Review: "NAUSICAA IN THE VALLEY OF THE WIND" Soars to the Animation Heavens

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 of 2023 (No. 1925) by Leroy Douresseaux

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Kaze no Tani no Naushika – original Japanese title

Running time:  117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)

MPAA – PG for violence

DIRECTOR:  Hayao Miyazaki

WRITER:  Hayao Miyazaki (based upon the manga by Hayao Miyazaki)

PRODUCER:  Isao Takahata

CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Yasuhiro Shimizu, Koji Shiragami, Yukitomo Shudo, and Mamoru Sugiura

EDITORS: Naoki Kaneko, Tomoko Kida, and Shoji Saka

COMPOSER:  Joe Hisaishi

ANIMATION/FANTASY and ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  (voices) Sumi Shimamoto, Goro Naya, Ichiro Nagai, Hisako Kyoda, Yoji Matsuda, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Iemasa Kayumi, Kohei Miyauchi, Joji Yanami, Minoru Yada, Mina Tominaga, Mahito Tsujimura, and Rihoko Yoshida

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a 1984 Japanese animated, post-apocalyptic, fantasy film from director Hayao Miyazaki.  The film is based on Miyazaki's manga (Japanese comic), also titled Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which first began publication in 1982.  Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind the movie focuses on a princess who is both warrior and pacifist and her desperate struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and her homeland.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind opens one thousand years after the event known as “the Seven Days of Fire.”  It was an apocalyptic war that destroyed civilization and caused an ecological collapse, creating something called “the Sea of Decay.”  This is a poisonous forest of fungal life and plants that swarm with giant mutant insects, the largest and most dangerous being the the trilobite-like and armored “Ohm.”  The poison from the plants can kill humans, and every day, the Sea of Decay spreads, encroaching on what little open land remains.

Nausicaä (Sumi Shimamoto) is a teenage warrior and princess of the Valley of the Wind, a land that has remained, thus far, free of the Sea of Decay.  Riding the wind and sky in a powered glider, Nausicaä explores the jungles of the Sea of Decay and communicates with its creatures.  That is how she is reunited with the explorer and great swordsman, Lord Yupa Miralda (Goro Naya), who has returned to meet with Nausicaä's father, Jihl (Mahito Tsujimura), the King of the Valley of the Wind.

But tragedy strikes.  The Valley of the Wind is soon at the epicenter of two warring nations, the Kingdom of Tolmekia and Pejite.  Princess Kushana (Yoshiko Sakakibara) has led the Tolmekian Frontier Forces into the Valley.  Thus, Nausicaä must forge a relationship with Prince Asbel of Pejite (Yoji Matsuda), but there is something worse than two warring nations.  Destruction is headed towards the Valley of the Wind, and it will take all of Nausicaä's talents, skills, and tricks to save her home.

I have previously reviewed the following Miyazaki-directed films:  The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013).  As Netflix is shutting down its DVD-by-mail division, I am hoping to get to the Miyazaki films that I have not previously watched.

Apparently, the work of the legendary French comic book creator, Jean “Moebius” Giraud (1938-2012), influenced Miyazaki in the creation of his manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.  The influence of Moebius remains with Miyazaki's film adaptation of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.  I also see the influence of the famed animation director, Ralph Bakshi, especially of his 1977 fantasy film, Wizards.  J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novels (1954-55) are clearly influences, and Frank Herbert's famed science fiction novel, Dune (1965), is also an influence.  In fact, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind the film would arrive in theaters almost nine months before the first film adaption of Herbert's novel, director David Lynch's 1984 film, Dune.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a beautifully and practically designed film in the sense that the environments have both a sense of naturalism and realism to them while the insects are fantastical creations that seem more practical than impractical because they are based on real insects.  This makes the world of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind seem like a credible future world or at least genuine post-apocalyptic future.  Yes, Nausicaä's glider is impractical, but the animation gives it such beauty in motion that I believe in it and I believe in the way Nausicaä flies it.

