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Miguel B. Llora's Profile
Customer Reviews: 120
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Classic Reviewer Rank: 384
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Reviews Written by
Miguel B. Llora (Bay Point, California USA)
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
More about the making of a legend., December 10, 2004
This is a less than conventional treatment of the Arthurian legend. In this keeper of a movie, Jerry Bruckheimer, Antoine Fuqua and writer David Franzoni's rendition is less of King Arthur as legend but more about the making of a legend.
Most treatments of King Arthur in the past: Camelot (1967), the "standard" Alan Jay Lerner musical rendition; Excalibur (1981), which takes a less than sanitized approach but is still steeped in the "Knights in Shining Armor"; First Knight (1995) the Jerry Zucker remake of sorts of the original Camelot plot ala Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot love triangle story of loyalty, love and betrayal stick to the formula. In this movie the introduction of the Sarmatian component and the involvement of the Saxons makes for a more entertaining and fuller movie.
Conversely, there will be the inevitable comparisons to Braveheart, Gladiator, and Troy and that whole bit about "getting it right" -- it would be best not to worry about issues of historical accuracy but rather to focus on the cinematic triumphs and innovations that the triune of Bruckheimer, Franzoni, and Fugua deliver. In this DVD, check out the special features for the amazing things they do with sets and set design. Moreover, the actor's roundtable is wonderful in that included is conversation of how the moviemakers trained the actors and the extras in this epic scale movie to come up with a very entertaining and action filled version. For the action film aficionado and the film study folks out there -- this Unrated Widescreen Director's Cut version is a real keeper.
Miguel Llora
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Who said Puccini is dead, eh?, October 18, 2004
A stunning tour de force and modern day Pucciniesque classic. Rarely does Hollywood put something together that just gels -- The Life of David Gale is one of those moments. I won't bore you with a synopsis (also to avoid a spoiler) but let me just say that understanding Turandot [and the death of Liu] certainly makes understanding the movie that much easier. Constance, in my mind, is the real pivotal character. I guess I can take license in this as in the movie when the notion of truth versus perspective is argued -- usually perspective wind out. In a world were 'big' issues overwhelm a 'little' people into apathy and immobility this movie proves just the opposite -- that the determination of individuals to make a difference can still happen. Yes, we ask 'At what price?' Nonetheless, the social commentary in this movie is worth the price of admission. As mentioned previously, rarely does an ensemble of cast, crew, circumstance, and timing converge into one 'space' and produce so compelling a movie -- this is one of those movies. Who said Puccini is dead, eh?
Miguel Llora
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
Mexico 'Everyday' Steals The Scenes, October 16, 2004
Y Tu Mama Tambien is a wild ride 'coming of age' movie that in most ways is predictable. Two boys out for any adventure exploit a chance meeting to invite a [little known to them 'distressed'] woman to invite her to [to the two boys] an imagined beach called 'The Mouth of Heaven.' The rest, as you can well imagine, is that the older woman takes them under her wing and they grow into men to enjoy the 'finer things in life.' Predictable, yes. However, there are twists and turns in the story, that defy telling here, that the viewer will find surprising and human -- if not humane. I can say no more. What I can say is this -- there are two things that stand out: Cuaron edits the film as if the unfolding were natural, and the scenery - the 'everyday' really make the movie. The editing is so refined that you do not feel jerked from one scene to another. The movie is done so well that even the a priori conditions of wealth and position seem believeable -- but that is part of the landscape -- at least that is how I read it. The contrast with the cityscape and the rural landscape juxtaposed to give one a sense of Mexican life is superb. The voice over technique really drives the points home as if the digressions were really the point. I have to thank Cuaron for giving me a perspective of Mexico I did not have before -- richer, fuller, and explained. This movie is not for the faint at heart. It is robust in its sexuality as well as its social commentary. Y Tu Mama Tambien is almost two movies in one that form a synergy that makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts.
