This question is very difficult to answer. I have lived for quite a long time, but even at my age, I still have no idea.
I have lived my life lost in confusion, and I live in fear every day…. I guess that’s the way of life, isn’t it?
On the other hand, I think that people who can make a clear decision are great people.
I went to see the movie without any prior knowledge of the movie, and I was afraid that I might think about something difficult like “how to live” while watching the movie.
However, my fears were unfounded.
As I mentioned before, as a writer of novels, I tend to watch any film or literature from a novelist’s point of view (how to apply it to my own work), so please understand that this is different from general critiques or impressions,
Even with such a biased viewpoint, I think this work is simply a “masterpiece. At the same time, as many people say, it is the culmination of Hayao Miyazaki’s work.
I don’t want to make comparisons here, but for some reason, after viewing the film, I had the same feeling I had when I read Haruki Murakami’s “Machi to —“. In other words, it’s hard to say, but it was “great” and “interesting,” but something was missing.
I thought about it and wondered what it was.
Simply put, it lacks punch. I guess it is “not explosive enough” (this is really just an impression).
Apparently, according to producer Suzuki, there was a thought in mind for this film: “What kind of level would the film be at if we let Hayao Miyazaki take as much time as he wanted to make it, without setting a deadline?
Up until now, Hayao Miyazaki has released films on a regular basis while meeting strict deadlines (and occasionally postponing them) in order to somehow keep Ghibli running (management).
Perhaps the original plan was to release films over a long period of time, with a rotation of directors: Takahata, who was the two giants of Ghibli, the director of the next generation, and Hayao Miyazaki.
However, as you know, Director Takabatake had a very limited output. As a result, Miyazaki ended up running Ghibli’s film rotation almost exclusively by himself. To use an old-fashioned metaphor, it was “Gondo, Gondo, Ame, Gondo.
This inevitably led to shortened production deadlines. As any producer would, Director Miyazaki wants to take as much time as possible.
Therefore, the result of his first film, Ponyo, which was made in a time-constrained manner, is…. The result is just as you might expect.
In contrast, the masterpieces such as Cagliostro, Nausicaa, Totoro, and Laputa in the Sky were created by the director, who had been working on his ideas for many years since he was in his 20s, and gradually gave them shape, taking a lot of time.
In other words, no matter what kind of genius (except for super-geniuses such as Mozart or Michelangelo), they cannot create something good within a short production deadline.
On the other hand, if you give him an infinite amount of time, the possibility of creating a masterpiece will inevitably increase.
This is why Miyazaki spent so much time on this film.
Rather than feeling Miyazaki’s aging, I felt his spirit of maturity (which is very difficult to obtain). In particular, the main character, the uncle?
This man probably speaks for Director Miyazaki.
And this spokesman for director Hayao Miyazaki (my very favorite character) says at the climax of the film
In the climax of the film, he says, “We will never be able to understand each other, we will always be fighting each other, and this kind of world will eventually be destroyed. How will you live in such a world? How will you live in such a world?
Rather than becoming the king of the world of his creation (or, in Haruki Murakami’s work, the city inside the wall), he returns to the real world with a piece of the puzzle that he can add to the real world.
If it were me, I would probably say, “I will gladly take over. I would probably answer, “I will gladly succeed my great-uncle who created an ideal world in this Idea (concept) instead of an incomplete world for me, in place of Mato.
And if I had in the palm of my hand, a piece of wood that could add one more thing to the real world left in Motoi’s hands, I might think it impossible and leave it to someone else.
However, this is just my answer, and I am sure there are as many answers as there are people who have seen this film.
Some of them may be like some president who is not satisfied with one piece and begs for more pieces, and more pieces.
At the same time, being a novelist (the king of ideas) may be an existence where there will always come a time when you have to throw away the pieces that make up reality somewhere.
However, will he just throw that piece down the drain, give it to someone else, or entrust it to his children? There may be different ways to entrust it.
As I do not have children, I cannot entrust it to my own children. But instead, I wish I could entrust the piece to my own work (children’s literature called “hope”), to my children. Or so I thought.
So, those who think this work is a masterpiece are probably those who have struggled with reality all their lives. Those who are rear-ended may be ？？？？ might be a good choice.
Now, the director’s next work will probably be a battle against the inevitable deadline of his own life span, rather than Ghibli’s deadline. Will he win or lose?
Anyway, I hope the director will live long and let us see his next work. Let me add this wish at the end.
See you later.
