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Preternaturally attuned to the internal landscape of children and adults alike, Hayao Miyazaki built his career on the philosophy that the fictional worlds of animation “soothe the spirit of those who are . . . suffering from a nearsighted distortion of their emotions.” To achieve such lofty aims, he works from a palette of “whatever I want to create,” which often includes a bestiary of snarling, grotesque demons and cute, cuddly sprites (appearances can be deceiving). His films are rich with kinetic action set pieces, impressionistic pastoral beauty, and staggering sweeps above the clouds. The wind through the reeds, and sunlight reflected on a babbling brook: these moments, always in motion and punctuated by Joe Hisaishi’s indispensable music, only amplify the human element. The giddiness of sisters exploring their new home in My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s lonely pancake dinners in Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Chihiro toe tapping her shoes into place in Spirited Away provide seamless grounding in Miyazaki’s worlds of fantasy—and often environmental devastation.
Miyazaki was born in Tokyo in 1941. He wrote, “My first memories are of bombed-out cities.” This searing imagery and a wartime childhood marked by rationing and occupation inform his outspoken pacifist convictions. The catastrophe of war, industrialization, and environmental neglect is present very early in his work with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and throughout his late work, like The Boy and the Heron. One of his great strengths as an animator is the sense of scale in his frames. The visuals translate emotionally, and Miyazaki’s films are joyous and melancholy, intimate and immense.
—Jeff Griffith-Perham, Film Exhibition Curatorial Associate