Miguel Llora
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So Close
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| DVD ~ Qi Shu |
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Do Not Build Up to Shoot Down, July 14, 2004
In So Close sisters Lynn and Sue (Shu Qi and Vicki Zhao respectively), are a pair of high-tech (and high priced) assassins who inherit, from their late father, a secret weapon: a satellite based surveillance package called World Panorama. World Panorama allows them to hack and use any closed-circuit camera system worldwide. Predictably, or there would be no movie, their current job has its share of complications. Chow (Deric Wan) hires the duo to assassinate his brother in a corporate takeover bid. To add spice to the mix, Hung (Karen Mok) completes the trio of beautiful (and strong) women as the creative but misguided detective investigating this case. There is a tinge of a homoerotic subplot between Hung and Sue that arguably does not satisfy on any level -- but let us not let it detract us from the action scenes, cinematography, and almost impossible high tech wizardry. The character of Lynn, conversely, is pulled in another direction.
Lynn is involved old love Yen (Song Seung-Hon), which makes her re-examine her chosen vocation. Lynn decides she wants out but there are, of course, complications. Sue, not having had any experience doing anything else and eager to prove herself to Lynn sets out to complete the contract -- which Lynn asked her to cancel -- on her own. Not to do a spoiler here but to Lynn's credit she has been protecting Sue from that side of the business in an effort to protect her from possible future guilt. I guess I can indulge in a little bit of cynicism here -- as being an accomplice would not give Sue night chills -- I need to constantly remember -- it is light. In a move that reminds of the Last Samurai (too many mind) leaving the trade might not be that easy for Lynn after all. For what impact that has on Lynn -- you will really need to watch the movie.
Okay, let us keep focused on the movie's plus side -- the action is entertaining. It has the predictable wire-work that Hong Kong action films are famous for. There is a ton of slow-motion as well as fast-cutting action thrown in the mix. I agree with some out there that arguably the most creative scene comes about halfway through the movie, when Hung finally meets the Lyn and Sue in an elevator. The bathroom scene early on with the two sisters going at it is pure exploitation -- but it is fun. The climax scene with Sue and Hung is not to be outdone as it is fast moving but nothing beats the close proximity type scenes to really create a sense of tension. There is the inevitable comparison to Corey Yuen's The Transporter -- which I have seen but am now really curious about after having seen So Close.
I am, of course still recovering from a Naked Weapon hangover and am worried I am paying to much attention to this genre. While Naked Weapon did not pull any punches -- such as a really disturbing rape scene. So Close does not suffer from this very disturbing misogynistic tendency. The slow-motion shots of Shu Qi's allow us to focus on her -- but who can complain, really. I certainly did not see the same type of exploitation here so in a fun sort of way we can ascribe some form of female liberation in this movie despite the hypersexualized characters of Lynn, Sue and Hung.
Similar to Naked Weapon, So Close is one of those movies that should enjoyed for what it is, pure entertainment. Now, if a critic is trying to make a name for him/herself (current writer excluded, of course) it is easy to try to make more of this movie and then shoot it down. That would be wrong. Realistically, about 95% of all the movies out there are light on the social commentary and heavy on the entertainment factor. Corey Yuen's So Close is one of those movies and to call attention to or to ask for a sophisticated plot is simply manipulation. I say see it for what it is and enjoy the special effects and decent action sequences -- for a simple fellow like me, it IS enough.
Miguel Llora
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32 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
Babes, Bullets, and Martial Arts, June 20, 2004
Okay. I have to admit that it had everything. At the risk of sounding both racist and sexist -- I will stay with the obvious the movie was full of babes, bullets and lots of martial arts. Models Maggie Q and Anya Wu form the babes component. There is no shortage of weapons and gunplay, which forms the bullets component. Lastly, directed by Ching Siu-Tung, we are treated to tons of fairly good martial arts sequences. However, the remainder of the movie is a little suspect. The plot is predictable and is in no way near anything resembling a Femme Nikita. I am almost tempted to rank this film among the many "exploitation" films out there. Lets face it -- of all the movies made out there; perhaps 95% are designed to do one thing only to entertain. The remaining 5% attempt at least to make social commentary -- of which a select few really succeed while trying to entertain. Of the 5% there are also those who try but fail to enlighten or entertain and sadly some fail at both. It would be safe to say that this movie fits into the former 95% so it would do us no good to attempt any form of analysis but to simply enjoy it. All the possible discussion of feminine empowerment and disempowerment I will defer for another place and time.
