2024 Film Schedule – The Boy & The Heron

WORDS: SAM EDWARDS

RETIREMENT

In 2013, legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki announced that he would be retiring from film-making after the release of his passion project The Wind Rises. He had made such  announcements several times before only to be tempted back by a new story, but this time it looked like he meant it. At 72 years old and with such beloved classics as Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle having comfortably secured his place in the animation history books, there are few people working in the film industry who have done more to earn a rest.

RETURN

But, incredibly, and fortunately for the rest of us, he came out of retirement yet again to make the beautiful swan-song that is The Boy and the Heron. Like many of his films, it follows a young protagonist who is drawn  into a fantastical world – much like  Miyazaki himself is forever pulled back to his own fantasy worlds. It also pulls together all of his favourite themes from his  sumptuous back-catalogue – the conflict between man and nature, the divergence of tradition and progress, and the parallels between magic and realism.

SYNOPSIS

The titular boy is Mahito, whose mother is  killed in a hospital fire during the bombing of Tokyo in World War 2 – easily one of the  most harrowing openings to any Studio  Ghibli film. Some years later, when his father finds a new wife Natsuko, they move to Mahito’s new step-mother’s family home.
Mahito struggles to warm to the pregnant Natsuko, and is tempted when a mysterious talking heron offers to help him find his real mother. But when Natsuko goes missing,  Mahito and the heron go on a quest to a magical realm to find her. On the journey, they encounter a mob of sinister parakeets, a fire-wielding warrior girl, some adorable fish-loving spirits, and a tired old wizard trying desperately to hold the world together.

AMBITION & LEGACY

The ambition is extraordinary, with a huge sprawling world populated with all sorts of creatures and societies, but Miyazaki never loses track of the intimate, personal, human touches that mark the relationships between Mahito and his family. Despite the magic and wonder, it all feels relatable and sympathetic. And as you would expect from  Studio Ghibli, the hand-drawn animation is utterly beautiful – whether it’s the impressionistic flames of war, the bucolic serenity of Natsuko’s rural estate, or the surreal architecture of the magical dimension.

If this is Miyazaki’s final film, it’s a fitting closer to his incredible career. Fending off stiff competition from the Spider-verse, this film’s Oscar win made Miyazaki the oldest ever recipient of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at 83 years old (breaking his own previous record from when he won the award at 62 for Spirited Away). But there are already rumours that he is thinking of picking up the pencils again. Will he be tempted like Mahito back to the worlds of fantasy that he’s made us all fall in love with? Or is he more like the exhausted wizard, hoping someone will step up and carry on his legacy for him?