Hayao Miyazaki Retrospective The Wind Rises Review

Hello and welcome to cinema geeks as we continue

our Hayao Miyazaki retrospective today We will

be reviewing he was Aki's last film the wind

rises And joining me on today's adventure as

always is hard candy Mandy. How's it going? The

final kind of the final time, but we'll see Also

Kevin optimus solo good to be here And last but

of course, not least, Matt Fridley -Sent. Hello.

Yes, today we are continuing our retrospective

on the career of Hayao Miyazaki and we've been

going through all of his films. for about over

a year now. We started way back when with The

Castle Cagliostro and now we are there, the final

movie. This won't be our final episode of Miyazaki.

We'll be doing an additional retrospective episode

to kind of look back at everything we've been

talking about. But this is his final movie. This

is actually, well, as of right now, and this

isn't... the first time that he's had a final

movie. There's it's been, you know, pretty much

every movie since Prentice's Menon. Okay, was

slated to be his last. So maybe in a year or

two from here, we'll be continuing this retrospective.

Before we start talking about what's to come,

let's look at this film itself. And we'll just

go around and kind of get our general thoughts

before we dive in deep. So Amanda, we'll start

with you. What were your overall impressions

of The Wind Rises? I really didn't. have any

knowledge of what this was about going into it,

but I found myself in sort of like a melancholy

mood throughout this. It was definitely a very

adult film, not for kids whatsoever, I would

say, but not that it, you know, it didn't have

the same feel of Miyazaki's work. It just definitely

was not for children. And I... I think that there

were some bright spots here, but overall it was

like depressing as hell. And I really don't know

how I feel about it right now. I know that I

didn't hate it, but I'm not really sure how I

feel about it. Like there's a lot of emotion

going on here, but there was so much paralleling

like success and also on the other side, like

tragedy and it, I don't know, it was affecting,

but I'm not really sure how it affected me yet.

Interesting interesting. Well, maybe we can help

you through that. So Kevin what were your overall

impressions of The Wind Rises? I guess to illustrate

that we watched this in two chunks, which number

one had the Successful fact that it made sure

that Amanda didn't fall asleep in any of the

movie So we watched one we watched one hour of

it One day and the one the second hour second

half of it the next day. So we did split it in

half And I got to say my initial reaction is

I'm very thankful for the second half of this

film because I was not on board with the first

half at all. When we stopped watching the first

hour, I was thinking that this was going to be

the first movie that I gave a negative review

to during this whole series. But I think the

second hour for me saved it in a lot of different

ways and added a lot of the emotional punch that

the story had. It connected a lot of things and

also kind of brought out some more emotional

punch, but also just I don't know. I don't know

that word for it, but some more entertaining

aspects of it or some more connective tissue,

I guess that that it added. So I definitely enjoyed

the second half 10 times more than the first

half kind of mixed right now. I did not like

the first half of this film at all. I understand.

We can maybe get into that. So, so, Matt, we

had one kind of undecided, one positive, but

also very negative. Where do you fall when it

comes to The Ruin Rises? Oh, man. So I also watch

it in two chunks, just because if I don't get

to a movie on the weekend, that's the only way

I can make it work during the week. And I was

worried that it would hurt it not being able

to sit through and watch it through, but I don't

think it did. I think I was way more sold in

the first half than Kevin was. but I do also

agree that it does get just heavier and heavier

in the second half, but I feel like, and I feel

like to its benefit, but I don't feel like that

has any meaning without that first half. Like

I feel like that slower first half really like

builds. You up and then that second half shows

you like how important things are and does a

really good job of storytelling I agree with

the fact that you're saying that the first half

is necessary for the things that happen the second

half I don't think it's something that's you

know I'm not saying the first half is not necessary

or not important to the story. I was just kind

of going on an overall feeling of Was I enjoying

myself during the first half and I don't think

I can say yes That's cool. That's fine. I get

you You kind of look at this in and kind of as

a realization of of Miyazaki's last movie and

it is very different than everything that he's

done up to this point and but in a way it's also

kind of like The accumulation of everything that

he's been working on it It does feel like this

is the movie like he got into film in direction

and animation to tell you know We've seen hints

his desired in his love of aviation the story

has much of his story of his movies have had

A lot of the ramifications from things like World

War II have been felt kind of the political and

social elements of it how nature falls in and

So it does seem like it kind of takes all that

and it's like really This was all those bits

and pieces are building up to a movie like this

Which is I'd like I think Amanda mentioned this

does feel like it's most adult movie made it

there is no like there are no none of those like

additional cute little characters that you get

even with like Princess Manon okay there are

some great imaginative dream sequences and things

like that but this does feel like it takes place

as much in the real world as anything and I think

that that personal relationship to the film I

think is what worked for me and I thought what

was really strong about this movie is just it's

kind of like a delve into the mind of someone

who is by all means a genius and of and how you

deal with that and I thought I had a lot of like

cool ideas and I mean there was just a thing

a lot going on one of the things that really

stuck with me was when the main characters having

his dream with the Italian plane designer and

they're talking and like the question of, would

you want to live in a world without pyramids?

And it seems like, well, that's of course, why

would you want to live with a world without pyramids?

But I think that is kind of the ultimate question

because with pyramids, what is the cost of that?

