Legendary director/writer/illustrator Hayao Miyazaki’s final, final film opened in Japan this Friday, July 14. With no marketing or information reveals to speak of, fans had to wait for the first critical reviews to trickle in to learn what’s to be expected of the 82-year-old maestro’s farewell feature: The Boy and the Heron (per the Friday morning announcement by GKIDS of its North American acquisition), released in Japan as How Do You Live.
In fact, we have only just found out what the Studio Ghibli movie is actually about. Diverting from the book from whence it took its working title, the movie centers on a boy named Mahito whose mother is killed in the WWII fire bombings of Tokyo. Moving out of the city and struggling to adjust to his grief, a new stepmother (his mother’s sister) and a half-sibling on the way, Mahito is lured by a talking heron into a fantastical journey through an alternate world to rescue what he has lost.
Outside the more fabulous twists, the story reflects Miyazaki’s own childhood experiences, and serves as an animated message to leave for his own grandchild.
Here’s what critics are saying:
“The film is full of Miyazaki’s signature obsessions, quirks and thematic concerns. There are the usual visual treats, like cute yet eerie creatures, great-looking food and gravity-defying flights of fancy – primarily hand-drawn and moving with the fluidity and sense of weight that mark the master animator’s work.
“Thematically, as in films like Kiki’s Delivery Service and Spirited Away, How Do You Live is a coming-of-age tale in which a child must overcome his selfishness and learn to live for others.”
— Matt Schley, BBC
“As strong as the themes are, the fact remains that the film is often exceedingly predictable. It’s obvious from the start what the thematic shape of the film will be — how Mahito’s arc will unfold. The major plot twists are likewise obvious — especially as to the characters’ true identities throughout Mahito’s adventure.
“What’s not predictable is everything else. The world Mahito travels through is unlike any seen before — even in Miyazaki’s other similar films … Every frame of this film feels like a separate work of art—one that only becomes grander when put together as part of the greater whole. It’s a film you could watch a hundred times and still discover new things in the background of any given scene. … It’s an animation tour de force unlike anything seen in the past decade.”
— Richard Eisenbeis, Anime News Network
“It’s clear watching this movie that Miyazaki has been pondering that concept. How do we get along in this world of violence and unease? What do we leave for our descendants? How do we relate to our ancestors who left us this world?
“… In tone, the movie is almost gothic. I’ve never seen a Ghibli movie that feels so distant, almost dour. And, indeed, I’d hazard that parts of this movie are even off-putting. This could easily be the least accessible Miyazaki movie. His penchant for the gross and gooey, seen in many of his previous films, is here unbounded. So, however, is his visual flair for beauty both unearthly and of-this-world.”
— Noah Oskow, Unseen Japan
“Thanks to its ambition, variety and depth, it is difficult to think of How Do You Live? as Miyazaki’s last film, the testament that we have all been led to expect. Treading both old and new ground, it illustrates how the director’s creativity is a deep well that never seems to dry up. It might be absurd, but at this point I just want to wish for another film in that vein, that would build upon its strengths, continue to tread the new roads it opened, and correct some of its faults. It is a difficult work, and as written, I do not think that it will work for everyone — I’m not even sure it worked for me. But this difficulty and ambiguity might be its best quality, Miyazaki’s ultimate showcase of talent, nuance and imagination.”
— Matteo Watzky, Full Frontal
