The highly anticipated film by the Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki, his first in a decade and possibly his last, was released in Japan on July 14th. The 82-year-old Miyazaki, co-founder of the renowned anime studio Ghibli, came out of retirement to create “How Do You Live?”. This film has been in production for years, with the studio keeping the plot details tightly under wraps and promoting it minimally. The only glimpse into the storyline was a poster featuring a hand-drawn, bird-like creature with an eye beneath its beak.
After watching a morning screening of the film in the trendy Shibuya district, university student Eisaku Kimura, 21, shared his thoughts, stating, “It was a very Ghibli-esque movie. It didn’t feel special just because it was Miyazaki’s last work, but I definitely saw his signature style throughout, and it was exciting.”
Although “How Do You Live?” was inspired by a 1937 book with the same title, the studio revealed that the movie would be entirely different. The story revolves around a boy who moves to the countryside with his father after his mother’s passing. There, he encounters a heron that transports him to an alternate universe where he slowly unravels the mystery surrounding his mother’s death.
Valeriia Matveeva, an English teacher from Russia, 30, described the film as a “crazy mixture of all the Ghibli movies I’ve seen before.” She added, “I believe it captures the best elements and can be both scary and magical. Since there was no promotion, I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be good.”
Miyazaki has amassed a cult following with his imaginative portrayals of nature and machinery, as well as beloved characters like the adorable forest spirit Totoro. His film “Spirited Away,” which tells the story of a girl lost in a mysterious world as she tries to save her parents, who have been turned into pigs, won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003.
In 2013, Miyazaki announced that he would no longer create feature-length films due to the intense demands of his perfectionist approach to work. However, four years later, his production company surprisingly stated that he would come out of retirement to make what will be his final film, considering his age.
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