Like what does the cost, what does that lead

to? And I think that is that struggle of achievement,

but also disaster. has been kind of since we

got uh nusicaa in the wind has been like the

like the key the key to putting these all together

so i felt i don't know i just felt like a great

way to end it in a way and uh so i think i probably

i think i'm much higher on it than than kevin

amanda then that's kind of what what i appreciated

about it but i didn't want to i didn't want to

jump back to kevin as you mentioned the first

half wasn't working for you so i was curious

what what about it do you feel like you struggled

with compared to the second half Just felt like

it was I don't know if a slow build is the right

term, but I just felt bogged down by the pacing

of the first half like and I get why some of

it is happening and I get why they're Developing

some of these things and whatnot, but I just

felt like there was no There was nothing to be

Excited about or not that you need to be excited

or entertained by everything, but there was nothing

to like really hook me in or grab onto me. And

it might be partially because I didn't necessarily

know what the film was based off of. It's kind

of like a biopic, obviously, of a famous Japanese

actual plane developer, engineer, designer, whatever

the right term is. So I didn't kind of know all

that. And I didn't know the World War II direct

connection going into it. So I was just kind

of going in blind. And I just wasn't sure where

I was supposed to grab onto. A lot of stuff.

Maybe it's just because of how the other Miyazaki

films that we've watched, all of them up to this

point, have had so many other different elements.

And I think I agree with you guys. It's the most

different feeling of all of Miyazaki's film,

number one, because it's almost completely void

of any of the fantastical elements or the super,

not supernatural, but just kind of out of this

world magical fantasy elements. So there's not

that. I wasn't sure I wasn't necessarily sold

on the main character at first I wasn't sure

if that was gonna be the main character through

the whole thing or what was going on so I was

a little lost there and I just felt like there

was a lot of We went from like a boat to a train

to planes back to a boat back to trains Back

to a plane and it seemed like a lot of this stuff

was taking a long time to get to the next point

so I think it was more so of I struggled with

the pacing and with the interest factor. Like

what was I supposed to be hooking onto? What

was I supposed to be gravitating towards that

I was struggling with in the first half? But

again, maybe it was just something I was expecting

something different. I don't know. Yeah, I could

say like if I had one issue with the film, it

does seem like it it's a movie that is certainly

not in a hurry to get anywhere. It's taking its

time. It's though there's like you have some

pretty drastic like time changes. It's interesting

because it's just like Like you said, I think

the first half there is there is no set specific

direction um, but I thought why I what I liked

about for me and I mean And I don't mean the

hog mic but uh what I liked about that first

half was kind of it was just this man trying

to figure it out for himself like this search

and journey to achieve something great and the

pressure that he felt of trying to do that and

along with you know not even just the lives that

could be lost if he doesn't achieve it, but the

lives that could be lost if he does achieve it.

And it's just like, you just know one situation

and some of the, like what really, I think, you

know, when things were trying to get maybe dull,

when we got a great little dream sequence of

these crazy planes and whatnot, I think that

really lightened the mood. And then, you know,

a random Italian guy, keep calling someone a

Japanese boy, always seemed kind of weird, but

you know, it seemed to work with the movie, but.

I was just gonna say you made me think of something

like I don't know if it was if I was I think

the first half would work better if number one

you knew the material that it's based off of

or number two if you'd already seen the movie

then the first half's gonna work better on a

second watch or a third watch I think it was

more so on the very first watch knowing nothing

about what the movie is based off of and just

trying to watch it and figure things out on the

fly like I just wasn't sure during that first

step where I was supposed to be going to or or

what I was what was going on in the actual film

and now that I've seen the second half a lot

more that's going to make more sense but that's

why I'm saying I'm just judging based like if

you were only to watch the first half of this

film and then nothing else You I mean, I don't

know why you do that with any film and no film

would really work like that But it would be exaggerated

I think in this film because it's just like what

was going on here But the second half like I

said helps a lot as far as me putting the dot,

you know, correct in the dots I mean you mentioned

that there were like certain barriers that were

helping you or holding you back from connecting

What like what do you think in general? Where

where is that disconnect? Do you feel like where

you're not? Maybe picking up everything the movie

is giving you or things that simply you feel

like aren't working as well as they should. I

think the timeline was very confusing because

you're jumping between time, you know, spanning

years, countries. You never really know what

age he is and the dream sequences were. at some

points i'm like is this the dream sequence i

mean some of them were very obvious you know

when they're envisioning um the planes and their

designs taking shape um things like that that

was you know easy to tell but sometimes i wasn't

sure what was actually a dream sequence or what

i was supposed to be gleaning from these dream

sequences also i kept waiting for waiting for

something to happen and that definitely doesn't

start to kick up until the second half of the

movie. So I agree that the first half was a bit

harder to get through because a lot of the big

emotions and big points of the story start to

really evolve in the second half. And I think

that it was hard to get past those things but

as Jiro as a main character I was really impressed

with. I think that he was such a good person

and that you just you feel for him. He seems

rigid but he's still humble and connects with

everybody and you know he's he's got this ambition

to make these you know amazing aircrafts but

you can tell that even though it comes at a cost

that This is going to take lives. And this is

for a purpose that he really doesn't want to.

He still believes in the dream of making these

aircraft. So his dream was driving this whole

movie, really. And even when we get into the

later half and we see this relationship unfolding

and even the weight surrounding the circumstances

in the relationship, you still see him putting

his whole self into to his career. So it's hard

to watch somebody so genuine and caring for people,

even people he doesn't know, to have to go through

such tragedies. But then you're wondering, too,

about what he's going through. Because with some

of the things that were happening in his relationship

and his personal life, he still was so focused

on work. So I'm not sure if that's really how

the person he was based off of was, but I was

kind of torn every now and then about how I felt

about his actions later in the film. But in the

first half, it really set up how good of a person

he was. And I like that. Do you mean his his

decision to to smoke in that room with her? Hey,

she she was like, I don't care. So I still could

not bring myself to do that. It was it was 1940.