Naked Weapon is a story about female assassins, kidnapped at a young age and trained by Madame M -- played by Almen Wong --another integral piece to the babe component. Upon the failure and death of a one of a kind assassin, Madame M takes stock and goes on a kidnapping spree to recruit fresh blood among the myriad of athletic, nubile and potentially erotic and exotic young girls. She takes them to a secluded island headquarters and forces them to undergo rigorous training that lasts all of about six years. The bevy of young girls -- as that is what they are when they were first kidnapped -- are taken to school to learn about guns, computers, feminine ways, and self-defense. Charlene (Maggie Q), Katt (Anya Wu) and Jill (Jewel Lee) form the core of fighters who will eventually engage in one another in a Battle Royal for a marquis spot in Madame M's stable of assassins and a piece of the action.
There was, however, one dark side to this one-dimensional almost harmless exploitation film - a splash of misogyny that really messed things up. I saw no real reason for the rape scene, which really degrades his starlets and the movie. I am not an idiot and will admit that this movie was nothing short of a guilty pleasure, but what heavily reduced the guilty enjoyment factor was the graphic sexual violence and the totally useless rape scene -- which I have to admit, was nothing short of off-putting. I know, I was not supposed to 'go there' but the film does not punish Madame M for her heinous acts and the three young women get short ended in a lifestyle that was not of their choosing.
The movie would not be interesting is there were no plot twist and turns. Charlene begins to develop existential angst and starts to miss her mother -- played by non other than Cheng Pei-Pei -- and risks a Hong Kong hit by bumping into her. Madame M, to say the least, is annoyed by Charlene's new distractions. Moreover, the character Ryuichi appears in deus ex machina fashion to terrorize the three young women. Not to disappoint, there are flashes of skin and a love scene and a disturbing rape scene ? so this is not for the squeamish. The short of it is, cinematography is good and the women are all dolled up. In an effort to fully exploit the pretty people almost everyone moves in slow motion with the obligatory wind -- in the right direction -- adds to the cheesy ambiance. It is a guy flick and it should not be seen as anything more than that. The camera is great to Maggie Q -- it can't miss. Admittedly there is action and it does not pretend to be anything but exploitation.
Miguel Llora
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4 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
The Betrayal of the Real: Revolutions - Riff or Rip-Off, June 8, 2004
As evidenced in both Making The Matrix, in The Matrix DVD and Scrolls to Screen: The History and Culture of Anime -- in the Animatrix DVD; we here Producer Joe Silver identifying the genesis of The Matrix, in part, in anime -- in particular Oshii Mamuro's anime of Shirow Masamune's manga Ghost in the Shell (GitS). On the Internet, the consensus points to the Wachowskis ripping-off Oshii's groundbreaking work. I prefer to see it as a riff.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a riff as -- a repeated phrase in jazz typically supporting a solo improvisation; also a piece based on such a phrase. The Matrix then is both new and old -- it is a riff with deep roots. The one thing that the Wachowskis irreverently forgot to consider is a tight thematic core that informs the cyberpunk. tradition in Gibson's Neuromancer and Dick's Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep -- also known as Ridley Scott's, Blade Runner. This lack of adherence to a lineage is problematic. The syncretic energy of The Matrix trilogy makes it a pastiche of -- all things --without a core theme. Missing many windows of opportunity it is stuck in the duality of man vs. machine and an elusive ending.
Susan Napier writes on GitS: In its exploration of such profound issues as the relations between soul, body and technology, GitS owes as much to American science fiction, such as Ridley Scott's landmark 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner or William Gibson's classic 1980 cyberpunk novel Neuromancer as it does to any specific mecha anime. [...] Rather than categorizing GitS purely as a mecha film, therefore, it might be at least as accurate to call it a cyberpunk-noir film with elegiac, gothic, and even apocalyptic overtones (Napier 105).
Using Blade Runner as a starting point, replicants exist as simulation in real time and space. In The Matrix, and this is the reason I hesitate to classify it as a postmodern film; --reality? itself is not in question (Lyon 2). Disneyland -- is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real (Baudrillard 12). I contend therefore that The Matrix provides the same reassurance that Zion and the machines are real -- ergo, the betrayal of the real. Returning to Blade Runner... What makes Blade Runner postmodern? For a start, reality itself is in question. Replicants want to be real people, but proof of reality, apparently, is a photographic image, a constructed identity. Here is one way of seeing the postmodern: it is a debate about reality. (Lyons 2).
