Imagine you are Mei, the four-year-old little girl central to My Neighbour Totoro who discovers the forest-dwelling furry creatures racing through long grass on a warm day in the Japanese countryside. “I wanted to put myself in the visitor’s shoes,” she says. Jessica wanted to design an exhibition that makes the viewer feel as if they are the protagonist. When asked about this decision, the show’s curator Jessica says: “The easiest idea is to go movie by movie, but then we miss something that is really relevant to audiences today, the recurring themes and emotions he creates in his films.” Instead of chronologically touring through Miyazaki’s creative life, the visitor can explore his world through nature and nostalgia on one side, and on the other, through industry and technology: a purposeful dichotomy that exists, and causes friction, in many of Miyazaki’s films. Interestingly, the exhibition is curated by theme. It features over 400 different artworks including mainframes, keyframes, character sketches and background paintings so beautiful you could stare at the carefully lit scenes for days. The show at the Academy Museum has been wildly popular so far. Nearly two decades later, and Ghibli has deservedly established itself at the heart of animated cinema. A film none of my friends were keen to watch, despite my enthusiasm, unperturbed with its Asianness and “other” culture. I was nine when the film was released in 2003. ![]() I’ve been a fan since I first followed Chihiro into the spirit world where she met a radish spirit and her parents were transformed into pigs. ![]() If you didn’t know by now, yes, I am a fan. Throw in storyline, character development and of course the visual richness of any given frame, and Miyazaki’s extraordinary ability to world-build reveals its power. Zoom in on any mechanism and you’ll see immaculate intricacy right down to the gently rusting brass screw heads. The level of cinematic detail enhances each viewer’s experience. Let us not forget Miyazaki’s masterful architectures, from Kamajī’s boiler room to the winding turrets of Nausicaä. A melody encapsulating the subtle power of Miyazaki’s universe through strings, which crash through the screen in a synaesthesic crescendo of tear-jerking magnificence. My personal favourite of his arrangements is The Legend of Ashitaka a velvety ode equal to the magisterial forests depicted at the heart of Princess Mononoke. The renowned composer Joe Hisaishi is behind the majority of Miyazaki’s most notable works. It’s the dramatic scores that suffuse millions of hand-rendered frames with emblematic sound. But to name a few, it’s the character design – seen through the rotund comfort of Totoro, Yubaba’s piercing glare or the furrowed brow of the wolf San. The list of attributes that sets his films apart is infinite. While each is unique, Miyazaki’s films are united by a singular vision which has seen him raise the bar for animated film countless times over. Open until 5 June 2022, the retrospective pays tribute to the co-founder of Studio Ghibli and his magnificent films, which are beloved by adults and children the world over, among them My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle and The Wind Rises. In September last year, the newly opened Academy Museum opened its doors to celebrate the globally acclaimed Miyazaki. ![]() For Studio Ghibli is all the more remarkable for its ability to capture the uplifting delights of childhood innocence, whilst also revealing the darker complexities of the human condition. Set against the glittering romanticism of LA, home of Disneyfied happily-ever-afters and “good triumphs over evil” binaries, a new show reveals a different kind of cinema for children. We’ve been talking for over two and a half years in the run-up to a first-of-its-kind retrospective of Miyazaki’s work and career. As curator Jessica Niebel puts it: “He shows magic with such realism you can almost believe that that kind of magic exists in real life.” ![]() When watching one of the Japanese animation director’s creations, the viewer steps directly into the fantasy world with its characters. The word “genius” is undoubtedly overused, but no cinema fan would deny that the term is entirely apt to describe the great auteur Hayao Miyazaki.
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