No one knew anything was bad with cigarettes.

Doc doctors are still suggesting them to you.

Actually, I want to Yeah, yeah, I want to talk

about that bit that Amanda said about how she

doesn't know how close it is to the original

guy Because I don't think it got mentioned yet

and it probably also applies to exactly what

Kevin was saying where the first half was almost

slow and boring and the second half really picked

it up is Because like the first half is is way

closer to his real life and the second half is

like a book like a fictional novel that Miyazaki

just wove into it to to punch his life up and

make it more interesting like like the guy had

a wife but she didn't have tuberculosis and so

the tuberculosis and the sanitarium and all that

stuff is pulled out of a directly out of a novel

that Nizaki really liked it's almost like a 50

-50 split between a biopic and just an adaptation

of this book like the amount of things that he

took from those two things and so like it's almost

like hey this guy has a Regular life like most

of us have regular lives and they're kind of

boring So i'm gonna punch it up with a novel

so that it makes a very interesting movie interesting

So there's that How do you feel about that like

it's story -wise do you feel like that's disingenuous

to kind of put in all these these like not false

but like the storyline that's outside of the

character, or do you think it's just Miyazaki

finding magic in the way he does his thing? So

I did feel hurt when I found that out, because

I watched it thinking that it was just an animated

biopic, and my first thought was like, wow, this

is a great way to do this. I love this. You can

get close, like if you look up the guy. Like,

the animation is really close to what he actually

looked like. I was, like, applauding how good

that was. And it's like, now we don't have to

try to get better at comic batch and be like,

well, now act more Asian. Like, we could just

draw the person. Like, why are there not more

animated biopics? And then I found out that,

well, it's really like a million little pieces

over here because only half of it's true. And,

like, I did feel a little betrayed at first,

but now that I think about it, it's like, I mean...

He didn't go out and say, hey, I wrote this biography

of this guy. It was like, hey, I made an animated

movie. That's great. Just like everything, it

draws from real life and from fantasy. That's

Miyazaki in a nutshell. It's funny, Dan, you

used the word disingenuous because I was reading

reviews right before the show, both positive

and negative. And one of the negative reviews

said, quote, there are more boring movies than

this one. There aren't many more disingenuous

ones. So apparently, some people out there did

find it. Find it, but I didn't have as much of

a problem with it I think I'm gonna be with Matt

on that one like it didn't You know not knowing

that it was based on someone first obviously

help But even when I learned about it and like

what Matt's saying that some of it's not necessarily

true to form That's not what is being billed

as it's not being advertised as like the true

story of you know, I Forgot his name already,

but you know this gentleman, so I don't think

it's as big of a deal It's just an animated movie.

That's like Matt said drawing from multiple things

so Yeah, I'll kind of I'll agree and mainly because

like I feel like As I mentioned, I think a lot

of this is not just a biopic about that one individual,

but I do feel like Miyazaki is kind of using

it to represent a lot about himself and his life,

too, and the way he sees things. So it does kind

of make sense that he would like take things

from outside of the world of this actual guy

and try to make it a little bit different and

change it. But I mean, I was curious. How do

you feel about that when you have a movie that

is certainly centered on a real person? It does.

It's not necessarily like. Kevin mentioned specifically

saying in the biopic of the man who designed

the zero but it certainly has real -life influences

but then to include Aspects of the story that

are by all means false and kind of taken from

fictional work It does bother me because if you

want to pay true homage to somebody you should

need to embellish it their story and I feel like

it's Disrespectful almost trying to make their

life seem more entertaining than what it was

but from a film standpoint I get why? You know

the filmmakers do it because they don't want

A slog of a movie something that's boring always

so I'm kind of torn on that but I do lean towards

The side that is a bit unnecessary and disrespectful

to try to morph you know, somebody's life story

into something more entertaining. With this,

it clearly states that it's a melding of two

characters, one who is a real person and one

who is not necessarily a real person. So at least

they were, you know, upfront about it, but even

just like drawing back to a movie we just saw,

the two block movie, All Eyes on Me, like there's

a part with Jada Pinkett Smith where she's like,

This didn't happen and I didn't even know about

this until it came out in the book. So, I mean,

they don't need to change this stuff, but in

order to add some of this stuff in there to make

a relationship seem different or whatever, they

do. So I don't think it's fair, but it happens

so often that, I mean, what are you gonna do?

I think it's worse if the subject matter is interesting

enough on its own from a movie standpoint. Saying,

you know a lot some people's lives may be interesting

from different standpoints But like if you're

gonna make a movie out of something and that

you already have an interesting character to

pick from then I think it would be a little bit

more Disingenuous and more, you know disrespectful

in a way or like we said before if you're actually

marketing it or displaying it as if it was 100

% factual and true, but like, you know, it's

not even in the title. It's not anywhere the

The only time you would ever even necessarily

know is by the end credits where it kind of says

something specifically or if you did research.

So I mean, it's an animated movie that, whether

it's animated or not, it's a movie that's drawing

on multiple things and it's not trying to report

itself as a history book. So I don't. I don't

necessarily see as big of a deal in this like

I would with like, okay If you've made a movie

called it Lincoln and he's not even married.