GitS owes as much to Blade Runner as it does Gibson's Neuromancer. The notion of a matrix and the idea of cranial jacks, can be pegged to Neuromancer. Returning to the source: The matrix has its roots in primitive arcade games, said the voice-over, in early graphics programs and military experimentation with cranial jacks. Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. (Gibson 51). In Gibson's matrix users jack in much the same way we log in to our computers -- we are separate from our computers as much as Case is in Neuromancer. However, in a slight of hand, the Wachowskis divert our attention -- there is a fantasy/reality break.
By examining the Zion archives we witness the rise of the machines. The zero-point of The Matrix, in the Wachowski rendition, is pegged to the rise of the machines and the eventual defeat of the humans. Despite the elaborate ruse -- if you defeat the machines and shut of the matrix, all those plugged into it are free. Now, the question becomes -- Free to what? I chuckle when I hear folks talk about the movie and focus on the matrix and ignore the reality of Zion and the machine. The matrix might look like a Buddhist unreality -- how would those with a Buddhist read or neuronal read explain those outside the matrix? They do not. They ignore it because it does not fit into their explanation.
In The Matrix, there is no postmodern question of identity. There is no question of the docile body created through discursive practice. There is no questioning of categories and the body like there is in Blade Runner and subsequently GitS -- where the replicants such as Priss and cyborgs like Kusanagi and Batu are problematic because they exist along side us and blurr the distinction between man and machine. As David Weberman reminds us of the reality/fantasy break and grounds us in a material reality: Still, a skeptic of all this, a cyberskeptic, will say that no matter how many sensory impressions one has of the virtual world and no matter how much they cohere within and between individuals, the cyberworld is not real because it does not exist in space. According to this view, cyberspace is a mere metaphor; strictly speaking, cyberspace is an oxymoron. (Irwin, William 225 - 239).
The Matrix is a melange of eclectic belief systems packaged using a cross pollination of cinematic genres from anime and kung fu movies: it is everything and it is nothing. My sense is that this syncretic move is one that is instrumental, and designed less to inform but instead to entertain. To ascribe meaning where there is none is dangerous and pointless. The Wachowski's cannot end the movie properly because the writing did not have a coherent thread to begin with. Revolutions' staid and open-ended conclusion leaves one wondering if this Hollywood's way of saying sequel or prequel? The Matrix is trapped in the modern duality of man versus machine and affirms the real. What showed promise as an epistemological time bomb is reduced to caricature and spectacle since we are living in a postmodern world -- are we not?
Miguel Llora
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34 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
Anything But Trivial, May 23, 2004
Miyazaki Hayao's Castle in the Sky is perhaps the most difficult but rewarding movie to watch, to contemplate on and to share one's thoughts about. Castle in the Sky is really a manga movie and not just your garden-variety animation offering either. Castle in the Sky moves forward on many levels and yet it pulls back on others. Castle in the Sky in a sense is trapped in its own circularity. Moreover, Miyazaki is a master at playing with the aesthetic of weightlessness. He uses 'natural elements' like the wind in place of a more mechanical source. Miyazaki compels us to consider the plundering of nature. He, moreover, asks us to pause and to reconsider man's need to conquer nature as well as the misuse of technologies. Like Sheeta we grapple with our own weightlessness, our own significance.
Castle in the Sky provides a sustained and critical assessment of our attitudes toward technology. Effectively this generation has inherited what technology it currently uses and lacks discipline and appreciation of the impact of our use of it. In moves similar to those made in Princess Mononoke, it is not so much technology that is the issue but rather the use (or misuse) we subject it to. The enemy is not technology but rather our use of technology that calls us to question our ideas on progress. In a sense, it could be argued that Miyazaki is nostalgic for a bygone era - to return to that zero point when we did not have technology on this scale. As mentioned previously, although less pronounced than Princess Mononoke, both stories converge in their subtle but sustained critique of progress and technology without really being a Romantic elegy of lost innocence. In this sense most anime can be seen to be exploring some postmodern themes -- but in my opinion only Princess Mononoke sustains a postmodern argument. Moreover, as a general rule anime takes into account issues of movement into its scenarios and players and the solutions are varied, of course, depending on specific anime sub-genre. However, there looks to be an overall tendency away from mechanical sources to sources of a more organic genesis. Although the use is more pronounced in Miyazaki's work, it is evident in the Cyborg and Mecha anime such as Ghost in the Shell, Akira and Armitage (all available on Amazon.com).
