Japanese Film Festival 2014

limnam wrote: »

Won't make it to Dublin, Anything you recommend from the Cork line-up?

I think most of the possible recommendations I mentioned above - aside from the Wind Rises and the two classics - are playing Cork I've only seen Story of Yonosuke (which I really liked, but be warned it's the guts of three hours long) and The Garden of Words (beautifully drawn but otherwise unspectacular animation from Makoto Shinkai) myself, but I think most of the other films would be worth a gander depending on which descriptions appeal to you. Lesson of Evil is Takashi Miike returning to horror / action - has received some mixed reviews, but sounds like it could be well worth a go. Capturing Dad has received some really positive reviews from the likes of Variety - seems like a crowdpleaser when the crowdpleasing is an asset instead of a liability!

The Wind Rises, as I would have expected, was beautiful and graceful. I wouldn't necessarily say it's one of his definitively greatest films (although I'm down to trying to futilely classify levels of greatness there), but it's undoubtedly one of the most subtle and grounded film in his directorial oeuvre (perhaps more in line with some of his screenwriting work on Poppy Hill or Whisper of the Heart). It's a Miyazaki film all over - revisiting themes and personal fascinations from his long and distinguished career. It's also the most technically accomplished - while it might lack the memorably surreal imagery of many of his classics, the sheer vibrancy and colour of the film leaps off the screen throughout and there's a genuine beauty to every meticulously drawn frame.

It's a gentle, sombre work, and scenes play out at a consistently leisurely pace, but there's an ever present bittersweetness to it. It's a film happy to let many of its ideas bubble under the surface, but it articulates the darker sides of the story without feeling heavy handed. That's Miyazaki's greatest trick here - he deceptively focuses on the micro, sometimes even the mundane, but manages to highlight the bigger picture in interesting and intelligent ways. It is full of subtlety and care - even Joe Hisaishi's score is quieter and less invasive than usual. The dream sequences, an ever dangerous cinematic shortcut, here actually serve a strong thematic purpose and allow Miyazaki to embark on some worthwhile flights of fancy (literally!). There's also a haunting, extended recreation of the Great Kanto Earthquake.

It is, ultimately, a film that reflects on the challenges of creating art and following a dream. There are compromises that have to be made, and at the end the creation might be distorted or even destroyed in ways the creator never intended or had to grudgingly accept. It certainly applies to these ambitious engineers fulfilling their dream of building magnificent flying machines in a time when they're being re-purposed as tools of mass destruction - providing them access to previously unheard of resources, but at a pretty terrible price. But one could certainly read it as a great director looking back at their own career & life, with both sadness and absolute pride. A recurrent quote throughout is that all artist's only have ten years at the height of their creativity to realise their wildest ambitions. Miyazaki, taking his probable last bow here, is being hugely modest - he gave us more than thirty years of endlessly imaginative features. The Wind Rises is one of the most mature and reflective works this extraordinary filmmaker has made - returning to some of his greatest passions while also trying quite a few new things. It's IMO a far more fitting punctuation mark to an illustrious career than either Ponyo or Howl's.

The Kirishima Thing - where the heck did this come from? A genuine unexpected gem. A popular kid named Kirishima disappears from school without explanation, sparking a vivid, subtle and deeply intelligent ensemble drama about the trials of being a teenager. Indeed, it's easily one of the best films I've seen about being a teenager - cleverly subverting archetypes in surprising and rewarding ways. Director Daihachi Yoshida admirably avoids easy answers (there film's core mystery remains just that) in favour of a far richer and resonant story. Add to that a nicely understated, shadowy visual style, several neat structural tricks and extremely inventive and minimalist use of music and you have a mini triumph. Hopefully this gets a wider release somewhere along the line.

Patema Inverted, on the other hand, offers some good ideas that are sadly wasted by awkward storytelling and underwhelming execution. Jonathan Clements intro suggested it flips typical anime gender politics - it does no such thing, and feels sadly familiar as a result, like a subpar Laputa. There's some potent visuals inherent in the concept of upside down worlds, and there's certainly some striking images. Its constant changes of perspective were quite fun to keep track of, and the potential of falling up into the sky takes vertigo to a whole new level. But it also feels like a missed opportunity, calling out for much more imaginative setpieces to make the most out of its magical physics. The world building is standard dystopian fantasy fare, the characters bland, the direction largely uninspired and the music relentlessly cheesy (one very funny music based gag aside). The basics are intriguing enough that I found myself hoping it would suddenly burst into life. Alas, it never really soars.