Mr. Miyazaki and Me

Good morning Consumers, This is please consume, the film newsletter that has more subscribers than Tony Montana has mountains of cocaine. 

This week, with the release of The Boy and the Heron coming to the US. We saw it as a perfect opportunity to talk about one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

Mr. Hayao Miyazaki.

Bring us home Tyler...

 Ponyo (2008)

Written by Tyler Clark

 I’m not spending any time on the intro; it’s Ponyo.

Get that ham, and let’s get into it, baby!

Mr. Miyazaki and Me

Both Tom and Caleb started their wonderful pieces this week by talking about their relationships with Miyazaki, so it only feels right that I do too. It makes sense; he's such a totemic filmmaker, whose impact stretches continents, and being someone who makes films that are so elemental, the context in which you see them plays a big role.

For me, I was raised watching Studio Ghibli films. My brother got into them at a young age, and it infected the rest of our family. I will always have a strange correlation in my brain between Hayao Miyazaki films and Netflix DVD slips. For the Clarks, Ghibli was our Disney, and Totoro was our Mickey.

So, needless to say, I was there opening weekend for Ponyo when it came out. But embarrassingly, I must admit I hadn’t seen Ponyo since its release 14 years ago. And yet, I remembered it so clearly when I rewatched it for this piece.

The Indescribable Relationship Between Man and Movie:

Rewatching this movie the other night was a transformative experience. It was the closest I’ve come in a long time to being transported back to childhood. Within the first five minutes of this movie, I broke down crying.

But why was it so visceral?

It’s not like this is the first time I've rewatched a movie that I loved as a kid. I think a lot of it also goes to the fact that Mr. Miyazaki is so good at his portrayal of children.

I rewatched My Neighbor Totoro again this year too, and it is so well-observed in its view of childhood. I think when watching Ponyo, it’s not just that it’s a movie I love, but it’s also a movie that nails the experience of childhood.

The idea of discovery, the open-hearted love for people, and reading their emotions so clearly while also not being able to understand why they are having them. It’s a film that explores independence with consequence; it has no qualms about its protagonist's naivety, and Mr. Miyazaki understands and appreciates that about Ponyo and Sosuke.

It's a film that admires the innocence of youth, celebrates it, and yet does not mince words about what it means to grow up and be a grown-up.

Not Enough Words

This movie is amazing. I really cannot say enough good things about it. Unfortunately, I don’t have all the time in the world to talk about it. BUT! I do want to leave you with eight reasons you should give this movie a watch.

8. This is the most bizarre adaptation of The Little Mermaid you will ever see.

7. In the English dub, Liam Neeson voices a grungy sea wizard.

6. Miyazaki loved making it so much he almost made a sequel.

5. This gif:

4. No computers were used to animate the film; it was all hand-drawn!

3. Miyazaki drew most of the ocean animation himself.

2. Roger Ebert gave it a perfect four out of four stars.

1. This film set the world record for the most hand-drawn frames in any film with over 170,000 drawings!

Today’s Scene