Day 56 - Spirited Away



Day 56              千と千尋の神隠し (Spirited Away) [2001]
                          
Screenplay                    Hayao Miyazaki
Director                         Hayao Miyazaki
Cinematography             Atsushi Okui
Music                            Joe Hisaishi
Production                     Studio Ghibli

IMDb                                8.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes                97%

What a film from the legendary Miyazaki. I have watched a few Studio Ghibli films but didn’t realise that I had never seen this one. I’m going to keep this review short as the plot is rather complicated to explain, all you need to know is that it’s about a girl called Chihiro who gets lost in the spirit world and has to find her way out. I just urge you to watch this and all the other Ghibli films. It’s pure imagination. Children’s dreams in animé form. Apparently, Miyazaki wasn’t going to make another film after Princess Mononoke but saw the daughter of a friend of his looking sullen and thought this film would cheer her up. Who knows if that’s true, but I want to believe it is. I would love to get into Miyazaki’s brain, as he writes by drawing, the scripts of his films are rarely finished when the film’s production gets under way. There were some lovely nods to the environment too, in particular one scene where Chihiro (Sen) pulls out a load of junk from a river spirit. I’ll have to refrain from watching a run of Ghibli films to keep the blog interesting. They are beauty, sheer beauty.

Acting                           N / A
Writing                           4 / 4
(Cinematography            4 / 4)
Music                             3 / 4

HMD rating               4 / 4