It could also be argued that both Castle in the Sky and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind are in a sense post-apocalyptic. In this sense most major anime offerings including: Barefoot Gen and Grave of the Fireflies calls to question the use of technology for destruction and ultimately domination. Miyazaki explores his Romantic notions by not only critiquing the use of advanced technology but by setting this movie in the early nineteenth century. The flying vessels all hearken back to a bygone era making the movie's signs almost period. This back and forth between technology and the bygone era disrupts a linear narrative making it, and I say this guardedly, postmodern.
Miyazaki's calling to the question the undisciplined use of technology elevates the movie beyond a good and evil bifurcation. Miyazaki calls to question the destructive force of unnatural creations and for domination by its users makes this (and all his other movies anything but trivial. The truth is, robots and similar technologies, are not in themselves the problem. It is rather to what use these implements are put. In anime we see moving scenes of robots protecting nests, befriending little animals as well as tending gardens as if we ascribe to these non-sentient beings the best of our qualities. Conversely, anime does not shy from the frightening scenes of the very same machines tearing up the countryside. With the juxtaposition, perhaps the mood is set to have us consider a back to nature approach.
Before I close, I wish to deal with the issue to the tragic and epic hero in Castle in the Sky. My sense of it is that Sheeta is, in a sense the epic heroine of the story in her reluctance and almost passive role in the movie. Castle in the Sky is steeped in an experience of floating, gliding and soaring -- hence weightlessness. Sheeta's flying stone is a passive tool in that it prevents her from falling. Sheeta does not fly. In Miyazaki's work -- like My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service flying is a way to achieve weightlessness. Here, Pazu is the one who seeks to soar -- making him seem somewhat of an active but tragic hero. Flying is a key element in Miyazaki?s films and it is the flying machines that are less mechanical and more organic that are privileged. Optimizing the energy in nature is the desired configuration. Miyazaki is one that will survive the ages because his creations are very challenging but nonetheless accessible. Castle in the Sky is hinged on the prospect of a world prior to technology making the movie, at the risk of sounding condescending, anything but trivial.
Miguel Llora
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103 of 118 people found the following review helpful:
Life imitating Art, May 14, 2004
I have to admit that this movie moved me on many levels. After getting over the initial shock of what is, for very good reason, considered to be not just a violent film but also a very disturbing one in terms of subject - this movie I am convinced is destined to become a cult classic. As mentioned previously, Battle Royale is an unforgiving movie but like all great films there are pockets of resistance and liberation. This exceedingly disturbing and deeply saddening film about watching young kids killing each other out of a primal need to survive should disturb anyone with a shred of humanity left in them. What should be noted is that in this case of art imitating life it opens up a portal of consideration of how people may react in this type of situation and the inherent complexity contained therein. No matter what critics say about its violence Battle Royale is really a story about character. Based on the novel by Takami Koshun, Battle Royale is provocative on many. One way to see the movie is in terms of a not so distant future Japan (which is this case can stand in as a metaphor to other countries) where the government's trepidation about rampant juvenile delinquency and the a lost generation's blatant disregard for order and the rule of law has caused it seek more immediate and less creative ways to deal with the problem, the solution: the systematic annihilation of teenagers. In this case, selected groups of high school kids are deceived and carted of to an undisclosed location, given weapons and supplies and a mission - to kill each other. In an orgy of blood and gore the last person standing is allowed to go home. This, at least for me, brings up two very difficult questions: Is it a story about extermination or discipline? If it is, what possible benefit can be derived from this? Returning quickly to the issue of "character," it is interesting to see how director Kinji Fukasaku and writer Kenta Fukasuka bring Takami Koshun's novel to the screen. It is also interesting to see how director Fukasaku controls a herd of cats in a powerhouse cast of 40+ characters that includes Beat Takeshi's rendition of Kitano as well as the portrayal of Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara), Noriko (Aki Maeda), Shougo (Taro Yamamoto), Kazou (Masanobu Ando), Mitsuko (Kou Shibasaki) and Takako (by Kill Bill's Chiaki Kuriyama). I was intrigued to seeing how some of the characters reacted to stressful situations that in some places (unless you watch the film at least twice) are lost around the films central motif of extreme ruthlessness and violence. Needless to say that despite