Movie Reviews: The Boy and the Heron (2023)

Title: The Boy and the Heron
Release Date: July 14, 2023
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Production Company: Studio Ghibli
Summary/Review:

During the Second World War, teenager Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki) loses his mother in a hospital fire. He moves with his father (Takuya Kimura) to the countryside to live with his mother’s sister Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura), who marries his father.  Upon arriving he is frequently harassed by a Grey Heron (Masaki Suda) who leads him to a derelict tower that proves to be a portal to a fantastic alternate universe.

This is (allegedly) writer and director Hayao Miyazaki’s final film and if so serves as a capstone on his storied career.  The film builds on ideas and imagery from Miyazaki’s earlier career imaginatively creating a film that is strange, visually spectacular, and often very funny.  It’s a coming of age story that deals with generational trauma and grief, and it’s conclusion could very well symbolize Miyazaki’s farewell message as he passes the baton on to other creators.

I’m happy I got to see this wonderful film on the big screen in a full theater at Coolidge Corner Theatre.

Rating: ****1/2

90 Movies in 90 Days: A Goofy Movie (1995)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: A Goofy Movie
Release Date: April 7, 1995
Director: Kevin Lima
Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures | Disney MovieToons | Walt Disney Television Animation
Summary/Review:

There have been numerous cultural touchstones of the Millennial Generation that I initially missed out on by being a Gen Xer that I discovered later were actually pretty good.  In the case of A Goofy Movie, though, I think only 90s kids will understand.  The sitcom-ish story involves Max finally getting a date with the girl of his dreams, but all of his plans are ruined when his father Goofy wants to go on a cross country trip.  The humor in this movie feels like the type of stuff that out-of-touch adults who don’t understand kids would write, at least to my jaded Gen X eyes.  There are some good parts with Goofy just trying to be a good single father and actually bonding with Max, but they come late in a film full of cringeworthy gags.  This is definitely a movie that was not for me.

Rating: **

 

 

90 Movies in 90 Days: The King and the Mockingbird (1980)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: The King and the Mockingbird
Release Date: March 18, 1980
Director: Paul Grimault
Production Company: Les Films Paul Grimault |  Les Films Gibé | Antenne 2
Summary/Review:

Over 30 years in the making, The King and the Mockingbird is a surreal animated fantasy film known as an inspiration for Studio Ghibli founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. The film bridges Disney and Warner Bros animation styles with the later Ghibli style and is inventive in its own ways.  The basic plot involves an autocratic king who is deposed by a painting of himself and then pursues a shepherdess  from another painting who is actually in love with a chimney sweep.  All along he has taunted by a bird who unravels all the king’s plots.  The animation is as delightfully weird as the plot.

Rating: ****

90 Movies in 90 Days: Cat Soup (2001)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title:  Cat Soup
Release Date: 21 February 2001
Director: Tatsuo Satō
Production Company:Sony PCL | IMAGICA | J.C.STAFF
Summary/Review:

Aww….it’s an animated movie about an adorable kitten!  Wait….WTF?!?!

Nyata is the young feline protagonist who has to travel to land of the dead to try to retrieve the soul of his older sister, Nyaako. That’s what I got from the synopsis, but watching the film is more like a series of surreal sequences that are mind-bending and at times disturbingly gruesome.  In many ways it feels like the kind of film that you let wash over you more than analyze, akin to Un Chien Andalou or The Green Knight.

Rating: ***

90 Movies in 90 Days: Harvie Krumpet (2003)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: Harvie Krumpet
Release Date: June 6, 2003
Director: Adam Elliot
Production Company: Melodrama Pictures
Summary/Review:

Presented in quirky claymation and narrated by Geoffrey Rush, this short film presents the story of Harvie Krumpet, a Polish emigre to Australia who suffers various physical and mental ailments over the course of his eventful life.  It’s surprisingly moving as well as funny for an animated short.

Rating: ***1/2

90 Movies in 90 Days: Angel’s Egg (1985)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: Angel’s Egg
Release Date: December 22, 1985
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Production Company:  Tokuma Shoten Studio Deen
Summary/Review:

In this beautifully animated and deliberately paced film, a girl (Mako Hyōdō) wanders an desolate city while protecting a large egg. The city seems occupied by people frozen in time who only come alive to hunt shadowy fish that float through the sky.  The only other person in the film who feels “real” instead of a ghost is a young man (Jinpachi Nezu), possibly a soldier, who pursues the girl to learn about the egg.  With very little dialogue and allusions to myths and religious beliefs, this film is open to many interpretations.  It definitely fits in the the category of fantasies with gorgeous imagery that make you say “huh?” alongside Fantastic Planet and Son of White Mare.

