spirited away has never been my favorite miyazaki film lol
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 1 July 2015 04:57 (eight years ago) link
kiki > mononoke > totoro > spirited away > ponyo > howls
otm except i don't rate howls
you can't put totoro at the bottom of a spectrum
It's infantile and cloying.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 1 July 2015 05:00 (eight years ago) link
gtfo
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 1 July 2015 05:19 (eight years ago) link
Eat shit and die.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 1 July 2015 05:21 (eight years ago) link
that's the ghibli spirit!
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 1 July 2015 17:07 (eight years ago) link
I haven't seen any of the Pixars since Toy Story 3 and was kinda thinking that I was over them, but this was wonderful. The mixed genders of the emotions in Riley's head (as opposed to the uniform gender representation in the adults) struck me too; the subtle suggestion that we only take on firm gender identities while in the process of growing up is typical of Pixar at their brilliantly subversive peak (see also, the critique of the "graduation" in The Incredibles). I teared up a good four or five times, which isn't something I normally do--I'm thinking the combination getting married yesterday and my accompanying some children to the movie (it was my friend's three-year-old's first time seeing a film in the theater) had me in an unusually (and appropriately!) vulnerable emotional state. I suppose that I could share the above gripe about the so-typically-Pixar move of overdoing the peril, but I also credit the film for its constant invention--the film never coasts on its premise, but rather keeps finding new ways to explore it (the "abstract thought" scene...wow).
Beyond that, I laughed, partially in amazement, at the joke about bears in San Francisco, and groaned at the Chinatown reference while at the same time being somewhat impressed that a children's film in 2015 even bothered making a reference to Chinatown. And I loved the fact that I was watching what is essentially a family version of a Charlie Kaufmann script.
Lava looked pretty, but I may have been a bit more susceptible to its brand of corniness had the song not reminded me cringingly of Jack Johnson (the beach-bummmy singer/songwriter, not the guy Miles Davis wrote the one album about).
― The New Gay Sadness (cryptosicko), Thursday, 2 July 2015 00:36 (eight years ago) link
the song reminded me of "Hey Soul Sister."
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 July 2015 00:38 (eight years ago) link
Song reminded me, musically and thematically, of Josh Ritter's "The Curse."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 2 July 2015 02:03 (eight years ago) link
(see also, the critique of the "graduation" in The Incredibles)
― Nhex, Thursday, 2 July 2015 03:05 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq5vt_KUj5o
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 2 July 2015 05:28 (eight years ago) link
(xpost)
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 2 July 2015 05:29 (eight years ago) link
been reading some interviews with the songwriter/director of Lava (who - not coincidentally - happens to be the president of Pixar), trying to figure out if he wrote the shitty song first and then decided to make a video for it, or decided to make a video and wrote a shitty song for it.
answer:
http://khon2.com/2014/11/03/5-questions-with-disneypixars-lava-director-james-ford-murphy/
I’ll never forget the first time I heard Israel Kamakawiwoole sing “Over the Rainbow.” It was on an episode of “ER” that I was watching with my wife. I immediately recognized this song from one of my favorite films, “The Wizard of Oz,” but when I heard Iz’s version, I was reminded of the love affair I have with Hawaii and it instantly reignited the powerful connection I feel for the love I shared with my wife there in 1989.
So when it came time for me to develop short film ideas I thought to myself, what if I could write a song that makes me feel the way that song does, and combine it with the love, admiration and powerful connect I feel to the Hawaiian islands.
― da croupier, Thursday, 2 July 2015 05:53 (eight years ago) link
dude spends like four years on this thing with an amazing team of animators and apparently never once thinks he should maybe bring in someone to help with the SONG
― da croupier, Thursday, 2 July 2015 05:55 (eight years ago) link
After LAVA was green-lit for production, for one year all I did was listen to Hawaiian music as I searched for the perfect Hawaiian singers for LAVA. Not only did I become a connoisseur of Hawaiian music, I also learned about the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards and festival. As soon as I found out about this festival, I immediately convinced our producer Andrea Warren that we had to go because all of the musicians I was interested in were going to be there, and this would be our opportunity to see, hear and meet who we wanted to work with on LAVA.