He's like a vampire hunter or something Matt

this was the first time you watched this is I'm

not if I'm not mistaken, right? Yes. Okay. I

know that you've you went into this and like

myself You saw a number of his work and you talked

about how how much you enjoyed everything He's

not up to this point that you've seen if this

actually ends up being his last movie How does

it feel as a final film for Miyazaki? Does it

feel like one that you know? It's a good capper

to his career does it feel kind of like a you

know Almost like a curveball compared to what

came before do you want to see him do one more?

I was curious to hear it here Hear what you thought

about that. I guess there's kind of a neat symmetry

because his first movie and his last movie are

incredibly different than the bulk of his work,

right? Like Lupin is very different than the

rest. And then this one being mostly real is

very different to the rest of these, you know,

like small female child centric movies. I like

that symmetrical feel. I think it's a plenty

good movie to end on. Don't like I I want more

obviously like if I like someone I want them

to do more the more art I get from the artists

I like the better I feel but at the same time

I like there's a logic to it Set down all your

questions Yeah, yeah, I was curious if like no,

I mean obviously People wouldn't want to see

another Miyazaki film. They wouldn't want to

get angry But I was curious if it would if it

if it does feel like a fitting movie because

sometimes you know It's like well that was that

wasn't not unexpected trying to think of like

uh It's like when if you know francis fort coppola

his last movie was jack and it's like this is

the guy who did godfather and But you know, it's

a little bit different I think it's interesting

too that he did work the line in there in the

film. He does have a line that says This is my

last design from the main character during one

of the during I think that's during the first

half but I thought that was interesting I picked

up on that quote right away when he said that

whether he meant to do that or not but I think

what worked for me if it is his last film which

I don't think it will be but if it was a lot

of the films up until this point we've definitely

had the theme of nature versus technology or

or that type of uh You know dichotomy where we're

balancing the two and what's evil and what's

not or or you know How can we have a balance

between the two I thought it was interesting

and not that it hasn't been done in ways in some

of his other films, too But I thought it was

very highlighted in this one that it's not just

nature versus technology or you know, it's not

Trying to depict technology as bad necessarily

But it's kind of highlighting man's hand in it

You know what I mean? Like it's it's not just

a look at technology and the design of these

newer planes and and what you know they're capable

of and maybe you know this feat of engineering

so to speak but what can happen to technology

like technology can be good and beautiful and

there's a like work of art but then what does

man do with it and that you know what I mean

like it's not just as black and white as you

know nature's good and technology is bad technology

is good and can be beautiful but what man does

with technology can be the ultimate saying you

know as disastrous or as painful as it is and

depressing to see how it is used in like a time

of war or something like that so i thought that

was an interesting kind of exclamation point

or footnote to a lot of the themes that he's

been tackling throughout all these films yeah

it's like when they go to the the one sequence

when they're Going to visit the different German

planes and they're like talking about like how

great German technology is and you're just you

know This was you know around the time of World

War two I think I don't think it gave specific

years, but you're kind of like it It's weird

to see a movie where like your your you know

your protagonist is kind of comfy cozy with with

nazis uh it's just i don't think uh you know

Miyazaki obviously has moments where he kind

of briefly highlights and showcases kind of the

horrors that were going on you know they're small

glimpses but it is kind of weird just seeing

like hey but again it ties into that where they

even mention it's like this plane should be holding

people not bombs and and what and what that means

and it's yeah But or like when he's talking about,

you know, we could make this work perfectly if

we took all the guns off of it Exactly. I mean

it was that he was is it all weird when you when

you think about it like the whole You know crux

of this climax is the idea of this man, you know

He's trying to build this this zero this plane

that ultimately is the plane that like, you know

attacks America and what we're to and it's just

it's just weird like you're legitimately seeing

the other side of the story where it's like the

goal is to design not obviously the goal but

the end result of this plane that ends up you

know being a huge fart part of what we're to

and whatnot like but also just the background

of what was going on in japan at the time as

a more western audience do you think is there

anything to get out of that just i think that

they did a really good job of Showing glimpses

into what was going on without being super heavy

-handed But also kind of you know keeping it

at a distance so we could vest in the things

that were going on but also I feel like especially

with his like friend that we see throughout they're

always kind of throwing out these I want to say

we say almost want to say like these derogatory

statements about um things that come from japan

were so backward or were so far behind the germans

or sorry these are you know japanese cigarettes

they're not as good as these german tobacco ones

and i feel like there was always these little

digs that were coming up at japan so it was kind

of surprising to me that that was the case it

was kind of downplaying japan in all these aspects

when you would think that they would be almost

I kind of want to say like kamikaze like they're

gonna die for their country and they would do

anything and you know They're so like zealots

for their country so I was a little surprised

that you get all these little digs at Japan and

things coming from Japan and how they do things

in Japan and You know and they didn't it wasn't

like they degraded any other country Just themselves

like when America's brought up. They don't they're

not like poo pooing on us or anything they're

just like hey this might be freaking bomb in

america you know what i mean but we are just

among the list of others so and they essentially

said after you know right after that that you

know japan's gonna blow up too we're gonna get

bombed too so it was there was nothing really

that was saying i'm doing this for my country

because i need to do this for my country it was

for the love of the craft and the desire to create

Yeah, that's a good point like I didn't even

think about that like when you see a lot of World

War two films and thinking of something like

