? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

A decade after his last feature-length production and retirement, Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki returns to the silver screen to prove that he’s still got it. The Boy and the Heron is inspired by the Japanese novel How Do You Live?, but the story is influenced by Miyazaki’s childhood and memories.

(Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to external sources.)

A boy lost in war… Mahito (voiced by Soma Santoki in the original Japanese version, Luca Padovan in the English dub) is a twelve-year-old living in Tokyo during the 40s. As war ravages the country, his city falls victim to a violent attack in which he loses his mother. A year later, what remains of his family moves to the countryside, into a mansion staffed by aging maids, containing an abandoned tower that is the subject of legends, and a lake where a heron (Masaki Suda, Robert Pattinson) lives, plaguing Mahito with promises of finding his mother.

…And a parallel universe. Mahito’s grief fills his sleep with strange and disturbing dreams surrounding his mother. At the mansion, the strangeness becomes reality, and his aunt, who is now his stepmother, disappears into a parallel universe. Mahito, alongside the heron and an elderly maid, dive into it after her.

The film feels personal and intimate — a visual memoir of Miyazaki’s childhood and upbringing during wartime and the loss of his mother at a young age. In The Boy and the Heron, we find Miyazaki unchained, free to create something from the hopeful mind of a young boy who has known war and loss, a testimony to the importance of finding and holding on to beauty and love in an unforgiving world.

The film has all the hallmarks of a Studio Ghibli film that Miyazaki became famous for — A young hero facing hardships and a threat from another world, standing against it with a host of unfamiliar creatures. The captivating soundtrack conducted by Joe Hisaishi is awe-inspiring, and no doubt played a part in the film being heralded as a masterpiece and garnering 35 awards, most notably the 2023 Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

WHERE TO WATCH IT- You can find The Boy and the Heron on Netflix, or watch the trailer on YouTube (runtime: 1:55).

Tags: