The Boy and the Heron – Film Review
by Frank L.

Original title: Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka

Director – Hayao Miyazaki
Writer – Hayao Miyazaki
Stars – Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Kô Shibasaki

Miyazaki was born on 5th of January, 1941. He is one of the founders of Studio Ghibli (1985), who have made a series of animated feature films which have been hugely successful at many levels. These include Spirited Away (2001), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) and Princess Mononoke (1997), along with many others. In 2013, Miyazaki announced his retirement.  However, he subsequently relented and the result is ‘The Boy and the Heron’.

It starts with a young boy Mahito watching the hospital in which his mother works go up in flames. It is a deeply disturbing opening scene of destruction and fear. It is made even more so given what is currently happening in the world. Mahito’s plight is all too real and is unnervingly prescient. His father Shoichi then marries his deceased wife’s sister Natsuko. Mahito moves with his father and new wife to live in the countryside where Mahito encounters an ancient tower, semi-delapidated and a worldly grey heron. Mysteriously his new stepmother disappears and Mahito sets forth on a journey within the tower which will bring him into new territories.

The animation is superb, as always with Miyazaki. Particularly magnificent is the grey heron with his anthropomorphic teeth. The humanoid teeth in his pointed beak make for an unsettling and disturbing image. Another masterful animated creation is the warawara which Mahito encounters on his journey. These are small white globular creatures with tiny arms which bounce around the place. Keeping the story in contemporary times, Mahito’s father is a manufacturer of the cockpits of fighter aircraft. So the visual imagery is a magnificent collation of familiar objects and fantastical creations.

The storyline is at times difficult to follow as the myriad of different characters and extraordinary edifices come and go as Mahito’s journey progresses. Joe Hisaishi, a long-term collaborator of Miyazaki, provides a soundtrack which heightens the brilliance of the images that fleet before our eyes. There is a great deal of material to contemplate and enjoy.

For the English version of the film, the voiceover cast includes Christian Bale, Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe and Florence Pugh. Their voices add to the excitement of the journey.

The film lasts almost two hours and given the complexity of the story, a second viewing will no doubt provide greater insights into what Miyazaki has created.  ‘The Boy and the Heron’ can take its place with pride in the panoply of work created by Studio Ghibli.