8 years ago
Retrospectives (10 posts found)
Anatomy of an artist
The Studio Ghibli Retrospective: “The Cat Returns”
Hiroyuki Morita's The Cat Returns is the second film from Studio Ghibli to not be directed by company co-founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. It is also, for my money, the weakest film to come out of Studio Ghibli that I've seen (though keep in mind that...
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The Studio Ghibli Retrospective: ‘Spirited Away’
Nothing sad happens in the opening fifteen minutes of Hayao Miyazaki's eighth feature film Spirited Away. Nothing really even happens until the very end of the opening, where a traumatic event occurs to our protagonist that will change her life forever, but it...
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The Studio Ghibli Retrospective: ‘My Neighbors the Yamadas’
A family distilled
In ink and paper
We all rise to the clouds
Joined in laughter
Forever
~Dumb Haiku by Christopher Runyon
A haiku, as most readers hopefully know, is a Japanese poem meant to lyrically juxtapose two images or ideas with just a few lines ...
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The Lav Diaz Retrospective
Due to the elusive nature of Diaz's works his films are very difficult to find unless you're looking or living in the right places. The ones who are lucky enough to stumble upon his pictures often find themselves with nothing more than VHS tape level of qualit...
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The Studio Ghibli Retrospective: ‘Princess Mononoke’
Studio Ghibli was constantly proving what animation could be capable of, but it took 12 years for them to produce their first real "epic". If other works of Japanese anime like Akira and Ghost in the Shell showed how animation could bring stunning sci-fi visio...
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The Studio Ghibli Retrospective: ‘Whisper of the Heart’
Whisper of the Heart. What a lovely title for a story. Simple, poetic, and evocative of how beautifully transient the simplest of moments can be. It also best describes the appeal of Yoshifumi Kondô's short-lived legacy as an animator: he came and went like a ...
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The Studio Ghibli Retrospective: ‘Pom Poko’
Pom Poko is a strange film, and not just for the obvious reasons. Isao Takahata's first foray outside of the realism that defined his previous two features in the studio contains a premise that's strange enough on its own; about a clan of Japanese raccoon dogs...
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The Studio Ghibli Retrospective: ‘Porco Rosso’
There's a scene in Porco Rosso where our porcine hero, a sky bounty hunter during the time between the two World Wars, is looking to rebuild his plane with a new engine. The mechanic shows him their latest model, which is adorned with the name "GHIBLI" in big,...
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The Studio Ghibli Retrospective: ‘Only Yesterday’
Takahata's meditation on childhood innocence deserves far more recognition.
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Examining The Films of Spike Lee
Spike Lee is one of the few directors working today whose style is immediately recognizable. From the tone-setting opening credits sequences, to the famously infamous double dolly shot, to cinematography and editing that felt as if it were physically affecting...
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