the films wicked cinematography and primitivistic tendencies - it being set in a tropical island and all - not to mention the almost mandatory erotic undertones, it is more than anything, a movie about a society on the verge of imploding. It is noted that Fukasaku's motivations for making the movie transcend politics and society. Dilemma: if your survival rested on you killing your best friends, would you do it? This is the circumstance in Battle Royale and it is a very provocative one. This brutal premise and what happens next is inevitably - a very cruel film. Fukasaku rendition has a Lord of the Fliesesque quality about it. I cannot stress how great a movie this is though. Overall, this is one of the most thought provoking, disturbing, and powerful films released. I was not surprised that this film has not been released in the US but just like the saga of "RINGU" - my guess is that inevitably this film will be hijacked as well - it is the Hollywood way. Another "layer" to be uncovered from this blood-soaked saga is how Fukasaku calls to question a Japanese society whose rage over youth delinquency (as mentioned previously) and has gone so far to imagine a `final solution.' If it was Fukasaku's intent, it got me thinking that if such a solution were put in place the results would be a fight to the death will be a traumatized, angry and extremely mentally agile mind would be released back on society - making the problem doubly worse - as if the society is cultivating violence. In Battle Royale Fukasaku is thought provoking again in that he allows for pockets of resistance and moments of female empowerment. The sub-plot of hacking in to the system and destroying the whole game and the scenes with Mitsuko (Kou Shibasaki) although not unique add a particular liberating quality to the film. However there still is lingering the disturbing theme of Battle Royale, dealing as it does with the corollary of a system of violence transferred from generation to generation thus perpetuating a cycle of violence. In the end, the hub of the Battle Royale films is that violence without doubt impacts children. Is this what we want as a future for them? A wild, sexy, and thought provoking film that begs to be watched more than one time to be fully appreciated. Miguel Llora
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
They had wings and I had none., March 18, 2004
"My Neighbor Totoro," a film by Miyazaki Hayao is many things on many layers - one vital layer concerns loss and coping with the real possibility of loss. Satsuki, Mei and their father move to the countryside owing to the illness of their mother. As is common in Miyazaki films, the film centers on the concept of Shojo. According to Susan Napier, ""Shojo" literally means "little female" and originally referred to girls around 12 and 13. Over the last couple of decades, however, the term has become a shorthand for a certain kind of liminal identity between child and adult, characterized by a supposedly innocent eroticism based on sexual immaturity, a consumer culture of buying "cute" (kawaii) material goods, and a wistful privileging of a recent past of free-floating form of nostalgia" (Napier, Anime From Akira to Princess Mononoke 118). I will do 3 things in this review: (a) Picking up on Napier's shojo definition in terms of its liminality, (b) I will explore the space between supernatural vs. the fantastic, leading into, (c) an examination in terms of magical realism and the emancipation through flight.Residing in this liminal shojo space has really less to do with Mei but more to do with Satsuki. As the crush of the rather nervous young neighbor, we are introduced to Satsuki in a voyeuristic fashion. We "know" the young neighbor is somewhat smitten by her and yet she seems oblivious to the whole thing. This sort of "innocent eroticism" is played out - arguably to hint that Satsuki is well on her way to becoming a woman - but not yet. As Mei is left to her own devices, she chances on the bucket with the hole and eventually finds herself falling into the hole in the camphor tree - where she finds Totoro. The wonderful thing about Anime is that the transitions between the real, the surreal, the fantastic and even the magical realism is so seamless as to appear natural. As Mei, in a move reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland stumbles into a rabbit hole of sorts, finds herself in the realm of the unreal, or is it? When she is found in the forest by Satsuki - in a really imaginative move, Miyazaki keeps Satsuki in the liminal shojo space by making her see the things that only children see. We get this, in a real sense, when the cat bus is approaching both Totoro and Satsuki and she wonders how come no one else can see. Even if the father "believes" both Satsuki and Mei - he never really "sees" anything. Is the experience of Satsuki and Mei merely a hallucination or is it something supernatural. Once again, to borrow from Napier, something "supernatural" is still within the realm of the real. Taking the tack that the movie is about stress and children inventing realities to cope with such stress, Napier describes a facet of Miyazaki's work - that of the realm of the "enchanting" (Napier, Anime From Akira to Princess Mononoke 126-132). Back to the original premise of transcendence from that liminal characteristic of shojo... I find myself transported back to