Studio Ghibli's New Film... and More Miyazaki
Filed under: Animation, Foreign Language, Deals
Director Isao Takahata, who co-founded Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki, has revealed that he will be directing his first feature-length flick since 1999's My Neighbors the Yamadas. Takahata, who also wrote and directed the tear-jerker Grave of the Fireflies, will be taking on the classic folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, or Taketori Monogatari.
According to Asian Pulse, "Taketori Monogatari has directly and indirectly inspired many Japanese manga and anime, such as Sailormoon and Inuyasha. This beloved story is considered to be the oldest surviving example of Japanese narrative... A little baby is found inside the stalk of a glowing plant by a bamboo cutter. He takes her home, and raises her with his wife as their own daughter, and they give her the name Kaguya-Hime (radiant-night princess). She grows into a beautiful adult woman, with many suitors, even the Emperor of Japan – and she rebuffs them all. Then, things become even more complicated as her true lineage becomes revealed, and her special relationship with the moon."
Although this famous tale has been the subject of many movies (Empire Online notes that it was also the subject of Kon Ichikawa's Taketori Monogatari, aka Princess from the Moon) this is the first time that Ghibli has ventured into folklore territory.
Asian Pulse also revealed that the revered Miyazaki, who wrote and directed Ponyo, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro, just to name a few, is in discussions to do two more features in the next three years.
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is slated for a 2010 release.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-29-2009 @ 6:51PM
CrystalFalls said...
The Asian Movie Pulse news article is misleading. The article implies that these are new announcements when it is paraphrasing (*without* attribution or citation) a piece of six-week-old news and a translation of a *nine-month-old* blog entry.
http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html
http://www.nausicaa.net/w/index.php?title=Latest_News&oldid=6344
The staffers of Asian Movie Pulse now acknowledge this in their comments section.
Just as importantly, AMP misinterpeted some information. The official Studio Ghibli blog does not say that "Hayao Miyazaki is in discussions with studio staff to make two more feature-length films in the next 3 years." It said that other people are making them. According to Nausicaa.net, "Miyazaki also announced the start of two feature films by young staff members."
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9-29-2009 @ 10:14PM
totoro said...
How quickly my excitement was kindled and then cruelly extinguished.
9-29-2009 @ 10:16PM
Jen said...
We still get the Takahata movie. The man's been out of action for far too long,
10-04-2009 @ 7:41PM
Ken said...
Be careful Miyazaki. Be very careful. While most of your films have been critically acclaimed and successful at the box office, don't venture into the Disney/Pixar territory, which is to cram out as many films as possible in a short amount of time as possible!
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