The Boy and the Heron

The movie feels like a series of short stories forcibly strung together with unrelated characters. I expect that there is some abstract meaning to it, but it was not obvious to me as an average moviegoer. The protagonist, while not very vocal, is unusually perceptive and somehow recognizes those seemingly unrelated characters and matches them with actual people he knows, which always turn out to be correct guesses. In the abrupt end, I was filled with more questions about the motivations and aftermath of what happened to the sub characters. Unlike the other Ghibli films that teaches a moral or converses a message, I didn'tget what was supposed to be the point of this movie. That said, the animation and sound are all on point which makes this a pleasing experience for the eyes and ears, but not quite brain. I would recommend it if you love Ghibli films and have 2 hours to kill.

I walked into the cinema not knowing a single thing about The Boy and the Heron. And I walked out still not knowing anything. Nothing about the plot, the characters and what they represented, especially the rather 'Okay, I guess that's it,' ending and, in particular, what Miyazaki was getting at, what he aimed to actually achieve with this movie. You can't just come out of a 10 year long pseudo-hiatus and decide to come back out swinging with a nearly 3 hour experience with literally nothing to tell. Yet, for some reason, that's exactly what happened. Walked out with absolutely no clue what the helljust happened. No, I had not left immediately after entering. And no, I did not fall asleep; yet after a while I was borderline comatose. I sat and watched the full 2 and a half hours, completely observant in the first three quarters, and my attention slowly waned ever since. At about the halfway point, the film dissolved into an incoherent mess, flooded with Miyazaki's mindless ramblings of literally nothing. If I had to describe The Boy and the Heron, it would be like listening to a lunatic ramble on and on, the words meaning and inferring nothing, his speech slurred and delirious, yet so desperately we grasp for something out of it, some meaning, that after a while of listening to what is essentially incoherent rubbish, we just give up and move on. As a preface, I should add that, while I do enjoy Ghibli films, I wouldn't consider myself a fan, yet I do get excited when I'm about to watch one. I know that a good time is about to be had, where the animation is amazing, often the emotions are so touching and endearing joined with an amazing soundtrack. Most times, I rarely dislike a Ghibli film. And, if I didn't find it as good as I normally do, it's generally just an 'okay' film. However, for this one in particular, admittedly I had some anxiety because I honestly believe that Miyazaki had not made a single good movie since 2004, when Howl's Moving Castle came out. Ponyo and The Wind Rises were alright, the others completely mediocre and forgettable. So, Miyazaki's streak of completely amazing movies was long gone, and the Boy and the Heron is just another poor attempt to bring himself back up to his level. He has long gone past his prime, his peak. Coupled with the fact that there was no advertising for this film and that it was absolutely boggled with ambiguity, so much so that it honestly felt that not even Miyazaki himself knew what was going on, it was impossible to even grasp a fragment of an idea. And, it's not like it does anything particularly well. While I do agree that not all pieces of media need to have a central message and that they can be good without one, for instance Pulp Fiction, the Boy and the Heron just does not impress me with its writing. Some scenes should have been highly confronting for Mahito but I didn't even know what the hell was going on. Even the plot line literally made no sense. It's set in WWII, because of course it is, you can't have a Japanese film not talking about WWII in some regard, and follows a boy called Mahito. After a while of trying to go through some character development, he takes psychedelics and everything makes 0 sense. You can't be like, 'this film is ambiguous so you can draw your own conclusion,' and tell me that the parakeets meant something to you. Perhaps I should also add that, for some unknown reason, Miyazaki is fucking obsessed with birds in this film. I don't think there was a period in the film lasting longer than a minute that did not have a bird in it. But never in the film is it ever made clear why he had to have so many birds throughout this movie. We get it man, you fucking like birds! But please, for the love of God, give me something to grasp on, some idea or anything. Yet, we don't get a single thing. There is absolutely no wonder as to why there is no advertising, no promotion and nothing about this film disclosed before its release, aside from the name and a poster. That is because Miyazaki does not have a single fucking clue what the hell the Boy and the Heron is about.

Ghibli's latest production attempts to be a thought-provoking, existential commentary on life, dealing with grief, and moving on after loss. Instead, it offers more questions than answers and fumbles it's pacing by drawing out the beginning half with world-building the world we are familiar with instead of the new one that we'd appreciate clearer knowledge about. The main character does have a resolution with his development, albeit it is easily overlooked due to the his minimal lines and generally monotonous reaction to a lot of events. The relationships between characters are not complex, and were not impactful enough to make me feel a connection toany of them or their intentions. Sure, I felt bad for the main character and his grief, but his journey of self-discovery and identity fell short at the expense of bizarre bird attacks, isekai inception and the introduction of side characters that get underdeveloped. To put it short, the film attempts to do too many things in 2 hours. The foreign world we are introduced to gets built half-heartedly and leaves us with many abstract explanations to questions that could be answered more concretely and clearly. The animation, however, is stunning. Ghibli's fluidity and consistency does not fail on this account. Conclusively, the film is a joy for the eyes but may pose to be slightly confusing for those with a logical perspective like my own; therefore, just accept the abstract explanations, move on, and enjoy a general story about identity and dealing with loss.