The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya (Studio Ghibli)

Fysh

We don't seem to have a dedicated thread for this one so I figured I'd start one. Here's the French trailer, because the UK trailer seems to be doing that typical studio thing of not knowing how to sell the film and trying to condense the whole thing into 2 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDsROZCPUOA

I went to see this last night, with Japanese audio and subtitles, and it was fantastic. The animation and visuals were absolutely stunning - there's no other word for it. There's a particular scene in which the Princess ends up running away, and it's wonderfully handled - the animation switches to a much rougher and less detailed style, and the music fades away so that you just have the sounds of running. It made the contrast of the peace and tranquility of her eventual destination that much more striking.

Overall it's long enough at almost 140 minutes, but it never lost my interest. The score was great, although that's to be expected of Joe Hisaishi. The story is effectively a fairy tale, but much more effective for having an undercurrent of melancholy and regret running through it.

johnny_ultimate

With the return of the Disney princess on the back of Frozen and Tangled - albeit of a slightly feistier variety than the classical ones - Princess Kaguya's arrival feels particularly apt. For a film based on a folk tale, its concerns feel utterly contemporary. Princess Kaguya embraces many aspects of traditional 'princess' stories, but has them play out in surprising ways. L'il Bamboo is a wonderful protagonist - self-assured but frustrated by outside influences. It almost calls back to the incredible female leads and feminist sympathies of many of Mizoguchi and Ozu's great films - and it's depressing that half a century later these themes still feel strangely urgent. Here, our heroine's journey can only be called a bittersweet one - moments of great joy contrasted with ones of great sadness. It's a piercing dismantling of the crushing, restrictive historical Japanese upper class.

While I can see many failing to connect with the segue to pure fantasy - albeit one hinted at in the earliest scenes - I found it an immensely satisfying ending to the tale, that was poignant in a fresh and unexpected way

. Kudos to Joe Hisaishi, whose scores can sometimes be overbearing. Not so here - music is employed economically and subtly, so works very well when the soundtrack does swell.

The art is, it goes without saying, utterly beguiling - without a doubt one of the most beautiful animated films of all time. The expressionistic 'running' sequence Fysh mentions above is indeed a particular standout. But the whole film brings new meaning to the phrase 'every frame a painting', because every frame here is a ravishing handrawn delight. It reaffirms Takahata as Ghibli's most experimental auteur - certainly stylistically he continues to offer a range far beyond Miyazaki's beloved but routine visual approach (Ponyo a minor stylistic tangent).

Its few excursions into truly fantastical territory are very memorable, but what struck me most about the film was its beautiful portrayal of nature. That's something that has run through both Takahata and Miyazaki's works over the years, but it reaches a new apogee here. This is a film in awe of the birds, bugs, beasts, grass, trees, flowers. It's the sort of film that can interrupt a key dramatic moment for a gorgeous extended shot of a butterfly calmly fluttering into the room. It portrays much of nature's beauty, but also its harshness - the whole seasonal spectrum is captured in stunning watercolours. And it all feeds into Kaguya's sense of discovery and awe - she is infatuated with the world around her. But Takahata is too, and certainly that wonderment I found hard to resist.

Lyrical and emotionally rich, although also full of humour, Tale of Princess Kaguya indicates both Ghibli's and Takahata's continued importance in cinema, just as the studio's future is in doubt. Whether we'll be gifted with another Isao Takahata film before his retirement is up in the air, but whatever the case I would confidently state for the first time since Spirited Away that this is one of Studio Ghibli's best.

megaten

Saw it on Saturday and really enjoyed it. Simple enough tale but doesn't pull any punches. Felt like it had one of the best climax's I've seen in ages.

The Strawman Argument

Haven't seen it yet but I grabbed one of the promotional postcards for it in the Lighthouse a bit ago and was surprised how lovely and generous it was! All of these were in it

So, yeah, if you see it on the counter, grab one!