After being visited in a dream by Italian aircraft designer Giovanni Caproni, a young Japanese man fulfills his dream of becoming an airplane designer in his own right, and sets about building an innovative plane for the Imperial Navy. Animated, viewed at the Aero Theatre, Santa Monica, CA, in Japanese with English subtitles.
*****
Of course, the plane that Jiro Horikoshi designed was the Mitsubishi A6M “Zero”, and therein lies a problem with this movie for western audiences; it’s a beautifully made and sentimental story about the designer of the plane that rained death and destruction down on Pearl Harbor and the entire Pacific theatre during World War ll. Fearing a politically correct backlash, Disney will release this said-to-be-final film from the master animator Hayao Miyazaki on a limited basis under its mostly dormant Touchstone Pictures label.
It’s a gutless move for Disney, because this is a terrific film no matter how you feel about Japan’s actions during the war. Both Horikoshi and aviation are clearly subjects close to Miyazaki’s heart; he goes so far as to offer a loving dedication to the designer at the end of the picture. There is nothing particularly aggressive about Horikoshi’s stance towards the West as seen in the film, and he is clearly dubious about the wisdom of the Navy using his plane during wartime, and further
at the end of the movie, as he walks through a graveyard of war-ravaged planes, he laments that it actually happened.
This is adult animation at its finest. If you enjoyed Miyazaki’s previous films, you will truly enjoy this one.
Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 01-10-2014, 11:17 AM:
I'm assuming there will be an English dub of the film - wonder who will be doing the voice work. Can't wait to see this!
Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 01-10-2014, 02:45 PM:
One of the joy of watching a foreign film is listening to the beauty of the original language with English subtitle translation. Many have problems with subtitles but most lover of of foreign film like myself, do not. As a person who is Japanese and can pretty much understand and speak the language, I find films from Japan dubbed into English very atrocious.
-Claude
Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 01-10-2014, 03:40 PM:
^ I agree Claude - watched the 1979 animated film 'Taro the Dragon Boy' the other day and ugh - the English dub just made me cringe.
the only instance where Hayao favoured another dub over the native Japanese language track was the French dub for 'Porco Rosso' - where actor Jean Reno voiced the title main protagonist.
Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 01-10-2014, 04:58 PM:
I'm hoping to get to see this when it eventually plays in Albuquerque. In the mean time there hasn't been any mention yet of its upcoming BD/DVD release in Japan - quite often nowadays that's how I get to see new Studio Ghibli films - on the Japanese disc release.
Also highly anticipating the other Studio Ghibli release of 2013 - Isao Takahata's "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" (Kaguya Hime no Monogatari かぐや姫の物語), based on the 10th Century Japanese folktale, "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" (Taketori Monogatari 竹取物語). The English-language reviews for that one have been very positive.
Oh, and for Jonathan, here's the announced English-language dub cast for "The Wind Rises" (Kaze Tachinu 風立ちぬ) so far:
Jiro Horikoshi: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Nahoko Satomi: Emily Blunt
Honjo: John Krasinski
Kurokawa: Martin Short
Castorp: Werner Herzog
Nahoko's Father: William H. Macy
Kayo: Mae Whitman
Hattori: Mandy Patinkin
Kurokawa's Wife: Jennifer Grey
Gianni Caproni: Stanley Tucci
Katayama: Darren Criss
Sone: Elijah Wood
Mitsubishi Employee: Ronan Farrow
Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 01-10-2014, 07:24 PM:
Werner Herzog ?!? well that's VERY interesting... thanks for the list.
Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 02-25-2014, 09:45 AM:
Finally, this one is opening wide this week. At least one 'plex here in Duke City will be screening it, probably dubbed in English.
Some markets will get some screens with it in Japanese with English subtitles. For Claude, the Consolidated Ward Stadium will be showing it in Japanese.
I'll probably have to wait for the BD release in order to hear it in Japanese, but I am looking forward to checking out the English dub - Disney has done a pretty good job on their past dubs of the Ghibli titles.
Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 02-28-2014, 12:02 AM:
saw it last Sunday (original Japanese language version) - really enjoyed it - much more "Ozu" influenced than the high fantasy that Miyazaki is known for.
Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-28-2014, 02:53 AM:
Thanks for the "heads up", Paul.
I just spent the last three hours watching the French film BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR" on a Criterion Blu Ray disc in The original French with English subtitles and it was a fantastic film.