Miyazaki's Finale?

Or Maybe Not

Hayao Miyazaki has risen from retirement yet again and this time.

It feels like it might be ringing a bell of finality a little too loud.

This film is very Studio Ghibli, very Miyazaki. The character designs, the movements, the story and its breadth. Everything about it feels like an extension of him as a creative and the magnum opus of just his life.

“Where death comes to an end,

Life finds a new beginning.”

That might be over-selling this movie, but after having only seen the trailer, I am stoked.

There are directors where you can see a single frame and know who it is. Wes Anderson. Quentin Tarantino. Steven Spielberg.

Hayao Miyazaki falls amongst the greats for his characteristic style and fluid movement, the use of ma in his stories, the deep appreciation and love he has for nature and the world at large.

Every single frame is a beautiful, meticulous painting.

And after having watched his works spanning decades of love and thought in the animation realm, Miyazaki has created his own film language.

If you’ve seen any of his works (which is a no-brainer at this point in life. You’ve seen at least one or been blessed to have seen them all), you will recognize his very essence. There are shots in this trailer alone where I feel “Barefoot Gen” and the rush of “The Wind Rises;” I reminisce about “Spirited Away,” my mind reaches out to feel Calcifer’s warmth in “Howl’s Moving Castle” and the wistful swish of “Ponyo” and that’s only the based on the vibes in the trailer and their use of specific shots.

And it’s not that he’s reused shots, but he has become so well-known for these stylistic movements, these flowing characters and detailed environments that of course we recognize his past works— we recognize him in their grand gestures and floating, falling, flying, running characters.

The trailer rips the film out of context and teases you with a strip of shots out of order— but it doesn’t matter. Miyazaki is a well-oiled machine, a perfectionist of a man who knows how to tell a story, and after spending a lifetime putting pen to paper, he knows exactly what he wants to say.

And I cannot wait to listen.