Le Chateau Ambulant
It’s been out for six months in France, but we three just finally saw the new Miyazaki film, Le Chateau Ambulant (Howl’s Moving Castle, Hauru No Ugoku Shiro) on Saturday. It’s the fifth Miyazaki title we’ve seen; if anyone knows of anything as wonderful as his films, please do share. The things sticking with me right now include: the collapsing of age through the shifting presentation of Sophie (somehow cubist for me); the crumbling, petering-out of the castle going up the mountain; the hilariously diminished Witch of the Waste (Sorcière des Landes); the green sticky ooze of pouting; the interdependence of the cursed.
Before seeing Miyazaki, but as an adult, I saw several animated films that I liked, that impressed me with their production qualities, that gave me a good laugh. But none that I wanted to watch more than once or twice, certainly none that left me moved and preoccupied in the way his more complex films do. And I’m delighted that they also captivate our five-year-old daughter, as they have much that I want to pass on to her: stories that are beautiful and magical and optimistic, in which the physical world is prominent, that show that how people treat each other and their world is important, with heroines who are real and imperfect and strong. Stories that will grow with her, cartoons that are not very cartoonish.
Today I showed my daughter a picture of the man who makes all these movies we love so much, and she spontaneously said “Thank you, Miyazaki!” I repeated after her, and said a silent prayer that his latest is not his last — he’s a huge part of our shared story world.