The Boy and the Heron (2023)

User Review

• 

  d_riptide

  8 / 10

  Given the incredible wave animations’s been riding on all year, I’m surprised Studio Ghibli waited until the end of this year to get in on that bandwagon. But based on the circumstances that led to “The Boy and the Heron” becoming a reality following Hayao Miyazaki’s 16th “coming out of retirement” party or whatnot, I am not complaining.
  
  
  What a movie.
  
  
  Once again, Studio Ghibli’s contemporary balance between, realism, zaniness and otherworldly in their animation makes for an exquisite viewing experience, especially when watching in a crowded theater. There’s a sea of malignant, mind-melting, slippery idiosyncratic imagery that compliments the psychedelic style and shapes this hypnotic, hallucinatory pull that makes their compositions and pastoral allegories so unusual but so daring knowing that graceful and grotesque are mere brush strokes apart. It’s the most blatant WTF outing the studios’ put out yet but in a way you can admire and appreciate for how consistent they’ve been all this time. Of course it couldn’t have been made possible with the simplistic and architectural-like framing of its editing and cinematography.
  
  Its permeable presentation is ripe with craftsmanship and fluidity at once, the aura that engulfs the rippling atmosphere feels almost breezy and limitless, and Joe Hisaishi’s musical score is nothing short of excellent.
  
  
  And can I take this moment to admire the gentle pacing here? I feared it was beginning to lose me going into the second act began but I grew to appreciate its slow grind.
  
  
  As this film was originally going to be Hayao Miyazaki’s last before circumstances changed, it makes sense in a way how some of the events of this enigmatic story draw inspiration from events in his own life. It bares similarities to My Neighbor Totoro as far as the subject matter while carrying an underlying somber subtext to guide it, just like Suzume; there’s a elegiac sense of magic and maturity that comes from how it tries to frame its understanding of mortality (or lack thereof) while straddling the semi-chaotic logic of the fanatical and illogic of the real world that governs and grounds the dizzying correspondence between each other.
  
  The free-wheeling story does compliments its episodic structure well, even if all the scenes here don’t click on their own as opposed to when the puzzle comes together, and as odd as it may sound, it’s because of that that results in a better throughline bridging the gap between the surreal wonder and bittersweet contemplation in accepting the beauty of the world and the pain that comes from within.
  
  
  There is still value behind how esoteric the story presents itself, especially as grief and second chances fog the glass between dreams and real life in this narrative, bordering between a child’s heroic journey and an old man’s wistful goodbye, a beguiling fantasy and partial self-portrait where Hayao Miyazaki inserts parts of himself into every character and where he watches us from the perspective in place of young Mahito. His journey is the core of what the central theme of this film is really about: “How do YOU live?” Every stage of one’s life is always complicated and the struggle of trying to understand how to live in the face of tragedy is beautifully contrasted with the manner in which others experience that same pain.
  
  
  
  What holds this film back to me are two things. One: on a minor level, it can occasionally get to the point where the stitching of animation blending styles get distracting; like the 2D characters moving around in a scene while the background is like 2.5 or even somewhat 3D.
  
  And two: the ending came about in the most abrupt manner possible to me. Miyazaki spends so much time in earlier parts of the movie building great atmosphere, but rushes some of the exposition near the end before quickly resolving it in a really abrupt denouement. I’m aware this isn’t uncommon for the man and I can fully understand the implications of what it means but I might’ve been able to give that a pass if it was more put together or if the character had a little more depth.
  
  
  But that is picking nits as far as I’m concerned. It ain’t a masterpiece….but it never needed to be.

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