Ponyo might dip a little too deep into the well of Northern European folklore (HC Anderson/R Wagner) for the typical Ghibli fan. Did you find it a more "classics"-informed tale than the other Ghibli films you've watched?
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 6 April 2020 15:21 (four years ago) link
you said before yes but i'm not sure i get it? (well i get HCR i guess somewhat but wagner? do i just not know enough abt the submarines in wagner?)
on the whole ponyo seems *less* european to me than many of the others (if european means euro kidlit across the 20th century, which they are full of): its setting is the tsunami-threatened present-day japanese coastline, with warning loudhailers on poles and etc
― mark s, Tuesday, 7 April 2020 14:23 (four years ago) link
i agree that it's a little different from the rest of studio ghibli tho
― mark s, Tuesday, 7 April 2020 14:24 (four years ago) link
the Ponyo score pretty much co-ops Wagner's Walkürenritt for Ponyo's "tsunami" chase, from the part of the opera when Brunhilde and her valkyrie sisters are trying to return the One Ring to the Rhine.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 7 April 2020 15:25 (four years ago) link
ah ok!
― mark s, Tuesday, 7 April 2020 15:30 (four years ago) link
might fuck around and rewatch PONYO (2008)
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 18:49 (four years ago) link
actually i already started, love how utterly fkn wired and exhausted her dad looks from the get-go
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 18:50 (four years ago) link
he's all jacked up on that elixir.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:14 (four years ago) link
also how recklessly sosuke's mum drives, she reminds me of mine getting me to school in like 1969 lol
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:19 (four years ago) link
Rewatched Ponyo with daughters yesterday - it's #2 daughter's fave now - and was struck again by the sheer loveliness of their little boat put-putting over the flooded motorways as the Cambrian fishies ("IT'S DEVONICUS!") loom beneath them.
― Stevie T, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:27 (four years ago) link
semi-convinced that there's a thread in ponyo -- part visual part story-content -- that goes back to a rupert the bear story i dragged my old rupert annuals off their high shelf and finally checked, and tbh (a) no, the two elements i thought were in one single story are in two quite unrelated stories (rupert at greyrocks cove in 1961, rupert and the whistlefish in 1969, if yr keeping count) so i think my grand theory fails BUT someone at ghibli nevetheless reads rupert the bear books imo
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:54 (four years ago) link
j forgot what b was, i think it's somewhere in what i wrote
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:55 (four years ago) link
Halfway through Pom Poko, <3 <3 <3 (those are hearts not racoon balls.) Wasn't expecting a rendition of the best non M.R. James ghost story Mujina, turns out Mujina is another word for raccoon (raccoon dog, techinally).
― a slice of greater pastry (ledge), Friday, 10 April 2020 20:13 (four years ago) link
We watched Pom poko last week and it manages to balance the watership down sadness, with being absolutely hilarious.
I should read more tanuki mythology.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-tanuki-japan-s-trickster-god
There’s some great tanuki testicle tricks ukioe prints in that article.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Friday, 10 April 2020 23:19 (four years ago) link
yeah, either the sombre narration (though not untempered with dry humour) or the WBesque raccoons would be too much by themselves. was trying to place the narrator but i had to look it up in the end: "what are the raccoons going to do tonight? the same thing they do every night pinky: try to take over the world!"
― a slice of greater pastry (ledge), Saturday, 11 April 2020 10:35 (four years ago) link
i saw princess raccoon at the ica a while back, with several fellow ex-ilxors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Raccoon
the story i remember little of, the sense of ramshackle panto-level mise-en-scene lingers more strongly
― mark s, Saturday, 11 April 2020 13:48 (four years ago) link
not Miyasaki, not even Ghibli, but Studio Ponoc's Mary and the Witch's Flower
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_and_the_Witch%27s_Flower
is on film4 currently. so i guess it'll start on film4+1 in ~40 minutes.
not seen it but it is well regarded.
― koogs, Monday, 13 April 2020 10:22 (four years ago) link
(which is based on another english children's book)
― koogs, Monday, 13 April 2020 10:25 (four years ago) link
This is on Netflix in the US, pretty good movie.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Monday, 13 April 2020 13:06 (four years ago) link
Whisper of the heart: did not finish.
― a slice of greater pastry (ledge), Saturday, 18 April 2020 20:41 (four years ago) link
Then you missed her awesome story she wrote
― I got 5G on it (Matt #2), Saturday, 18 April 2020 20:52 (four years ago) link
i skipped through and found an intro and another scene but hardly a story - is there stuff that's narrated but not shown?
― a slice of greater pastry (ledge), Monday, 20 April 2020 12:55 (four years ago) link
apologies for my disrespectful treatment of ghibli/miyazaki.
― a slice of greater pastry (ledge), Monday, 20 April 2020 12:56 (four years ago) link
it's kondō (rip)!i saw that on the big screen a month or so before the theaters all closed, and found it very soothing and charming and absorbing and unique (?). nice chill slice of life, the coming-of-age of a creative person but without any forced crises or overblown obstacles. the family doesn't always get her but they're supportive, the biggest problem is a snafu with a friend whose crush likes the wrong person, etc. i was also very ready for it to be done when it was done, and didn't much love the ending, but idk it put me in a very nice mood. prob not for everyone tho, and def doesn't scratch the same itches as miyazaki.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 20 April 2020 13:13 (four years ago) link
continued apologies for disrespectful treatment of kondō (though miyazaki did write the screenplay).