Rating: ****

 

 

90 Movies in 90 Days: The Final Exit of the Disciples of Ascensia (2019)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: The Final Exit of the Disciples of Ascensia
Release Date: June 1, 2019
Director: Jonni Peppers
Production Company: CalArts
Summary/Review:

A woman with no direction in her life is invited to join a cult built on the belief that they are descendants of aliens who will “ascend” when they return.  Given the new name Celisse (Haein Michelle Heo) by the cult’s leader Ascensia (Charlotte Pryce), she finds connection and community for the first time.  But her new friend Mira (Jenna Caravello) has doubts that come to the surface when the time of ascension arrives.  The animated film is made in a variety of cut-out styles by various artists and is surreal and hard to follow at times, but also very intimate and thoughtful.

Rating: ***1/2

90 Movies in 90 Days: Plymptoons (1985-2000)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: Plymptoons
Release Date: 1985-2000
Director: Bill Plympton
Production Company: Bill Plympton Studios
Summary/Review:

Despite having a list of great movies under 90 minutes, I didn’t feel like committing to anything big last night.  So I found this collection of six animated shorts by Bill Plympton on Kanopy to watch instead.  I remember seeing Plympton’s animated shorts at animation festivals when I was in college in the early 90s and remember them as at least mildly enjoyable.  And that is exactly what they were.

Boom Town (1985) – ***1/2

Political satire performed by the Android Sisters and written by Jules Feiffer about how fears of “the Russians are coming” were used to perpetually fund defense and the military industrial complex it spawned.  Has a Laurie Anderson vibe.

Can’t Drag Race With Jesus (2000) – ***

An energetic gospel tune that depicts Jesus as an unbeatable race car driver.  Catchy tune, but doesn’t say much beyond it’s quirky premise.

Dance All Day (1992) – **1/2

A man and a woman on a beach perform a variety of fad dances to a tune styled on a 60s beach movie.  There some fun at the end when it starts getting surreal, but mostly it’s boring and repetitious.

Dig My Do (1990) – ***

A dog impersonates Elvis and sings about his impressive hairstyle.  Weird for the sake of being weird.

Flooby Nooby (1992) – ***1/2

Bill Plympton at his most surreal in this short film about a strange town which combines quirky images with a catchy tune and a lot of wordplay.

Lovesick Hotel (1992) – ***1/2

A darkly comic animated short that requires a content warning for suicide.  A hotel clerk sings of the amenities of a hotel for the heartbroken in which we see the guests in the various suites offing themselves in comical ways.

90 Movies in 90 Days: Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: Shaun the Sheep Movie
Release Date: February 6, 2015
Director:  Mark Burton, Richard Starzak
Production Company: Aardman Animations | Anton Capital Entertainment
Summary/Review:

Shaun the Sheep just wants to have a day off from his ordinary routine, but his plot to trick the Farmer leads to chaos.  Soon the Farmer is lost in the Big City and suffering amnesia, so it’s up to Shaun and his flock to rescue him.  Their efforts are hampered by an overzealous animal control officer named Trumper, and the Farmer becoming a celebrity hairstylist with his talent for shearing. This stop-motion film relies largely on pantomime and slapstick for big laughs, and refreshingly old-fashioned.  This is a fun and warm-hearted movie that can be enjoyed by all ages.

Rating: ***1/2

90 Movies in 90 Days: Tux and Fanny (2019)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: Tux and Fanny
Release Date: May 2, 2019
Director: Albert Birney
Production Company: The Eyeslicer | Cartuna | Sweaty Eyeballs Animation | Pixilart
Summary/Review:

Tux and Funny, a pair of blob-like humanoids animated in the pixel-art of Atari era video games, are friends who star in this compilation of shorts originally posted on Instagram.  Their adventures vary from the grotesque to the surreal to the surprisingly wholesome.  Also, they speak Russian for some reason.  It’s a weird and fun film and easy to watch on YouTube.

Rating: ***1/2