The Boy and the Heron (2023)
7.9
This semi-autobiographical film from Ghibli master Hayao Miyazaki is an abstract but beautifully poignant farewell
Movie
Japan
Japanese
Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family
2023
HAYAO MIYAZAKI
Aimyon, Jun Fubuki, Jun Kunimura
124 min
TLDR
Leave it to Miyazaki to craft the most heart-wrenching and adorable farewell.
What it's about
After losing his mom in a fire, Mahito is dismayed that his father has remarried his Aunt Natsuko. When she goes missing, however, he leads the search and ends up in another world, one where herons talk and the dead remain alive.
The take
The Boy and the Heron isn’t Hayao Miyazaki’s best film, nor is it his most accessible, seeing as the director himself has admitted to getting lost in the world he’s built here. But it is his most personal film to date (apparently he’s out of retirement!) and consequently, it’s one of the most complex Ghibli films to exist. It eschews structure for pure, raw emotion so instead of dialogue and plots, you get wonderfully abstract fantasy worlds and protagonists with near-imperceptible depths. You don’t have to get the story to understand the heaviness, grief, joy, and hope that Mahito, and in turn Miyazaki, feel. You only have to see the delicate turns in the characters’ expressions and their wildly imaginative adventures.
What stands out
The stunning visuals (simultaneously smooth and nostalgic), which many veteran animators in Japan helped craft.
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