Miyazaki Madness, Part 1: "Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro" is essential Miyazaki

A new classic reviews series begins with a look at Hayao Miyazaki's first feature

On Thursdays, I’m publishing reviews of classic movies, including pieces that have never appeared online before taken from my book 200 Reviews, available now in Paperback or on Kindle (which you should really consider buying, because it’s an awesome collection!). We finished our Rocky in Review series last week, and are moving on this week to our second series, tracking the filmography of my all-time favorite movie director - and newly minted two-time Oscar winner with his win last week for The Boy and the Heron - Hayao Miyazaki! We will be looking at all of his theatrical feature films along with the movies he wrote but did not direct, for a total of 15 weeks of Miyazaki Madness! The series begins today with Miyazaki’s first feature film, 1979’s outstanding The Castle of Cagliostro. Enjoy…

Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro

1979, Dir. Hayao Miyazaki

Originally written in 2016, first published in 200 Reviews

Despite my love for Hayao Miyazaki, The Castle of Cagliostro had always been the one big gap in my familiarity with his oeuvre – or perhaps because of my love for the director, since I think part of the reason I waited so long to finally give this film a watch was knowing, especially after he announced his retirement following The Wind Rises, that once I saw Cagliostro, that was it. No more ‘new’ Miyazaki. This was the last one I had yet to see, and no matter how many great things I had heard about it, I could not help but find myself approaching Cagliostro with a sense of melancholy, knowing that once I finally laid eyes on it, that would be the end of this particular journey of cinematic discovery I started many years ago.

And I had heard many great things about it, as much praise if not more than accompanies all of Miyazaki’s other classics. Since long before I finally sat down to watch the movie, I have been fascinated by the legacy of Cagliostro, an anime film that exists as part of a much larger franchise – this was not even the first Lupin the Third theatrical feature – yet which has stood completely on its own, its reputation dwarfing the parent series especially outside of Japan. The film is beloved around the world first and foremost as a film, on its own terms, its influence felt in both animated and live-action adventure cinema across the globe. Especially when one considers the traditional role of the TV anime film adaptation – products produced relatively quickly to capitalize on the success of the series and, more importantly, to further fuel merchandising endeavors – The Castle of Cagliostro holds a sort of miraculous place in film history. Is there any analogue for it, within or without the world of Japanese animation? A hugely significant director who got his cinematic start with a franchise film that would quickly become part of a classic canon in its own right? In Western terms, it would be as if there was one James Bond film that was recognized as a major pillar of world cinema, apart from the rest of the series, working within the conventions while simultaneously transcending them to create something artistically revelatory.