The film's plot and subplots are strongly environmental and ecological and the conflict is a series of familiar tribal tropes.  However, what carries plot and narrative are the inventive and engaging characters.  Every players, regardless of the size of his or her role, is inviting and intriguing.  Yes, Nausicaä is a star born, a heroine out of fairy tale, folklore, and mythology who captures hearts and holds our imaginations captive.  Still, the denizens of the Valley and the feuding and conniving citizens of Tolmekia and Pejite are a delightful bunch, not good and evil, so much as they are selfish, but likable, each in his or her own way.  The legendary Yupa, like Nausicaä, stands as a typical heroic figure, although he stands behind Nausicaä.

A long time ago, I told a fellow Miyazaki fan that Spirited Away was my favorite of the director's films.  He insisted that I see Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.  Now, I'm not so sure which is my favorite.  Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is like no other animated feature film, and I certainly consider it one of the greatest that I have ever seen.

10 of 10

Thursday, August 10, 2023

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Review: Miyazaki's "THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO" is Something Else Entirely

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 34 of 2023 (No. 1923) by Leroy Douresseaux

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro – original Japanese title

Running time:  102 minutes

MPAA – not rated

DIRECTOR:  Hayao Miyazaki

WRITERS:  Hayao Miyazaki and Haruya Yamazaki (based upon the manga by Monkey Punch)

PRODUCER:  Tetsuo Katayama

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Hirokata Takahashi

EDITOR: Masatoshi Tsurubuchi

COMPOSER:  Yuji Ohno

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY and ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  (English voices – Manga Entertainment dub) David Hayter, Bridget Hoffman, Kirk Thornton, Kevin Seymour, John Snyder, Dorothy Elias-Fahn, Milton James, Michael Gregory, Barry Stigler, and Joe Romersa; (Japanese voices) Yasuo Yamada, Eiko Masuyama, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Makio Inoue, Goro Naya, Sumi Shimamoto and Taro Ishida

Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro or Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is a 1979 Japanese animated action-adventure and comic-fantasy animated from director Hayao Miyazaki.  An English-language dub of the film was first theatrically released in the U.S. in 1991 under the title, The Castle of Cagliostro, the title that I will use for this review.

The Castle of Cagliostro focuses on a master thief, Lupin III.  The film Lupin is based on the manga character, Lupin the Third, created by late manga artist, Kazuhiko Kato (1937-2019), who is best remembered by his pen name, Monkey Punch.  In the film, a dashing thief struggles to free a princess from an evil count who needs her in order to gain a mysterious treasure.

The Castle of Cagliostro opens in Monaco.  There, Master thief Lupin III (David Hayter) and his partner, Jigen (John Snyder), flee the National Casino with huge quantities of stolen money.  As they will soon learn, however, the stolen bills are actually distinctive, high-quality counterfeits known as “Goat bills.”  Lupin decides to seek out the source of this counterfeit money, the country known as the Duchy of Cagliostro.

Shortly after arriving, Lupin and Jigen see a young woman being chased by armed thugs.  It turns out that she is Lady Clarisse de Cagliostro (Bridget Hoffman), and she is running away from her fiancé, the Count de Cagliostro (Kirk Thornton), the regent of the Duchy of Cagliostro.  The Count has arranged a marriage with Lady Clarisse in order to cement his power. The marriage will also help him recover the fabled ancient treasure of Cagliostro, for which he needs both his and Clarisse's ancestral signet rings.

Lupin is determined to save Clarisse from this arranged marriage.  In addition to his partner Jigen, Lupin calls in the highly-skilled martial artist and swordsman, Goemon (Michael Gregory), and the rival professional thief, Fujiko (Dorothy Elias-Fahn).  Meanwhile, Inspector Zenigata of Interpol (Kevin Seymour) sees Lupin's activities in the Duchy of Cagliostro as a perfect opportunity to catch the thief he has been chasing for so long.  Can Lupin rescue Clarisse? Will Count Cagliostro destroy them both?  And just what is the treasure of Cagliostro?

I have previously reviewed the following Miyazaki-directed films:  My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Monoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013).  As Netflix is shutting down its DVD-by-mail division, I am hoping to get to the Miyazaki films that I have not previously watched.

