While Studio Ghibli has generated some of the most beloved and critically acclaimed anime films of the last couple of decades, I can’t say I’m particularly familiar with their overall body of work. I’ve seen a few highlights such as Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, but haven’t seen other enormous hits like My Neighbor Totoro or last year’s The Wind Rises. Nor have I seen any of Ghibli director Isao Takahata’s previous films such as Grave Of The Fireflies or My Neighbors The Yamadas. I was walking into The Tale Of Princess Kaguya about as cold as any major movie fan could.
I wasn’t prepared.
To lay the groundwork for my emotional reaction to The Tale Of Princess Kaguya, I have to get kind of personal. My wife and I are preparing to have our first child. Just this week, in fact, we learned that we’ll be having a daughter. The sonogram was fascinating. Not only did we learn we are having a girl, but she has just come so far along. There’s a moving, wiggling, baby on the way and I’m not sure my heart is ready for this new kind of love in my life.
So when an aging bamboo cutter comes across a magical baby princess in the woods and chooses to raise her as his own along with his wife, I started to view a film through the lens of a parent for perhaps the first time in my life. Kaguya is truly a magical little girl, growing up in a loving home, surrounded by friends and a mountainside community teeming with nature and wildlife… a small child’s dream. Takahata captures small moments with such innocence and detail that I found myself in tears just a few minutes in. Kaguya frolics with friends after we see her learn to laugh, crawl, and walk to the great joy of her parents. The wonder of raising a child soon turns into the burden of following the perceived signs of the gods that Kaguya must be raised as a princess. Kaguya’s father and mother come across wealth from the heavens and signs that she should be raised amidst royalty, and so she is taken to the big city where her parents hire teachers and servants to raise her in the ways of dignity.
Dealing with the idealism of childhood, the struggles of growing up, the heartbreak of raising a child only to eventually send them off into the world, as well as elements of fairy tale magic, the thematic content of Princess Kaguya was potent. And on top of that, it doesn’t look like any Japanese animation I’ve ever seen before. The artwork is singular, with an almost watercolored aesthetic. It takes a little getting used to due to its singularity, but is ultimately rich and beautiful beyond description. Add to the visuals the music of Joe Hisaishi, which is integral to the entire film, and its own rich layer of magic in and of itself, and the lush soundscape featuring foley work that put me right into the forest with blowing bamboo, animals, and all the sounds of life, and I was whisked away to another world that happened to resonate closely with my own.
This is a magical tale, and I’ve purposefully left out many of the story details which so touched me because I wholeheartedly recommend anyone reading this to see the film for themselves. But also, in part, because while the story is engaging and successful, it is the experience of the film and the way it washed over me which elicited such emotion, perhaps more so than the story itself. Truly maximizing the value of hand drawn animation, the look of the film transported me to something recognizable as the world I live in, but far more mystical and exciting. The artists were able to exaggerate expressions and idealize nature in a profound way, and the mystical elements are served well by being able to illustrate fantastical sequences and images.
And yes, I did fixate strongly on the woodsman and how his attempts to be the best father he could be inevitably caused as much damage to Kaguya as it did joy for her. I am headed into parenthood with the full knowledge that I’ll love my daughter as hard as a person possibly can, and that there will still be times when I disappoint her or even hurt her. This is the nature of life in community and life in relationship. The voice acting talent of the Japanese actor playing the Father/Woodsman (IMBd is failing me here) is profound and often the emotion behind the words I couldn’t understand wrecked me. And how often do fairy tales or family films delve into complex emotional subject matter such as this and lay bare such meaningful day to day truth?
By a fluke, I happened to watch Disney’s Frozen about a week ago for the first time, and found it to be quaint, pleasant, and filled with catchy pop music. I thought it was neat that it wasn’t all about finding a prince to save a damsel in distress. But for all the millions of dollars and cultural saturation that Frozen has garnered, the best reaction to it I could muster was that it was relatively harmless and occasionally funny. The Tale Of Princess Kaguya is a fairy tale bursting with powerful visuals, potent, complicated truths, and soaring soundscapes that offer a profound storytelling experience that isn’t even approached by Frozen. I highly recommend experiencing this film for yourself and meanwhile I’ll make sure to catch up on Grave Of The Fireflies now, as Takahata clearly has a perspective on storytelling and humanity that I would welcome more of in my life.
And I’m Out.