Hayao Miyazaki Tagged Articles at Cinematical

This has been one amazing year for animated films. At least four of them are contenders for my list of the year's best films, and a few others are good enough to warrant a second viewing. But despite that, the majority of them are in 3D, and rated PG, neither of which appeals much to my 3-1/2 year old son who is beginning to ask to come to the movies with me. There's one exception, still in theaters, that stands apart from all the rest of the competition: Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo (163 screens). Ponyo is hand-drawn (rather than computer-animated), not in 3D, and so far is the only G-rated movie of the year. (I'm not counting two others: Hannah Montana: The Movie, or Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, about which the less said, the better.)

Yet Ponyo hasn't exactly been lighting its United States audience on fire. Or maybe it just feels like we have already forgotten about it, despite some good voice work by Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson and others. It doesn't seem to be on the cinematic radar anymore, even though it did well in its home of Japan. Perhaps audiences were turned off by the fact that Disney-sanctioned Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas were cast to perform the two lead children, or that they recorded a truly insufferable song for the closing credits. Or perhaps the movie is too simple and too gentle. When Miyazaki's gorgeous, dark Spirited Away opened here in 2002, the time seemed right, and enthusiasm for his work ran high; the movie was ushered in as a major event in the history of animation.

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.

I was a little underwhelmed by Hayao Miyazaki's latest work, Ponyo, which seemed to me more cutesy and less dazzlingly expansive than what I am used to from the Japanese master of gorgeous cel animation. I suspect my reaction is due largely to the fact that this time Miyazaki wanted more earnestly than usual to appeal to the single-digit set, and so focused on keeping things as simple and adorable as possible. (Which, by the way -- if you're within grabbing distance of a tyke in the 5-8 age vicinity, haul him and her to the theater forthwith, as Ponyo will be gone by next weekend.) The result is less rewarding to Miyazaki's adult fans, but maybe that's unavoidable. I mean, Up -- a masterpiece and the best film of the year, if you ask me -- would probably bore a six year-old to tears.

Whatever your feelings about Ponyo, it's a vivid and not unpleasant reminder of the treasures that Miyazaki's filmography holds in store. If you're a movie buff who hasn't delved into Miyazaki, I envy you. If you have, what's your favorite? Mine, without a doubt, is Spirited Away, which is not only head-spinningly rich and imaginative like all of his work, but also haunting, and achingly sad, and somehow more personal. Even the poster -- as perfect a piece of movie artwork as I've ever seen -- is evocative and disquieting.

I'm curious to see if others share this view, so I've set up this poll. Which Miyazaki marvel is your favorite?

Opening in 800 theaters on Friday, Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo promises to be another enchanting experience. The English-language version features a voice cast that appears to have been chosen from a name recognition menu (one Cyrus girl, one Jonas boy, etc.) but John Lasseter has been as faithful as possible to the original-language versions in the past, and if this is the price to pay to see Miyazaki on the big screen, so be it.

Out on DVD tomorrow, Seijun Suzuki's A Tale of Sorrow (Hishu monogatari), his only film from the 70s, is "a sexy psycho-drama," says Jasper Sharp of Midnight Eye, "based around the popularity of that most bourgeois of sports, golf! ... This long-overlooked work simply cries out for revival." The Samurai I Loved (Semishigure), based on a novel by Shuhei Fujisawa and directed by Mitsuo Kurotsuchi, features "scenes that are absolutely heart-wrenching," Zack Davisson writes at his Japan Review Blog. "What works far outweighs what doesn't." King Eagle (1971), directed by Chang Cheh and starring Ti Lung, is the latest Shaw Brothers release from Image Entertainment. Revenge, swordplay, Chang Cheh: is there anything else we need to know?