I had heard of The Castle of Cagliostro in connection with Miyazaki, but I had put off seeing it.  I wish I'd seen it earlier, as it is a delightful and maniacal comedy.  The film is not without flaws, as it stretches credulity a bit far, even for a Japanese animated film.  Lupin is not just a master thief; he is also apparently a super-human thief with supernaturally good luck.

Still, I treasure The Castle of Cagliostro's loopiness because Miyazaki and his co-writer Haruya Yamazaki are imaginative when it comes to the comic and action-adventure possibilities of the twists and turns this quasi-mystery takes.  As both designer and storyboard artist, in addition to being director, Miyazaki is inventive in the way he stages the action as a series of chases and fights that are as defined by feats of aerial stunts and gymnastics as they are by martial arts and combat skills.

The characters are quite nice, especially gallant Lupin, who is apparently more ruthless in the original manga, and his partner, Jigen, the amiable, but quite skilled tough guy.  However, the star here is Miyazaki in his first feature-length film.  He makes the action unrestrained by gravity, natural law, or architecture.  Thus, the film is a rollicking adventure with a humorous tone that belies the threat of brutal violence and death that frequently pop up in the story.  I really like The Castle of Cagliostro, and I highly recommend it to fans of Hayao Miyazaki and to those searching for the great animated films.  I also plan on buying my own physical copy.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, July 27, 2023

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Review: "Ghost in the Shell" is a Miscast Misfire

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 (of 2017) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Running time:  107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, suggestive content and some disturbing images
DIRECTOR:  Rupert Sanders
WRITERS:  Jamie Moss, William Wheeler, and Ehren Kruger (based on the comic, Ghost in the Shell, by Masamune Shirow)
PRODUCERS:  Avi Arad, Michael Costigan, and Steven Paul
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Jess Hall (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Billy Rich and Neil Smith
COMPOSERS:  Lorne Balfe and Clint Mansell

SCI-FI/ACTION

Starring:  Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbaek, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche, Michael Carmen Pitt, Chin Han, Danusia Samal, Kaori Momoi, and Peter Ferdinando

Ghost in the Shell is a 2017 science fiction and action film from director Rupert Sanders.  The film is based on the manga (Japanese comics) created by Masamune Shirow and published in 1989 and 1990.  Ghost in the Shell the movie focuses on a first-of-its-kind cyborg super-soldier that fights terrorists and dangerous criminals.

Ghost in the Shell is set in Tokyo, Japan, in the the near-future.  Most humans have augmented various traits like vision, strength, and intelligence with cybernetics, and the line between human and robotics has blurred.  Major Mira Killian (Scarlett Johansson) is a young woman who survived a terrorist attack that killed her parents.  Her body was destroyed, but she was saved by the world's leading developer of “augmentative technology,” Hanka Robotics, via the secret “Project 2571.”  Mira's brain (her “ghost”) was placed in a mechanical body or “shell.”  Now, she is cyborg counter-terrorism operative in a unit known as “Section 9.”

A year after her rebirth, Major is involved in an operation to discover the whereabouts of the mysterious hacker and cyber-terrorist known only as “Kuze” (Michael Carmen Pitt).  An electronic or digital encounter with Kuze causes the glitches that Major has been suffering to intensify.  Major has also discovered that this case is raising troubling questions about what really happened to her and that will bring her into direct conflict with Hanka's domineering CEO, Cutter (Peter Ferdinando).

I would call Ghost in the Shell mediocre or average, but those words don't quite describe the listless, empty nature of this film.  Ghost in the Shell has been praised for its special effects, soundtrack, and design, but little of that impresses me.  In fact, the visual effects look like leftovers from Steven Spielberg's 2002 film, Minority Report.

It looks to me as if Ghost in the Shell's director, Rupert Sanders, is desperately trying to make his film look and sound like Ridley Scott's beloved 1982 film, Blade Runner.  Ghost in the Shell, however, has neither Blade Runner's style nor its jazzy, Film-Noir vibe; actually Ghost in the Shell is simply a limp and lame attempt to copy Blade Runner.

Some have been critical of Ghost in the Shell's story and its lack of character development.  Yeah, I would describe it as “lack of character development,” and the screenplay is indeed hackneyed.  You can see it story points coming miles away; everything Major knows is a lie; she shares a past connection with the villain; being a human is the most important thing... yadda, yadda, yadda.

