Miyazaki/Kitano/Oshii at Venice

[Jonathan M Hall]

Thanks to Markus for his description of Miyazaki's newest film,  
Ponyo.  I went with an American colleague (also from UC Irvine) and,  
like Markus, we both enjoyed the film visually (finding it at times  
stunning, especially the aforementioned storm scene with its nuanced  
black waves) while we also noted its narrative unevenness.  Eugenics,  
environmentalism, cross-species love, volitional evolution ... -- the  
stuff of the story is fascinating in part, but it fails to really  
come together as a whole.   But one thing struck my colleague and I  
both in related, albeit very different ways: the nature of the post- 
apocalyptic in this film is distinct, in many regards, from  
Miyazaki's earlier work. It's not just the deus ex machina ending,  
but that in the space of disaster (especially after the 2005 S/SE  
Asian tsunami), the effects of the storm/tsunami are erased entirely  
by a scotomizing, flat collective optimism quite uncharacteristic of  
Miyazaki usual social criticism. Instead, the triumphal post-diluvian  
march is orchestrated through a military march or gunka, a far cry  
from Mononoke or Spirited, and one that seemed to bring Ponyo a lot  
closer to 1944 Momotaro than 1988 Totoro.

Happy summer films!

Jonathan


On 31 Jul 2008, at 01:08, Mark Nornes wrote:

> Venice just announced their line-up for the next festival, and  
> three Japanese films are in competition: Takeshi Kitano's "Achilles  
> and the Tortoise," Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo in the Cliff by the  
> Sea," and Mamoru Oshii's "The Sky Crawlers." The new triumvirate to  
> replace Mizoguchi/Ozu/Kurosawa!
>
> I'm just back from Japan, a busy trip where I managed to see only  
> one film?Ponyo. The theater was packed and filled with energy, a  
> nice change from the empty theaters I usually see in Japan. This  
> film felt like a return to roots for Miyazaki. I won't go into the  
> (green, and somewhat incoherent) narrative here, excepty to say  
> that this is more Totoro than Mononoke. Kids will love it, and the  
> audience in Tokyo cheered and clapped when it was over. But a word  
> on the style. What CG he's used is pretty well hidden and seamless,  
> while most cel-animation films these days are aesthetically  
> schizophrenic. I appreciated that. The opening scene must have  
> sucked up half the budget; set deep in the ocean, there are  
> thousands of hand-drawn bubbles and stunning splashes of color. It  
> subsequently settles into a less flashy style. The figures are  
> fairly simple, often set in occasionally awkward movement through  
> limited animation. Backgrounds are pretty pastel drawing that evoke  
> picture books for young Japanese children. However, half-way  
> through the film, a storm whips the animation into pure spectacle,  
> the proportions of which few artists besides Miyazaki could  
> achieve. It's a truly stunning sequence, and probably pretty scary  
> for small children. The bright pastel palette of the backgrounds,  
> turns dark; where they were frozen backdrops before, the ocean and  
> trees begin to move and whip into a frenzy. It's masterful stuff.  
> Finally, I'd note that the darkness of the storm is filled with  
> subtle detail that will be lost on a television screen. Many scenes  
> feature tiny animated objects that will probably fuzz into cloud,  
> even on an HD monitor. I often found myself admiring an animator  
> that is conceptualizing his film, start to finish, for the big  
> screen. Be sure to see it in a theater.
>
> Now has anyone seen the other two films?
>
> Markus
>
>
>
> A. M. Nornes
> Professor
> Department of Screen Arts & Cultures
> Department of Asian Languages & Cultures
> University of Michigan
> Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
> Suite 6111, 202 South Thayer Street
> Ann Arbor, MI  48104-1608
> Phone:  (734) 647-2094; FAX: x0157
> Homepage: www.umich.edu/~amnornes
>
>
>

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