Zhang Ziyi stars in the romantic comedy Sophie's Revenge, which opens in China and Hong Kong on Friday. She plays "a comic book artist who plots to get her fiance back after losing him to an actress," according to an Associated Press story. Sophie's Revenge also marks the actress' debut as a producer: writer / director Eva Jin "approached her with her script and she secured funding for the project." Check out the Chinese-language official site; the trailer looks like a fun romp. No word on US distribution yet.

Watch the Sophie's Revenge teaser trailer after the jump!

Erotic Vampires. Park Chan-wook's Thirst will have its international premiere at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, but it's already opened in its native South Korea. In his review for Screen International, Darcy Paquet says that the "visually arresting vampire movie Thirst looks certain to create a stir: adopting a more lyrical mode than before, this complex and supremely inventive work sees the filmmaker back on top form."

I've read the knowledgeable Paquet at his site Koreanfilm.org for years, so his opinion is very encouraging, especially when you consider Park's best work includes Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Joint Security Area. [Via In Contention.] Even better: those of us in the US don't have to wait long to see it. Focus Features will release Thirst in July.

Gentle Fish. If you haven't marked August 14 on your calendars yet, please do so now. That will mark the US theatrical debut of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo, the master filmmaker's latest work of art. The plot revolves around a princess who just happens to be a goldfish, and her desire to grow legs and walk on land. She develops a friendship with a 5-year-old boy who tries to help her realize her dream. The poster and a still can be viewed at Ain't It Cool News.

Under John Lasseter's committed oversight, Walt Disney Pictures has done right by Studio Ghibli so far, making the original Japanese-language version available at some venues and ensuring that the English dubbing is as faithful as possible. While we wait for the inevitable English-language trailer, here's a teaser, evidently for its release in France, that is silky, poetic, and non-verbal.

Not many movie-going summers have had the good sense or fortune to formally kick themselves off with the likes of Hugh Jackman and his razor-sharp jazz hands, but as these are the times in which we live in, it's a clear indication that we're in for about eighteen weeks of spectacular spectaculars worth gulping down popcorn and guzzling down pop* with.

Eugene's already shone the spotlight on a fair amount of smaller titles worth your while, so our staff tried to keep the focus on that which we haven't seen, those spectacles for which we're most excited and least likely to text during. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls: sit down and shut up, because these are the seven movies that we're fairly f**kin' pumped for.

(*Okay, I pretty much never call soda that, but you get the idea.)

While The Dark Knight dominated the weekend box office here in the US -- with a little love spared for Mamma Mia! and Transsiberian -- in Asia things looked a little different. The Good, the Bad, the Weird , which was just picked up by IFC for the US, opened in its native South Korea to outstanding returns, according to Variety.

The film, a salute to Spaghetti Westerns with a modern twist, is expected to surpass 2.2 million admissions over the weekend, which would make it the fastest to hit that mark this year, beating out police comedy Public Enemy Returns. Its opening day returns put it in the company of previous monster smashes D-War and The Host. We should hear more about The Good, the Bad, the Weird when it plays at Toronto in September.

The news is not as good in Japan, where master filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki's latest animated achievement, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, was expected to dominate. Opening on a record number of screens for a local picture (481), Ponyo is said by its distributor to have earned 83% of the total made by Miyazaki's blockbuster Spirited Away, which sounds good. But as reported by Mark Schilling in Variety, those numbers may be misleading.

• Rosario Prestopino (1950-2008) - Makeup Artist, Special Effects Artist. Worked on Italian horror filmmaker Lucio Fuci's Zombie, City of the Living Dead, The Black Cat, The New York Ripper and The New Gladiators, as well as Lamberto Bava's DemonsDemons 2, Dario Argento's Terror at the Opera, Michele Soavi's The Church, Philip Haas' Up at the Villa and Mario Girolami's Zombie Holocaust. He died of a heart attack May 13, in Rome. (IMDb)