― a slice of greater pastry (ledge), Monday, 20 April 2020 13:16 (four years ago) link
I was looking forward to The Wind Rises (spoilers follow), I wasn't aware of any controversy and vaguely thought it was universally acclaimed. The opening was charming, all the dream sequences delightful, the sound design outstanding. But I had misgivings early on; in the earthquake and fire he saves the woman because he's a Good Guy but he's materially and emotionally unaffected by the devastation - the library's on fire as he arrives at the university but he laughs it off, books are replaceable after all. I kept on waiting for some moral payback from his war work but it never came, aside from a platitude about the pyramids and the aeroplane graveyard at the end. His colleague and friend recognises the poverty caused by the government's economic policy but happily accepts their paycheck and ultimately dismisses the idea that they are in the arms trade. And then there's Jiro calmly working long hours away from home and late into the night at home on his machines of death as his wife basically lies dying beside him. I found Miyazaki's choices here disappointing, considering the strong sense of humanity and anti-war themes in the rest of his filmography.
― a slice of greater pastry (ledge), Tuesday, 21 April 2020 07:38 (four years ago) link
When Marnie was There: emo girl gets pally with ghost. 'Emo girl' is reductive and unfair but she's a cartoon so that's ok. I stuck with this but it never transcended its obvious young adult themes, though the ending was pretty moving.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya. Loved the drawing style except for the caricatured characters - the giant headed mum, the pointy headed tutor, the pointy chinned emperor - which I hated. Good story.
― a slice of greater pastry (ledge), Monday, 11 May 2020 13:20 (four years ago) link
only watched the beginning, but a 30 min bts/doc about Kiki's location/inspiration in Stockholm & Visby.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 23:22 (three years ago) link
https://vimeo.com/386087768
This now-cafe was the inspiration for Gütiokipänjä Bakery.
https://goo.gl/maps/8rgAjWcBcMjeG1hk6
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 23:36 (three years ago) link
HM's comments: https://vimeo.com/45200524
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 23:45 (three years ago) link
For USA people: HBOMax is offering a free 7-day trial and they have the complete Ghibli collection.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 28 May 2020 03:05 (three years ago) link
(even graveyard? that was missing from the netflix uk list iirc)
― koogs, Thursday, 28 May 2020 11:31 (three years ago) link
Apparently not fireflies yet
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 28 May 2020 13:32 (three years ago) link
It's on Hulu if that makes any difference...
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 28 May 2020 13:52 (three years ago) link
it probably does to HBO, which explains what's going on there.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 28 May 2020 15:01 (three years ago) link
https://www.polygon.com/animation-cartoons/2020/5/31/21270449/hayao-miyazaki-lost-movie-rowlf-richard-corben-studio-ghiblihad NO idea about this. cannot imagine a corben/miyazaki team up, what a culture clash
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 1 June 2020 01:11 (three years ago) link
That's cool.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 1 June 2020 15:59 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuNkFTGtyswmiyazaki's first solo directed piecehttp://ghiblicon.blogspot.com/2006/10/yukis-sun-miyazakis-solo-directoral.html
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 8 June 2020 17:50 (three years ago) link
Rewatched Ponyo last night.
Discounting Totoro, Miyazaki is at his best when his stories are fully immersed in the fantasy realm: the dream-logic world of Spirited Away; the surreal steam-punk universe of Howl's Moving Castle. While the plot of (especially) the latter film can feel convoluted or awkwardly paced at times, it benefits from the caveat of its fantastical backdrop. Ponyo, being set in the real world and relying on magic-realism, feels slight and unfinished by comparison.
The film received a lot of praise for its clean, simple style, but as with Calcifer in HMC, the Ponyo character feels rough and sketchily-drawn. And while there are some beautiful moments of animation, it's nothing we haven't already seen in Miyazaki's previous films. The shots linger on these moments a little too long. I hate to say it, but it's the only film of his which acts pleased with itself.
Similar to the scrappy art, the plot left me feeling similarly unsatisfied, with character motivations running all over the place and loose threads left dangling. Sosuke's mother come across stressed, overworked and frustrated by her husband's absence. She makes irrational and frankly dangerous decisions throughout the film, recklessly driving home through a tsunami against official warnings to turn back, and once home deciding to leave her four-year old son so she can go back to her fully-staffed workplace. Despite all this, she takes Ponyo's arrival and adoption completely in her stride, as though having another kid to look after isn't the last thing she needs.
Ponyo's father, the king of the ocean, is also frustrating. A complicated character, whose history is only faintly alluded to, his grave concerns about the cataclysmic end of the world are brushed away by almost everyone. Never mind that there are ancient dinosaurs swimming down the street and the moon is lifting the sea into the sky, people seem more concerned about the 'true love' a little boy has for a human-headed fish. Meanwhile it's all gentle row-boat picnics and sanguine seniors sipping tea. Any environmental concerns seem to boil down to an insipid 'Relax, and stop taking everything so seriously - true love conquers all'.
Perhaps I'm not the right audience for Ponyo. Like Totoro, it's clearly aimed at young children and I've heard lots of accounts of kids being mesmerised by it. Totoro is also a very sweet and charming film, but it will never be my favourite, or at least not unless I get to see it with children of that age. Until then, Spirited Away and HMC will be Miyazaki's crowning achievements.
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Monday, 6 July 2020 10:00 (three years ago) link