Because Ghost in the Shell is an original Japanese work of fiction, some people were upset that Scarlett Johansson, a white woman, plays the lead.  I have read the original manga, and Major is drawn to look like a white woman.  Even if she were not depicted as white, it still would not bother me all that much that a white actress plays the part of Major.

It is not Johansson's skin color that is the problem.  It is her wooden, monotone performance.  It is as if Scarlett is pretending to be a ghost with no personality that lives inside a mannequin.  It is obvious that I am disappointed in this movie.  As an adaptation of a visually striking manga/comic, Ghost in the Shell is simply a major misfire.

3.5 out of 10
C-

Wednesday, August 30, 2017


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Review: "Akira" Will Still Rock Your World

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 123 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Akira (1988) – Animated
(dubbed in English for its U.S. release)
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic violence and brief nudity
DIRECTOR: Katsuhiro Otomo
WRITER: Katsuhiro Otomo and Izo Hashimoto (from the manga by Katsuhiro Otomo)
PRODUCERS: Haruyo Kanesaku, Shunzo Kato, Yutaka Maseba, Ryohei Suzuki, and Hiroe Tsukamoto
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Katsuji Misawa (director of photography)
EDITOR: Takeshi Seyama

ANIMATION/SCI-FI/ACTION with elements of a thriller

Starring: (voices) Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mai Koyama, Tessho Genda, and Hiroshi Otake. (English dub) Johnny Yong Bosch, Joshua Seth, Wendee Lee, and Sandy Fox

Not only does the anime (a Japanese term for animated films) Akira have a cult following, many people who have seen it hold the film in high regard and as a watershed event not only in the history of anime and full-length animated features, but also in the history of filmmaking in general; it indeed has achieved legendary status.

Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo from his manga (Japanese term for comics) of the same title, Akira is the story of the evils secret military projects and science gone mad can bring upon mankind. Tetsuo, the runty teenager with a chip on his shoulder, was, as a child, a test subject in a covert military scientific project to create psionic beings. Psions are humans with supernatural mental powers like telekinesis (the ability to affect matter with the mind) and telepathy (the ability to communicate with others through thoughts rather than speech). As a teen, Tetsuo’s powers awaken, and he becomes a psionic psychopathic, killing and destroying almost anything in his path. It’s up to his fellow biker Kaneda and a girl named Kei to stop him. They are joined in their mission by another group of psionics, a group who fear that Tetsuo will destroy Neo-Tokyo just as another psionic creature, the legendary Akira, destroyed the original Tokyo.

Although the plot drags, the script has gaping holes, incidents happen with no explanations, and the end gets weird, Akira is nevertheless a groundbreaking and fantastic film. For everything it lacks in story structure, it more than makes up for with the visual hurricane that Otomo puts on the screen. He takes full advantage of the visual possibilities of both comic books and animation to pull off a film that is stuffed with visual feats. Comic books allow artists and cartoonists to draw things that would be nearly impossible for filmmakers to reproduce in film because of budget constraints, lack of technology, or both. If an animated film has the budget, its animators certainly have the skill to replicate the limitless possibilities of comics in the animated moving picture.

Otomo and his staff of animators and filmmakers created 2,212 shots using a total of 160,000 single pictures, about three times the number usual for animated features. What this does is not only create a film that duplicates the realism of live-action films, but actually surpasses what a live action film can do on a reasonable budget. With its scenes of bike chases, street battles, urban destruction in the form of exploding and collapsing structures, large crowd scenes, gun battles, and sci-fi action, Akira acts like a “real” movie. It’s stunning to watch this. They actually drew a movie in which the action and events carry the same weight and have the same impact as live action.

Akira, however, remains true to being an animated film. The filmmakers used 327 different colors and created 50 just for this film, so Akira has the kind of lush landscape of wonderful colors that we expect in animated films. The problems of story structure can be ignored. What is important is the film’s warning – just because we can achieve something scientifically does not mean that we should not consider science’s impact on both individuals and on the larger society. When a film visually achieves so much and has a wonderful message, I can overlook the little things.

8 of 10
A

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