The Waltz Disney of the east, Hayao Miyazaki has for too long been ignored by western eyes. A man who has personally drawn and supervised all of his feature films ( a claim Waltz Disney could never adhere to), is surely the greatest Anime director/director period of all time. His exuberant take on life and his odd penchant for Lynch-like fatalism makes him a perfect candidate for scenester adoration. The pimp daddy has produced many cult classics, from My Neighbour Totoro to Princess Monoke( google now). But a must watch is "Spirited Away".
Commonly quoted as one the greatest anime flicks ever, the use of colour, traditional Japanese mysticism and good old fashioned good versus evil, makes this movie a must see. Although if you want a movie your less alien to, try "Howls Moving Castle", a western novel based on humorous wizardly, it entails an all star cast of Christian Bale, Jean Simmons and Emily Mortimer. (Emily's father is an fascinating character, read his books!)
Basically, if you don't know, get to know.
i would say spirited away is much more complicated than good vs evil, the line between the two is blurred. even the 'baddie' yubaba turned out to have some sympathy and loved bo a lot, and the parents were literally greedy pigs but would still be classed as good, no-face, who ate all those people, just wanted love. i dont think it can really be classed as old fashioned good vs evil in any way.
ReplyDeletealso i would say howls moving castle is probably harder to get into than spirited away, although the concepts may be more familiar the characters aren't too relatable and you may find yourself rooting for nobody in particular... but thats just my opinion. each to their own.
i also wouldnt say my neighbour totoro or princess mononoke were cult classics. princess mononoke was -and is - hugely successful with glowing reviews (rightly so) so it couldn't really have cult status, and totoro is less well known but also isn't quite there... studio ghibli films are quite mainstream in general, especially so in the anime world as they are definitely by far the most well-known anime film studio, i doubt many people could name others.
basically, before you write a review, if you don't know, get to know. just kiddin, good still.