oh The what was the movie that came out with

Mel Gibson last year and it's slipping my mind

Oh, yeah Hacksaw Ridge where like, you know,

the Japanese soldiers are legitimately just you

know Looking as these killing machines that would

like basically do everything that they basically

kill the next guy and here they're not you you

see they're a little bit apprehensive they're

not just buying into everything and that's that's

very true no i think i agree i i didn't really

put all that together but they do make i did

have written down a couple different times how

they you know they're using the oxygen or whatever

to drag the planes out and they're making comments

about how old -fashioned this is or you know

that they're finally going to make something

that's up to date with the rest of the world

so and it was kind of interesting how they depicted

that but going back to kind of what you were

saying too I do like that does kind of give you

another glimpse of what was going on. It's just

like if, yeah, I'm sure if someone was, you know,

looking at America during some of these wars

and they think, you know, have different notions

about it. And, you know, if they were to get

like a story about like all the different farms

or different people that were, you know, trying

to do this, that and the other for supplies or

for wood or for, you know, there's all these

other different stories that are going on during

a war time. And some of it's based off of trying

to help your country out. But a lot of it could

be like this, where it's someone that's literally

just doing their job and their passion, whether

it's reading books about airplanes your whole

life and now you're finally getting to design

one. It's not that you're designing one to kill

people. You're trying to design the perfect craft

or something that can achieve something. And

it just happens that you're alive during a time

period where that's going to be used in one way

compared to if you're alive in a completely different

generation where it might be used for something

completely different. Yeah, one thing we didn't

talk about and we talked about how the tragic

the the second half is compared to the first

half But you know we looking back at some of

the past movies we had different Relationships

in some of these films and I think that's one

of some of the points you brought up Which one

is effective usually really strong when it comes

to more of a friendly love or familiar love But

with this we actually have a true relationship

How how do you guys feel? How effective was it?

Do you feel like it was well established? Did

you feel that emotion in the end as you're seeing

what's occurring? How does it fit, do you think,

inside the scope of the Miyazaki films, past

and present? It's definitely more of a full -on

relationship than we've gotten in lots of them.

But it's interesting because it takes its time

with so much stuff when it comes to his development

of his craft and getting into the planes and

kind of his job, et cetera. Like, you know, we

literally have an hour where a lot of stuff is

being set up. And then when we get to the point

where he's reconnected, and I'm not going to

say the names because I don't remember all of

them, but where the two are reconnected and it's

like... immediately like it's he's like hey I

just reconnected with her we saw you know I caught

her umbrella the other day now I met her father

I'm in love with her and then like two seconds

later he asked her to marry him and then I was

just like whoa like we've been going at such

a slow pace for all this other stuff and we just

like went at the speed of light to get this relationship

from reconnection to marriage so it was a little

jarring from that point but I do think that the

relationship was was depicted in a way that was

very believable after that. I guess that's my

take. I think that it was only their love story

kind of thing was only believable for me because

I kept thinking about what it would be like to

kind of almost be in a Nicholas Sparks novel,

I feel like kind of thing. I mean, that's awful

to say for this tragedy, but how heavy is it

to think about Marrying somebody who you know

is about to die like How does that affect your

feelings for them? I'm pretty sure it's gonna

heighten them in some way That being said also

like that's this is another part where I was

kind of like questioning him because she's literally

on her freaking deathbed all she does is lay

around and can't do much because of how you know

sick she is and terminally ill and he's still

not coming home from work until you know way

late if he comes home and when he does come home

and it's late as sick as she is she's still getting

up and like you know performing her you know

marital duties she's like helping him get into

his robe and folding his clothes and putting

them away and you know taking care of him in

the ways that she can and he's like still getting

back to work like oh i'm gonna stay up and and

you know smoke my cigarettes in this room and

you know do what I gotta do for work and I'm

gonna be gone for a few days even though that's

days of your life that we're never gonna get

back and we're not gonna have together and in

the scope of you know how long she has every

day even says is precious to them so it's kind

of you know odd to me that I know I get that

he he's in like a pivotal moment his career but

how can you even enjoy the successes of you know

the I know the fruits of your labor here if your

your wife is dead, you know what I mean? So it

it's tragic, but I know that we they jump into

it almost the only thing that was weird to me

about how it was like How old was he and how

old was she? Like I don't know what their age

difference was and The fact that they just fell

in love over summer and were married You know

is is fast and they're like weird impromptu wedding

which by the way in Japan back in the day Can

anybody just I can marry anybody is that how

that goes? You don't need like somebody officiating

that has like a license to do so or what I Don't

know My knowledge of wedding laws for you know

1950s Japan 40s, I should say Yeah, I know I

did not come prepared I think that oh Miyazaki

admitted to Crying in this screening and he said

it was the only time that he had cried in one

of his screenings So I was trying to figure out

which moment that would be and I bet it's either

in like the final moments of their wedding when

she kind of breaks down and You know expresses

her gratitude towards Gerald's boss and his wife

who just had married them or if it was when You

know, she leaves and goes back to the sanatorium

So I don't know at what point maybe he was even

at the end, you know at the final moments when

he's like whispering Thank you into the sky or

whatnot. I'm trying to figure out which moment

you guys think maybe that he cried at because

I don't know I mean, I can't speak for him But

if I was the most emotional I got was when you

open the door and the rooms completely cleaned

out and there's a three letters on the table.

Like, because there's just a finality of that.

