When Marnie was there

The great Hayao Miyazaki has announced his retirement from directing animated films with his Studio Ghibli a number of times, though he has often brought himself back to make just one more film. But now, it is not just the great man himself that is announcing closing for business, it is the Studio as a whole.

Directed by one of the younger of six directors to have worked under the Studio Ghibli name, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 'When Marnie was there' brings an end to three decades worth of anime, starting with 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky'. This film already, therefore, has a lot resting on its shoulders.

Yonebayashi has worked on numerous Ghibli films in various animation roles, though his only previous film as a director with the Studio was 'Arrietty': not perhaps their strongest work. Like 'Arrietty' before it - and indeed other Ghibli films - 'When Marnie was there' is based on a British children's novel. The flat, isolated land of Norfolk has been replaced for the mountainous, isolated land of Hokkaido, with young, moody Anna, suffering from asthma, leaves her foster mother in Sapporo to stay with relatives in a small village from some much needed R and R.

Troubled at home, Anna's troubles don't particularly ease, failing to fit in, lost in her imagination and sketch pad. Quickly she becomes fascinated by the 'Marsh House', an old mansion left in a state of disrepair. Becoming an obsession, she begins to imagine Marnie, the former daughter of the house many moons ago. Forming a bond with her imaginary companion, Anna begins to come to terms with her own situation at home.

The film can be divided into three distinct sections for me: To start, as ever with a Ghibli film, the attention to detail is impeccable, with every pixel of the screen thoughtfully considered, making the animation as true to life as possible. It's once we move toward the film's middle that the level of visual detail starts to decrease a little as the storyline develops. This is where we hit the film's weakest point. As it's a Ghibli film, many might see this as magical and moving in a coming-of-age tale, though for me 'When Marnie was there' gets far too soppy, borderline lesbian and a little bit of a bore. Luckily, as the film draws to a conclusion, it is rescued somewhat as the storyline is rounded off.

Up until the new millennium and 'Spirited Away', the direction of Ghibli films was tackled by-and-large by founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Since then, however, younger directors have, at times, taken the reigns, leaving the films, while on the whole satisfying, a little more bumpy and inconsistent.

But with the two founders now both old men, well deserving of the title 'retired', rather than letting the Studio slip into the hands of others, perhaps calling it a day is called for. 

The Wind Rises

I think 'Howl's Moving Castle' was the first feature-length film that was announced as being Miyazaki's last. But ten years and two feature films later, has the great director finally decided to call it a day? With 'Ponyo' since being his second last ever film, now 'The Wind Rises' is the next film to make the claim and, given its subject matter and style, is probably as good a place as any to call it a day.

Telling the story of real-life human: Japanese aeronautics engineer Horikoshi Jiro, designer of Japanese fighter planes used during the Second World War. Now, this is always going to be a touchy subject matter to tackle and would seemingly be a move away from his previous films. However, Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki himself have previously made films as serious and adult in theme as this. But what this does mean is that some of the more mythical elements of his previous films are not present.

With a brief look at his childhood years, the film quickly moves to his time at University before his starting work at the Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Company, where he would start to design war planes. But, fear not. This is not a biopic that could have been made as a live-action film full of dull moments. Looking at his dreams, we follow Jiro's desire to create beautiful flying machines from a young age. But, as the film progresses and the reality of designing planes as an engineer during war time, the dreams become visions of the destruction his creations will bring. Numerous references are made to life's ironies throughout, and this is the one apparent by the film's conclusion.

While all of his film's have an appeal to adults as well as children, 'The Wind Rises' feels more adult: less happy in its ending and more along the lines of Ghibli's other wartime film, 'Grave of the Fireflies'.

But, the magic is still there. 'The Wind Rises' is positive in its telling of a boy's dream to create what he loves and how Jiro's intentions were only ever to do good, rather than a desire to destroy, ending with an emotional finale, feeling an appropriate place for Miyazaki to call it a day. But, as 'Howl's Moving Castle' and 'Ponyo' have proved, never say 'never.'