Miyazaki Madness, Part 4: "My Neighbor Totoro" is the definitive Ghibli classic
Everyone aboard the Catbus for another review!
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!). In this series, we are examining the filmography of my all-time favorite movie director - and newly minted two-time Oscar winner with his win 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 continues today with Miyazaki’s fourth and most famous feature, 1988’s My Neighbor Totoro. Enjoy…
My Neighbor Totoro
1988, Dir. Hayao Miyazaki
Originally published July 12th, 2012 for The Denver Post’s YourHub, Online and in Print
As a student of film, I consider Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki my Sensei; no critical appraisal of the medium’s outer limits can be performed without examining his work, and for American audiences used to the rigidity of Hollywood structure, his films are as revelatory as they are rapturous.
The 1988 children’s classic My Neighbor Totoro stands near the top of Miyazaki’s canon. It is a profoundly simple film, one devoid of plot, antagonists, or contrivances. It depicts fantastical occurrences, but grounds them in some of the purest emotional truths any film has ever offered.
I believe, in fact, that no other film has so powerfully depicted the way children deal with grief. Ten-year-old protagonist Satsuki and her little sister Mei have moved to the Japanese countryside with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and though little is spoken or directly addressed about how the children feel, it is clear her absence weighs on them. There are moments, particularly in the final act, when the sisters’ complex emotions boil over; Mei pouts and cries because she is simply too young to process the enormity of death, and Satsuki breaks down from the pressure of having to play the mature maternal role in her family so fast.
For any viewers who have lost at a young age, Miyazaki’s observations are painfully sharp, and I have never made it through the film without shedding a tear. Yet Totoro is primarily known as a lighthearted, delightful film, and it is, indeed, the gentler moments where the film’s true brilliance lies.
How could this not be the case, when a character as wonderful as Totoro enters the children’s lives? Totoro is the large, soft, bear-like forest spirit of the title, and he appears when the girls need him most. In the film’s most iconic sequence, he comes to stand with them while they wait for their father at the bus stop, and amuses them by making music with an umbrella.
Miyazaki delicately paces Totoro’s appearances for maximum impact; animated with an unrestrained sense of whimsy, each of Totoro’s scenes stand among the most magical moments the medium has ever offered.
Yet even at its most fanciful, Totoro is never thematically lightweight. It is Miyazaki’s belief, I think, that there are always wonders worth appreciating in this world, wonders so beautiful and healing that none of our problems, no matter how dire, can block out their light. Totoro allows the children a reprieve from their grief by showing them the simple splendors of their own backyard. Miyazaki has stated that, in his interpretation, the girls never encounter Totoro again, because they no longer need him. I agree. Through Totoro, their eyes have been opened, and they will never again be closed. Totoro’s role is fulfilled.
Miyazaki imbues a little of himself into all his characters, but in this way, Totoro may be the greatest distilment of his own personality and accomplishments. Through his art, he opens our eyes to spectacles we could never fathom otherwise. Once seen, they can never be forgotten.
NEXT WEEK: Grab your broomsticks and your cheeky talking cats, it’s time for Kiki’s Delivery Service…
All Miyazaki Madness Pieces:
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