And when the the mom or the his boss's wife stops

the sister from running out and says, you know,

this is how she would like to be remembered.

Those were probably the two most emotional moments

for me. I don't know about Dan and Matt. Yeah,

that. Seems like like the most emotional I'd

like like I was a little confused at first because

she says like yeah I still need to clean my room

up and then like like they see her walking and

she's not at home and it's like Oh, it's weird

and then they open the door. The room is clean.

It's like, oh, oh It was it was very much like

she says like hey, I'm heading out I'm heading

back to the sanatorium so I can get better but

like you really know she's like Hey, I'm going

off to die alone real quick It's like that that

had an emotional impact for sure But I don't

know if that's necessarily a weighty enough Not

that any of his movies are well, no Totoro is

definitely tear -inducing. I don't know what

Miyazaki is dealing with his life. I Think for

me one of them it was just because the whiplash

of emotion when he gets the call about it, like

when he first discovers that she has her, you

know, she coughs up blood and you have that sequence

where it just goes silent and you see, you see

flashing and she's like coughing up blood on

the painting and I don't know. To me it's just

the, just how it goes from this, you know, ultimate

high to this quick and utterly devastating low.

I think that's where, I mean all those moments

were certainly emotionally impactful but I think

that one just because of how uh How much you

change just really you know, really instant so

yeah, I can see that too I think I was thrown

off by the the graphic throwing up of the I was

I was like, oh my goodness It's like that is

that is a lot of blood coming out of her right

now. I was a Little jarring that was jarring

to me. So I was like thrown off by but I can

definitely see your point how freaking contagious

TV is and he's all like making out with her and

like they're like sharing drinks and stuff like

uh now you got it you got it bro like there's

no way you don't have TV now okay cut it out

and be vaccinated yeah I made a man to laugh

a couple times I think during that because like

there were several times he's like and you definitely

have TV like you didn't have it before yeah got

it now Right any other uh, anything else anyone

want to bring up before we give our final thoughts?

Um, I was uh Not to always be the one that jumps

in I guess but uh from a voice acting standpoint

I was completely in the dark on who any of these

voices were I don't know if it was because I

wasn't paying attention enough, but if you would

have asked me to identify any of the voices being

used I wouldn't have been able to say a single

one and there are a ton of well -known people

in this but I thought the voice work was subtle

and was done very well the only one that I was

confused about was his boss and like the inflections

he was using in his voice he was saying something

that would mean one thing but his tone was completely

different I wasn't sure if that was intentional

or not Like, even when he's saying good things,

he's saying it like he's scolding you. And I

was just like, this guy is hard to read. But

I was at least intrigued by the voice work of

his boss. But everybody else, I thought, was

pretty subtle and well done. Who is that, like,

mystery dude at the German guy from the mountain

that just, like, came and sat at Giro's table,

even though there's, like, a thousand other empty

tables? Can I sit here, even though there's,

like, a... Bunch around two tables his voice

sounded super familiar like I think he was in

was he the guy that got beat to death by the

bear Jew in in glorious bastards Somebody tell

me I don't know what character you I don't know

any of the characters names but We had Joseph

Gordon Levitt Emily Blunt Martin short winner

Herzog William H Macy Manny Patinkin Stanley

Tucci. I mean, there's a lot of people in this

He was the caproni the Italian Slash French Was

there Italians that were speaking French at some

point in this or is that just me it's a they're

both romance languages This dude knew like a

thousand languages That's for sure. Um, but that

was my only other take was just the voice I can

and I don't know if I would make this I don't

think I would make this the first Miyazaki film

that I introduced somebody to Don't know I don't

think so. I think I'll give you completely you're

like Matt mentioned It's like Lupin where it

would give you the creep kind of false impression

of what these movies are like none of them are

none of them are quite like this and I don't

think if you're dealing with somebody that's

already like not exposed or maybe has like Like

some type of weird anti like anime or anti this

type of film I think the first half of this would

feed too much into that and I don't know if they

would be persuaded to watch more. I don't know.