...We also hope that in some small way, our film can help expose more people to the incredible musical treasure trove that is Hawaiian music.
whhhyyy couldn't he have outsourced the songwriting though, whyyyy
― da croupier, Thursday, 2 July 2015 05:57 (eight years ago) link
that song is to hawaiian music what this song is to japanese music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUDqcnSuKWc
except, you know, less good
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 2 July 2015 06:07 (eight years ago) link
song is the rotten fruit of a mauna kea beach wedding
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 2 July 2015 09:48 (eight years ago) link
iz's music is often beautiful, no idea why they didn't just license one of his tracks
also very disappointed none of you watched kittenbus
― like a giraffe of nah (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 2 July 2015 15:38 (eight years ago) link
wait, was there actually a link to watch the video? i didn't see it
― Nhex, Thursday, 2 July 2015 15:40 (eight years ago) link
ahem
― like a giraffe of nah (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 2 July 2015 15:44 (eight years ago) link
i've warmed to totoro in recent viewings but Eric is right, it's vastly overrated - infantile, cloying and a little bit boring/uneventful? the totoro themselves don't seem to have any impact on the main plotline.
Whereas Howls is very underrated.
And Kiki's is just so great. I prefer the sentiment a whole lot more than Totoro.
― cod latin (dog latin), Thursday, 2 July 2015 15:59 (eight years ago) link
totoro is about coming to terms with having a new sibling, fears of losing your mother, sitting on the cusp of childhood and losing the hallucinatory magic of young wonderkiki is about transitioning into young womanhood, new responsibilities and pubertyi've always seen them as part of a continuum.
― like a giraffe of nah (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 2 July 2015 16:02 (eight years ago) link
Howl is justly rated. I was going to say that Ponyo is underrated but honestly have no clue what the ILX hivemind thinks of it or how regular people rate it in the Ghibli canon.
― :wq (Leee), Thursday, 2 July 2015 17:27 (eight years ago) link
a little bit boring/uneventful? the totoro themselves don't seem to have any impact on the main plotline.
as a kid i watched totoro over and over and over but i made up an alternate plot, more elaborate on each pass, where mei was a secret agent sent to assassinate her mother who was also a secret agent
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 2 July 2015 17:40 (eight years ago) link
anyway sorry still not over i heard that iz song on e.r. and i run an animation studio so i thought why not pay powerful homage to the time i fucked in a hotel
A free screening will be held this Friday, Nov. 7, at the IBM Building Courtyard in Ward Village.
i was in this building the other day looking at the gorgeous scale model of the highrise development that's replacing the old international marketplace and i'm glad they have something to play now in the attached lava-furnished cinema besides the endless loop of a 5-minute video where construction executives compete to see who can most frequently remind you "o'ahu" means "the gathering place"
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 2 July 2015 17:57 (eight years ago) link
some lovely stuff in ponyo, especially when the town floods: the tethered boats floating above the houses like balloons; the kids rowing through the canopy. great eerie kid-adventure stuff. only saw it once but remember being less into the magic liam neeson plot or the mechanics of ponyo's origin and peril. definitely lower-tier but when i saw it a little kid behind me stood up after the lights came up and announced "miyazaki never disappoints!" so it is hard for me to criticize.
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 2 July 2015 18:05 (eight years ago) link
infantile, cloying and a little bit boring/uneventful?
i love the quasi-stasis of much of "totoro"!