• Danton Burroughs (1944-2008) - Chairman of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Handled licensing of properties created by his grandfather, Edgar Rice Burroughs, to films, television and other media. We can probably thank him for such adaptations as Disney's animated Tarzan and the studio's upcoming John Carter of Mars. He died of heart failure May 1, in Tarzana, California. (Variety)
• Carlo Colombaioni (c.1933-2008) - Clown. A favorite of Federico Fellini's, he acted in and advised on circus sequences directed by the filmmaker. He contributed to Fellini's La Strada, The Clowns, Amarcord, Roma and Casanova. He also appears in Claude Goretta's The Wonderful Crook and Yvan Le Moine's The Red Dwarf. He died May 16 in France. (Telegraph)
• Warren Cowan (1921-2008) - Publicist. Legendary in Hollywood, he co-founded PR firm Rogers & Cowan and represented Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Steve McQueen, Natalie Wood, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn and the Doors, among others. He also pioneered the idea of independent Oscar campaigns, beginning with the push for Joan Crawford's performance in Mildred Pierce, for which she ended up winning the Best Actress trophy. Recent films for which he's credited as unit publicist include The Secret Agent, Shade, Metroland and One Man's Hero. He died of cancer May 14, in Los Angeles. Read Valerie Van Galder's (President of Marketing at Sony) moving tribute to Cowan over at MCN. (LA Times)

Recently we passed on the news that Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki had completed the storyboards for his upcoming animated film Ponyo on a Cliff, and now it appears that a release date has been set.

Nausicaa.net says we can expect the film to be released in the middle of July, very likely on Saturday, July 19. Their source is Variety Japan. According to a publicist for Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki's animation studio, more information on the film will be made available after the Tokyo International Anime Fair, which will be held March 27-30.

When can we expect to see the film in the US? I haven't seen a hint so far, but Miyazaki's previous production, Howl's Moving Castle, was released in Japan in November 2004 and in the US in June 2005, while the one before that, Spirited Away, took more than a year to reach US theaters. I'd love to see this one by the end of the year.

Ponyo revolves around a boy and goldfish who wants to become a girl. A family story of a very different sort has won favor with Hong Kong critics. The Postmodern Life of My Aunt features Chow Yun-Fat as an amateur Chinese opera singer who lures the 60-something heroine into a bogus scheme involving cemetery plots. David Rooney's Variety review says that's only one of the film's narrative strains.

The Associated Press reports that he Hong Kong Film Critics Society rewarded the picture this week with three prizes: Best Film, Best Director (Ann Hui) and Best Actress (Siqin Gaowa, who plays the heroine). Other awards went to Tony Leung Ka-Fai (Best Actor, Eye in the Sky) and Wai Kai-Fai and Au Kin-Yee (Best Script, Mad Detective).

Some mornings I wake up feeling like an old, old man slouching toward death, and other days I'm magically transported back to my childhood -- like today! That's because Nausicaa.net is reporting that the storyboards for Ponyo on the Cliff, the latest masterpiece from Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki, have been completed.

Our own Monika Bartyzel brought us official word on the project in March 2007. She noted that Ponyo on the Cliff is an original work delving "into the lives of a 5-year-old boy named Sosuke, the image of whom will be visually modeled after Miyazaki's grandson, and a princess goldfish named Ponyo who is aching to become human." One of the things I love about Miyazaki's work is his ability to take you by the hand and lead you into unknown territories, so I really don't want to know more about the plot than that simple description.

As a point of comparison, Nausicaa.net compares the number of cuts in the storyboards (1,138) with those in Miyazaki's previous films, which may hint at Ponyo's eventual running time. The completion of the storyboards by Miyazaki is roughly equivalent to the completion of principal photography on a live action film, which means the film is well on its way. If you can read Japanese, you can perhaps get more information from the official Studio Ghibli production diary.

If the current, perhaps temporary, poster (pictured) represents the style of art that will be presented, it looks somewhat different than Miyazaki's previous films -- still wonderfully detailed, but with softer textures, almost as though the characters are merging more with the backgrounds. I'm very eager to see the finished film, which should hit screens in Japan later this year.