I think you have to have the appreciation of

what came before it almost. Like you were saying,

it's almost like a culmination of all of his

work in a way. So I think this is a better film

for people to see after they've seen quite a

few of his middle films. The person who did the

voice of Castrope, Hans, the guy who was just

eating leaves the whole time. That that's actually

a famous Documentary inventor Herzog So I mean

it's say sound like some German dude. I've heard

in something else before I'm sure you have he's

been around for quite. He's even like in the

boondocks TV show and stuff There you go. All

right. Yeah, let's start with you final thoughts

and overall grade for the one rises something

else that I thought was really awesome was like

the Beautiful skyscapes like the color that they

use the clouds are amazing I think that those

are really well done also and that gave a beauty

to the film even though it was not you know,

one of the prettiest films that we've seen of

his. I think it did show, it was like almost

like a piece of hope in the film. I thought that

was pretty cool. And I definitely liked that

he only got like kind of hyphy one time in the

whole movie. Pretty even keeled until they teased

him that he was actually marrying a woman on

a fricking airplane. That was the only time like

he got kind of mad. So I dug that. But I think

that the him as a character kind of pulled this

along and even like the draw of the the conundrum

that his life was or the two paralleling parts

of his lives that you know intersected here and

there and um I guess that's not parallel if they're

intersecting so whatever math and whatever so

um I think that the tragedy and the success that's

going on in his life even if it wasn't really

true to the real guy was it definitely um wasn't

a bad film But the it was a serious tone and

I don't always like being friggin depressed So

I'm not really sure yet where I'm gonna fit this

in with his filmography, but I'm gonna I'm gonna

give it a seven Kevin final thoughts in overall

grade. I Think she touched on a couple things

that I like the best about it I think you have

a couple different competing elements that are

going on at the same time that are very interesting

and unique in a way and I think number one you

have like she was saying, both success and or,

you know, an ultimate high with the success of

his airplane paired with the ultimate low of

losing a loved one. So you have that going on

as well as the pairing of the success of perfecting

your craft and then the downside of having that

craft used for something that, you know, you

may not be a big fan of depending on your stance,

you know, with war and violence and that type

of thing. So you have some competing elements

that are going on all within this guy's life

and you know obviously having to affect his psyche

in a way like she was saying do you complete

your project or do you spend more time with your

your dying loved one etc. So I think that's where

the the movie is its strongest. I did also appreciate

a lot of the animation and the design and the

the artwork that went behind the planes themselves

and the parts of the planes and and all the aspects

that they were kind of delving into with the

actual design. I thought that was interesting.

I do love planes so I thought that was a nice

touch that you know all the other films it seems

like he's he's had flying machines in them but

obviously they've been a lot more you know crazy

and from a technological standpoint or from a

fantasy standpoint where here we get more like

legit versions or designs on plane so it was

interesting to see you know something a little

bit more grounded and I thought that was fun

to watch as well so I think there are a lot of

good elements to this and a lot to probably take

away from it and I think the first half would

work better on a second watch or if you knew

the thing so maybe I wouldn't be as harsh on

it if I was to watch it again with the problems

I had with the first half I think overall I'm

initially gonna sit on six out of ten six seven

out of ten maybe um right in that six to seven

range but uh i think i'm gonna rewatch it possibly

it could go up slightly um how about you all

right like i i like this film it doesn't it doesn't

do for me what the other Miyazaki movies do for

me because their genre is more in line with everything

I want. Like I want that magical realism fantasy

adventure elements that are usually there. So

like on that level doesn't work for me but like

I really love to connect with this film and I

do kind of I almost like that the pacing is really

slow in the beginning if only because like that's

freaking life. or the reverse of life depending

on how you like because it's like it feels like

your your early years go really fast like nothing

happens like you don't do anything like before

you're 15 usually and so like i almost like like

that feeling to it and i also really really loved

some of the sound design like like the way the

earthquake was like people's voices and things

like that like they're It was almost like a human

element to all of them. Anything that was negative,

it was almost like a human element, whether it

was intentional or just added. I really enjoyed

that, and it really moved me on some levels.

I do think there's some issues with it, and there

are some questionable things. And this is, I

think... I've said it a couple of times, but

there's definitely differences in Eastern and

Western culture that I think that this might

mean a lot more to someone who grew up in a Japanese

culture than someone who grew up in our Western

culture. And, you know, that's, I don't know

if that's to the detriment of the movie or not,

because it's definitely resonated with all of

us on some level. So I think I want to give it

a seven, but I could be higher on that. Interesting,

interesting. Yes, I think for me, I feel like

it's like that artist that he's like, He's had

that career. He's done like everything he could

in the specific genre and he's like, okay I'm

doing one album and I'm gonna go outside the

genre that I'm in like Garth books doing like

a when he had like Chris Isaac Well, I forget

what he called himself and he did like sort of

rock Rock attempt, but except that this is actually

good, you know, it's not it's not it's not bad

and felt like and I felt like me like you probably

got to the point where you felt comfortable enough

to to try it movie like this and Chris Gaines

Chris Gaines, that's it. I kind of think of it.

Yeah, so It's his heaviest film, by far. His

most personal. and also is most mature. I agree

with Kevin's not necessarily movie that you would

give to someone to say, hey, this is what everything

I love about Miyazaki. This will make you want

to go out and see all those films. I do think

it is honestly, I think it's the best to do it

the way we did it where it'll be the last Miyazaki

movie you see until he comes out with another

one. I love the themes. I just love the idea

and how it ties everything together. It's like

his magnum opus of his entire career. It fills

that void. I'm probably the highest out of everyone

and I would go at eight out of ten. Like I mentioned,

this is not the last time we'll talk about Miyazaki.

We're having a wrap up episode, but as we are

talking about Miyazaki, we also want to look

to the future and discuss who exactly will be

the next. Person we do retrospective of okay,

but I did a Tarantino retrospective We were able

to come together and do this Miyazaki retrospective

and now we want to also Get the opportunity of

doing someone else, but we're gonna kind of put

the power in your hands because that's the way

we work So we're all gonna kind of go around

and we've been attempting to choose someone who

we feel would be a good fit for a next retrospective

and we'll go around the table and explain who

our pick is and then what we'll be doing is putting

out a poll on the website and giving the opportunity

to vote and then when we have our final wrap

-up of the Miyazaki films we'll reveal the winner

of that poll and who assumes we'll be tackling

next so If you really want a director to win,

if you feel like you really want us to talk about

those movies, make sure you vote in that poll.

So who would like to go first with their pick?

I'll go first. Ladies first. I nominate Guillermo

del Toro. I think that there is some stuff that

Matt is not going to like and I'm sorry, but

this is definitely. Like a selfish pick I love

his films and I would love to talk about them

more and dive back into some that I've maybe

only seen once get into some that I haven't seen

maybe and Break down some of the ones that I

I'm not too high on either. So that's my pick

Interesting go. I think I think he even when

we put the vote out last time if I'm not mistaken

He was one of them was was he was he one of your

choices Kevin? No, I was trying to remember but

I thought I might have put I couldn't remember

if I put Denis Villeneuve or if I put Gizmo out

there as my second pick Good point. I'm not sure.

