Spirited Away

Title: Spirited Away
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Animation, Adventure
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Language: Japanese

From the acclaimed writer and director of ‘Princess Mononoke’ comes a new masterpiece that tops it. Rich and diverse landscapes are presented from the opening scenes, filled with creative creatures large and small in an immersive world of fantasy that provides a constant source of intrigue, harking back to the days of ‘Never ending Story’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ and leaving the new Disney endeavours in the dust. But this isn’t a simple ‘family film’ like so many others of recent years – intended for children to drag unwilling parents to it – the characters are memorable and instantly lovable, all with their good traits and bad, and no overtly ‘evil’ character they deliver a crash course on how to face new surroundings with more than a few hidden meanings.

Taking a shortcut through the undergrowth to her new home, Chihiro – a 10 year old girl – is being reluctantly dragged along to face her new life when they accidentally stumble upon an abandoned amusement park. Exploring it further, her parents greedily feast on food left out on a stand, assuming the owner to return shortly, only to be turned into pigs. Chihiro, bewildered by their transformation is met by Haku who guides her into surviving the magical realm she has stumbled into, and so begins her quest filled with sorcerer’s and spirits, kimono-wearing frogs and walking balls of soot in the bath-house for the gods, struggling to save her parents.

The level of detail in the animation is phenomenal; each frame drawn by hand, no expense is spared on delivering the small details that make for such an intricately detailed story. We see the many apathetic workers of the bath house hustle their way around purposefully, with a stunning diversity of characters that serve for multiple viewings that have your eyes glued to the screen. Every character is unique and realistic from the main character to the small balls of soot she befriends, and the questionability of such a place existing is soon forgotten as you are drawn into the world (apparently a parody of the Studio Ghibli who financed his projects).

With a deeper meaning that emerges, not least in Chihiro’s newly found love for the river, and curing the ‘stink spirit’ to reveal the ‘river god’ within, it presents the issue of pollution in a creative manner that at no point feels forced. Likewise, the transition seen in the lead character from the whiny and spoilt child used to getting her own way into the independent and respectful character observed by the end, echoing many feelings of hostility towards the materialistic youth of Japan, and with the ‘chav’ culture here feels as strong as ever.

The soundtrack perfectly captures the atmosphere and enhances the result like you wouldn’t believe possible, finishing the final detail in defining a masterpiece; a term thrown around all too often but here has never felt more at home. This is a film that will captivate and entrance you time and time again; you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll think. This is the sort of film that makes you wonder, just how are Disney still in business?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Female Prisoner: Scorpion

Image
Title: Female Prisoner: Scorpion Rating: 4/5 Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime Starring: Meiko Kaji, Rie Yokoyama, Isao Natsuyagi Director: Shunya Ito Language: Japanese It was the 70s that saw the rise in Japanese grindhouse cinema (also known as ‘Pinky Violence); tired of the very ‘traditional’ style of many local films, and with the rise in success of Hollywood titles such as ‘Dirty Harry’ and ‘The Great Escape,’ a new wave of daring and experimental directors came to light. Armed with a low budget and all the influences of the early Western grindhouse cheap gore flicks, they combined it with traditional Japanese film-making sensibilities to create a style that somehow succeeded in being both artistic in style whilst retaining those cheap traditions such as gratuitous nudity and violence to result in something rather unique. And it was with this, the first instalment in the ‘Female Prisoner’ series, that would influence a wave known as ‘Women in Prison’ films; with a strong the...
Read more

Slasher Hunter

Image
Title: Slasher Hunter (2011) Rating: 3/5 Genre: Horror, Comedy Starring: Chad Phillips, Derek Rothermund, Ryan Sullivan Director: Steve Rudzinski Duration: 35 mins Four pals are planning to have a great weekend of sex and brews in an old cabin in the woods. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “this is the exact set up to every slasher movie from ‘79 to ‘99; this can’t end well.” Well our group of campers have thought of that, that’s why they brought sci-fi nerd Lee along for the ride who carries within him the so-called “survivor gene.” This special gene helps prevent him from being the unfortunate victim of any slasher maniacs that may be lurking about. Unfortunately this gene is also highly coveted by a group of the most dastardly slashers around: Frank, Larry, Jay, Charles, Pleatherface, and Puzzle (I didn’t say their names were very dastardly, did I?). It’s up to a renegade, federally-employed Slasher Hunter to thwart the slashers’ plan and save Lee and his friends before it’...
Read more

Chinese Erotic Ghost Story

Image
Title: Chinese Erotic Ghost Story Original Title: Yuk lui liu chai Genre: Comedy, Exploitation Rating: 2.5/5 Starring: Ben Ko Chu, Chun Chung, Siu Wan Hung Director: Kin-Nam Cho Language: Chinese It's always a little tricky to think how these sort of films should be rated; from the title it's apparent that they aren't perhaps the most creative when it comes to titles, though if nothing else it certainly is an accurate one, with perhaps some mention of how batshit insane the bizarre events of the actual film are being the only thing missing. It all kicks off rather normally; Chu is introduced as the debt collector working for an asshole of a King with a beautiful mistress, two beautiful daughters and an even prettier wife, whilst he's stuck with a woman who sleeps 20 hours a day and spends the remaining four awake eating. Caught in the embrace of one of the King's daughters he's punished with the task of entering Satan's Temple and stealing the statu...
Read more