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 2 July 2015 18:10 (eight years ago) link
Ponyo was his first genuine crossover right? That's the one my cousin's kids watch on road trips. They know every line. And they are not an art house family.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 July 2015 18:30 (eight years ago) link
I always thought Totoro was the early crossover, at least in that I've seen the most Totoro figurines, art and stuff toted around by kids. Which is still not much, but the Totoro cat is the only bit of Ghibli iconography I come across with any frequency.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 2 July 2015 18:48 (eight years ago) link
a few of the ghibli films that didn't do big theatrical box office stateside ended up becoming big hits on video over the course of decades, so it's hard to say what was a "crossover"
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 2 July 2015 19:11 (eight years ago) link
ponyo felt pitched at a younger audience than spirited away/howls (and obv than the dismbemberment-heavy mononoke) so it's where i'd expect kids who didn't grow up w totoro/kiki to discover ghibli
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 2 July 2015 19:20 (eight years ago) link
miyazaki was pretty clear that ponyo was designed for younger viewers than the average ghibli film
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 2 July 2015 19:21 (eight years ago) link
Also of course it's a little gross to judge a Japanese filmmaker's "crossover" on whether it does well in the US.
― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 2 July 2015 19:25 (eight years ago) link
i thought that was the explicit context here though
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 2 July 2015 19:26 (eight years ago) link
I'm surprised nobody's started a studio ghibli thread - sure seems to be enough people interested in the subject.
― da croupier, Thursday, 2 July 2015 19:29 (eight years ago) link
there are like ten ghibli threads, no?
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 2 July 2015 19:29 (eight years ago) link
Oh well then you know where to go when you want to rank and debate their movies
― da croupier, Thursday, 2 July 2015 19:31 (eight years ago) link
ebert pushed totoro on fox video early in 1993, that's the generally acknowledged first american crossoverhttp://www.dramafever.com/news/roger-ebert-is-why-you-like-miyazaki/
― like a giraffe of nah (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 2 July 2015 19:47 (eight years ago) link
didn't realize ponyo had a following at all; I wasn't thrilled with it, don't remember it getting very good reception either.
― akm, Thursday, 2 July 2015 23:27 (eight years ago) link
i loved Ponyo, but also surprised that so many here did see it - it didn't have a huge theatrical showing in the states IIRC
― Nhex, Friday, 3 July 2015 00:41 (eight years ago) link
it seemed to get about as broad distribution as any ghibli film has gotten in the US
― wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 3 July 2015 01:12 (eight years ago) link
Favourite Miyazaki film
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Friday, 3 July 2015 01:14 (eight years ago) link
“Pixar has created a stable of films for children that is founded on narratives of self-actualization—of characters branching out, embracing freedom, hitting personal goals, and living their best lives. But this self-actualization is almost exclusively expressed in terms of labor, resulting in a filmography that consistently conflates individual flourishing with the embrace of unremitting work…. The natural and profitable ideological by-product of this fixation is an abhorrence of collectivism—and therefore organized labor.”
http://www.theawl.com/2015/07/the-pixar-theory-of-labor
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Friday, 17 July 2015 16:14 (eight years ago) link
Yeah but ... at least the robots are doing all the work in WALL-E.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Friday, 17 July 2015 16:19 (eight years ago) link
ha, that article is nutso!
― Nhex, Friday, 17 July 2015 17:00 (eight years ago) link
"Although he causes all this, and at no small cost to his daughter’s mental health, Riley’s dad is not depicted as a villain."
Well because he's not a villain... but he is presented as being pretty tone deaf and self-absorbed.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Friday, 17 July 2015 17:02 (eight years ago) link
Ned is totally right at the top of this thread, I liked Inside Out fine but would have LOVED it if they'd released it as "THE UNTITLED PIXAR MOVIE THAT TAKES YOU INSIDE THE MIND."
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 17 July 2015 17:30 (eight years ago) link
Well because he's not a villain
I don't know if he's exactly a villain but I think the movie makes it pretty clear that the sequel to this is Riley grappling with mom and dad's divorce in <3 years, whether or not Pixar actually produces it
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 17 July 2015 17:31 (eight years ago) link
Hard to believe they'd leave that money on the table.
― Andrew Farrell, Friday, 17 July 2015 17:33 (eight years ago) link