So who are you going with this this time around?

I am gonna go one thing that I kind of looked

for when I did this and I put about I don't know

I think I had like 20 different directors that

I was looking at at one point and I was trying

to narrow it down and I think what ultimately

the one out for me is trying to pick something

that I've had the most blind spots for. So trying

to pick something that I hadn't seen half of

the films for so that not only would it be a

fun experience to kind of talk about films with

you guys for a certain director, but also to

like really give me an excuse to watch somebody's

films for the first time I haven't seen before.

And there are so many blind spots within this

director's filmography that I was drawn to him.

And even as I was trying to consider more modern

people and, you know, maybe, I don't know, other

directors. My mind just kept going back to, I

wanted to do this individual over and over again.

My mind just kept going back to it. So I had

to eventually pick it. I know it would be a little

bit harder to do because he has a humongous filmography,

but I think we could easily kind of settle on

a small collection of his films, since I don't

think it's doable. do all of them, but I think

it'd be easy to do like 10 or 15 of them. And

I picked Alfred Hitchcock for my selection. I've

only seen two of his films. So I've only seen

Vertigo and Rear Window. And based on that, I

want to see more. And there's a ton of films

to pick from. So I think it would be fun to kind

of go through his top, his most claimed 15 or

20 films or however we tried to break it down.

I think it would be a fun experience. Wow. Breaking

out the big guns. So we got Gizmo del Toro. Alfred

Hitchcock, Matt, how about yourself? Who was

your part? So I really, really want to say Uwe

Boll. Like, there are movies of his that we haven't

seen and I know that we could get a lot of talking

points out of them. But I guess I think it'd

be fun to break down Kevin Smith. And I think

that there's a lot of peaks and valleys. is there

and I have enjoyed most of the movies of his

that I've seen. Nice. Yeah, Kevin Smith. That's

definitely a good choice. And so it's my pick.

So we got we kind of got on all over the spectrum.

And I think I'll continue that. And I wanted

to get someone I wanted a director that like

had like a variety of different genres they kind

of played with, because, you know, with Miyazaki,

we know we did a lot. Obviously, it's all animation.

Tarantino, he's different genres per se, but

a lot of it, you know, Tarantino movie in itself

is its own genre. So I was looking for someone

who had a pretty wide career, had some movies

I think everyone's familiar with, but maybe fun

to revisit, as well as some really big films

that he's done that I think a lot of people have

not seen. And one that I think I was talked about

when we first started doing cinema geeks that

we can go back to, and I'm actually gonna go

with Robert Zemeckis, the guy who's given us

everything from Back to the Future, Who Framed

Roger Rabbit. Forrest Gump, to Contact, Castaway,

Polar Express, so there are some other animation

in there. I just think he has an interesting

career trajectory where he's had some peaks and

valleys. He's had a lot of movies that I have

not seen, like Use Cars, his first film. I've

heard a lot of great things about Romancing the

Stone. Heard that's great. I've never seen it

myself. But also, you know, Back to the Future.

I think I've seen that a few times. So I think

it'd be just a fun experience to go through all

of his movies because, you know, and seeing like

how he is as a director and how he stacks up

because I think he's one that's respected, but

is he... Does he belong to in top echelon? Does

he not give enough respect does he get too much

respect? So, um, that was my pick for robertson

mecus So we that'd be interesting too because

there's a lot of blind spots and and all of those

people that you just said I don't know if i've

seen any of their entire filmography. So I think

no matter who we go To i'm gonna at least be

exposed to some films. I haven't seen so i'm

all for it All right. So if you want to vote

you can do so if you go to geocastradio .com

Click on this episode post you'll see a poll

there vote and not only vote leave a comment

and tell us who you voted for and why and maybe

try to rally the troops to kind of To get behind

you and explain that, you know, it should be

Robert Zemeckis or Alfred Hitchcock or Gilmore

D 'Otoro or Kevin Smith, you know, there's all

I think there's a lot of big variety there all

different types of genres that choose from so

different time periods to it seems like we've

almost each had like a guy that's been It's known

for a different decade Yeah, so that's kind of

interesting. I mean, I know some of them have

spanned multiple decades But you could really

kind of break it down and say like, you know

Each one had like a specific decade that they

were at their peak and I think they'd be different

for each one of these directors All right, so

there's also wasting it in contact with us if

you email us at feedback at geocastradio .com

the episode Post is there as well. You can We

are also on Twitter if you go to cinema geek

cast is the Twitter name and everyone here is

also on Twitter Amanda, what is your Twitter

name? At hard candy Mandy eyes. No wise Kevin

Mine is at optimus solo and rally the troops

vote for Alfred Hitchcock and Matt I'm at Fridley

set and you know, I'm tweeting Kevin Smith right

after this Oh, man. Uh, maybe Edward Hitchcock

Jr.? I don't know. And I -I -I -I would treat

tweet Robert Demeckis, but it's probably, he

does all his tweets in no cap, so it's hard to

understand. Um, I -I meant Mowgli Revolt. Um,

but that's it for this part of the retrospective

for Hey Miyazaki. Join us next time as we do

a wrap -up. But for now, thanks for listening.