Kaguya Hime/Story of the Bamboo Cutter film by Isao Takahata

[greg]

I am really in the dark. I just found out about Kaguya Hime no Monogatari the story of Princess Kaguya. It is a movie by Isao Takahata. I found out that it has already been released. I wish I had known so that I could buy advanced discount tickets. I'll ask my J-mom if she's seen it yet. If not, maybe I will go see it with her and my daughter when she comes to stay with us for the Christmas week.

This story has some significance to the area I live in. Each year in Fuji City, there is a Kaguya Hime beauty contest and the winner is elected to represent the city or something. I learned about this while translating documents about the city into English. I am not familiar with the story though, so I don't know what the connection is.

[usamimi]

I've seen the trailers and it looks really nice! The animation style reminds me of the sort of story-book style animation they did for "My Neighbors The Yamadas", which I thought was a really cute movie. (Which makes sense, seeing as he directed that one, too! ) I had a friend who just took a trip to Japan for a week and saw it, she said it was good. I'm looking forward to seeing it whenever it gets brought over here.

[gaijinpunch]

Saw the trailer when I went and saw Kazetachinu. It's on the list to see, for sure. Heard it was good from a colleague.

[llj]

Saw it this past weekend. Definitely a tearjerker. I think some kids in the theatre were crying at the end, but I'm not rude enough to go up to them to ask to make sure.

At the very least, I think pretty much everyone sat through it pretty engrossed, even the kids. I didn't see anyone fall asleep, which I was a bit afraid the film could make people do, given its length and how some reviews commented on its "slow" pace. To be honest, I was afraid I might get restless too because I've fallen asleep watching some pretty slow paced art movies of late, so I've begun to wonder if my attention span is starting to shorten like most mainstream audiences.

I definitely think Kaguya furthers some of the themes he explored in Only Yesterday, expecially in regards to Japanese society and conformity, especially on the subject of women in Japanese society. This one's a little less subtle than Only Yesterday, though, but I feel like that might help it connect better with a broader audience.

[usamimi]

I've been hearing some great reviews from English-speaking movie/anime sites lately! I really can't wait to see it, I'm sure I'll probably end up picking up the blu-ray as soon as I can.

[greg]

Oh wow. Nearly a year later, and it hits theaters in the USA? I still haven't seen it. Unfortunately, this movie suffered the same fate that Marnie did. A little too thought-provoking and sentimental, and nobody cared. Meanwhile, the recent 3D Doraemon movie was also thought-provoking and sentimental, and everyone went to go see it. I don't get it.

[llj]

Oh wow. Nearly a year later, and it hits theaters in the USA? I still haven't seen it. Unfortunately, this movie suffered the same fate that Marnie did. A little too thought-provoking and sentimental, and nobody cared. Meanwhile, the recent 3D Doraemon movie was also thought-provoking and sentimental, and everyone went to go see it. I don't get it.

Maybe if Kaguya wins the Oscar the Japanese media will hype it up again. I doubt it will win, though. I really think Spirited Away's win was something of a fluke. I read some interviews with a bunch of Oscar voters last year (all of them anonymous of course) and a large majority of them admitted they didn't even watch all the animated movies, and only voted for the 1 or 2 they actually saw. One Oscar voter, apparently an old woman, mentioned that she didn't like depressing movies and refused to watch them. I guess she won't be seeing Kaguya. Seeing as most of the Oscar voters probably will only watch the LEGO movie, I'm guessing that's the odds on fave to win.

[greg]

It'll probably go to Frozen. That's the movie everyone can't stop talking about this year.

[davemerrill]

We caught Kaguya last weekend at the Tiff and enjoyed it. The texture of the animation is beautiful; the kind of color-pencil charcoal stuff you see in shorts but rarely in feature films. I did kind of think there was some slack in the middle of the picture, but just a tiny bit. I'm glad the movie seems to be getting the kind of attention usually reserved just for Miyazaki pictures. Honestly, this one is as good as at least two of Miyazaki's more recent works. It's nice to see Takahata getting some love.

[llj]

A lot of critics are reluctant to say anyone at Ghibl can be "better" than Miyazaki because of his rep, but the unspoken subtext behind most of the mainstream reviews is that they think it's the best Ghibli since Spirited Away.

Spirited Away was actually one of my least favorite Miyazaki films, but since most everyone else consider it Miyazaki's best (or three best), I get the point. A lot of people feel Ghibli sort of hit a rut after Spirited Away, even though the subsequent films still got good reviews.

I really thought Ponyo was underrated though. It was doing something very interesting on a subconscious level.