Milan Kundera who writes in "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting": "And then suddenly they were all singing the three or four simple notes again, speeding up the steps of their dance, fleeing rest and sleep, outstripping time, and filling their innocence with strength. Everyone was smiling, and Eluard leaned down to a girl he had his arm around and said, "A man possessed by peace never stops smiling." And she laughed and stamped the ground a little harder and rose a few inches above the pavement, pulling the others along with her, and before long not one of them was touching the ground, they were taking two steps in place and one step forward without touching the ground, yes, they were rising up over Wenceslaus Square, their ring the very image of a giant wreath taking flight, and I ran off after them down on the ground, I kept looking up at them, and they floated on, lifting first one leg, then the other, and down below - Prague with its cafes full of poets and its jails full of traitors, and in the crematorium they were just finishing off one Socialist representative and one surrealist, and the smoke climbed to the heavens like a good omen, and I heard Eluard's metallic voice intoning, "Love is at work it is tireless," and I ran after that voice through the streets in hope of keeping up with that wonderful wreath of bodies rising above the city, and I realized with anguish in my heart that they were flying like birds and I was falling like a stone, that they had wings and I would never have any." I intuit a sense of escapism in Miyazaki's work. I think there is something to Miyazaki's movies in terms of escape - from the everyday to a liberating space. On the subject of liberation... it is common to see flight in Miyazaki. "Laputa" we see nothing but flying. In "Kiki's Delivery Service," it is arguably learning to fly that liberates Kiki. Miyazaki's oeuvre is filled with imagery of flight - Tonari no Totoro is no exception. To transcend being human, being a child, as Kiki escapes her liminal status as shojo and into womanhood so does Satsuki as she and Mei take flight in the cat bus. And I "realized with anguish in my heart that they were flying like birds and I was falling like a stone, that they had wings and I would never have any." Miguel Llora
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
Lest we forget, January 30, 2004
The narrative of Grave of the Fireflies is simple but the messages behind the anime are plentiful and profound. Based a semi-autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka - Hotaru no Haka centers around two children Seita and his 5-year-old sister Setsuka. Rendered homeless by the fire bombing in Kobe and practically orphaned -- their father is serving in the Japanese navy, while conversely, their mother is a killed in the bombings. For the better part of the movie an aunt takes care of both of them - for a price. Seita gets the sense and then it is overtly displayed that both he and Setsuka are not really welcome. Seita endeavors to hit hills, to a cave which they make home. Seita scrambles for food - using anything he can find and then eventually deteriorates to stealing. The opening of the film is Seita dead in a subway station, and so we can deduce Setsuko's fate; we get the details by fallowing his flashbacks.
Grave of the Fireflies is many things - primarily the tone would be one of sadness. It is a deeply emotional experience. Having said that, it really sets the tone for the story. Right of the bat, one gets the sense of catharsis, as if the writer of the story is trying to assuage his guilt. Loosely based, as previously mentioned, on Akiyuki Nosaka's war experience (wherein he loses his sister) we are certain to be touched by film's more serious themes - in more ways than one. One gets the sense that the movie is designed to elicit sympathy - hopefully for the universal condition of the toll that war extracts. If I was not moved by it I could not count myself among the humane. As much as it serves to remind us of the suffering in Japan, let this not also blind us to the suffering caused all around Asia - both to and by the Japanese.
There is no doubt that the film is profoundly human. Yes, on another level it is a story of survival. Director Isao Takahata (and Akiyuki Nosaka, of course) compel us to meditate on the suffering in war, the futility of war, and that the most innocent are the ones who suffer most. Cognizant that these are the musings of Akiyuki Nosaka - I am less able to focus on the bigger questions. I am not taking anything away from Grave of the Fireflies - both in terms of the depth and the quality of the animation. I love the meditative tone and even fell for the scene that took place one evening when the children capture the fireflies and use them to light the cave. If my memory serves me right, this is the same scene that Setsuka asks Seita about death. On the very next day, Seita finds Setsuka burying the dead fireflies and images of the dead mother flash quickly. Let us not fall into a sense of selective amnesia by choosing to remember one but in so doing tacitly forgetting the others. One could argue that by focusing on the suffering in Japan, the filmmakers are part and parcel of a discourse of victimhood. In war everyone is a victim.
Miguel Llora
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(Bay Point, California USA)
