Star Cast: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Ko Shibasaki, Aimyon, and Yoshino Kimura
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Director: Hayao Miyazaki
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What’s Bad: The film’s story can get confusing sometimes, and many audience members will only know what is happening if they pay full attention.
Loo Break: No loo breaks for this one. The film asks for your full attention as you need to decipher its symbolism to give meaning to the film.
Watch or Not?: Yes, this could be Miyazaki’s last film and needs to be watched on the big screen.
Language: Japanese (with subtitles)
Available On: Theaters
Runtime: 124 Minutes
User Rating:
Hayao Miyazaki’s career has been one of the most influential in cinema as a medium. The work of the Japanese director has served as an influence to countless other artists worldwide, and the fact that the director is already 82 years old tells us he might not be with us for much more. Thus, his newest film, The Boy and the Heron, marks a moment when the director starts coming to peace with his entire career and the relationships and decisions, both good and bad, that he has made along the way.
The Boy and the Heron is an extraordinary film that still feels very much like a Miyazaki masterwork; there is something beyond the surface that feels a bit more chaotic, frantic, and dangerous in ways none of his previous films have felt before. Miyazaki uses concepts from many of his last movies and combines them all in this single film, which feels at the time like the Greatest Hits showing instead of actual original work, at least when it comes to the visuals and the many concepts that are being thrown around.
At times, The Boy and the Heron feels like Miyazaki’s last attempt at creating meaning for something he has been looking for his entire life. As audiences watch the film, they will be able to recognize themes coming from all over the Studio Ghibli Library, making the film feel and look like a combination of Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, When Marnie Was There, and many others. The film also takes its name from a novel of the same title written by Genzaburo Yoshino. The Boy and the Heron is not a direct adaptation of that novel but shares many of its themes.
The Boy and the Heron are sometimes overwhelming as they try to do many things simultaneously. The film becomes a movie about grief very early on. Then, as it descends increasingly into the realm of a fantasy story and stars using dream logic for basically every single sequence, it becomes clear that maybe the movie is trying to be about life itself. Thus, the frantic and chaotic nature of the film makes more and more sense.
Seeing this type of movie from someone already coming to their end makes the experience of watching it really something to behold. It could be said that The Boy and the Heron feels like some wisdom that Miyazaki is trying to pass on to everyone before he leaves us. The conclusions that can be extracted from the film are complex and will differ for each audience member. However, they are still accurate.
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The Boy and the Heron throws many characters around throughout the story, which is something Miyazaki has us used to at this point. Indeed, some characters are only there momentarily, but they are all critical for the visual presentation and the atmosphere the director wants to create. Unsurprisingly, these characters have excellent voice actors willing to go the extra mile to bring them to life on screen. At this point, all Studio Ghibli films have an excellent track record in the acting department, and this film is no exception.
Soma Santoki takes the role of Mahito Maki, the film’s main character, a boy who has lived through a tragic event and needs to adapt to his new situation. Santoku gives such a fantastic performance that you would think it is coming from a more experienced actor, but no, only proves that the young artist is just beginning his journey through life. Masaki Suda, on the other hand, plays the Heron role, which will be familiar to those who have watched Pan’s Labyrinth, offering the same sense of danger and wonder with his voice.
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Regarding visuals and direction, Miyazaki knows precisely what he is doing. Once again, the Japanese master has managed to direct his team of animators in a particular order that could be the most fantasy-heavy film in the director’s career. The film could be compared closely to Princess Mononoke or Howl’s Moving Castle because the settings and the many creatures that appear throughout the movie are more and more fantastic by the minute. A lot of imagination is being used on The Boy and the Heron.
Of course, no Hayao Miyazaki film is complete without a score composed by the master Joe Hisaishi. Hisaishi also takes the chance to probably come up with his last work for a Ghibli film, and he goes all out creating magnificent tunes that enhance the most potent and kinetic scenes alongside the most emotional and abstract sequences, which need to an emotional through-line to maintain the audiences in place. The Boy and the Heron score is undoubtedly one of Hisaishi’s best works.
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The Boy and the Heron could be the last of Miyazaki‘s films, yet it feels like this is different. The film has so much energy and so much to tell that it could be coming from the mind of a younger artist. If ‘The Boy and the Heron’ is Miyazaki’s final work, the movie is undoubtedly an amazing closing to a career that could only be dreamed of. The quality of the animation is incredible, and while the story can be confusing, the film still feels like it wants to be understood and not just confuse the audience for confusion’s sake.
The Boy and the Heron was released in India on May 10, 2024.
Share with us your experience of watching The Boy and the Heron.
For more recommendations, read our Poor Things Movie Review here.
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