So, Hayao Miyazaki has announced that he will no longer write and direct feature length animated films. At 72, the man’s certainly entitled to enjoy his retirement. But I can’t help thinking that animation will be so much poorer as an art form now he is withdrawing from the world stage.
Miyazaki’s filmography includes work for television, short features, and scripting and production duties, not to mention aesthetic guidance/input, on just about everything that bears the Studio Ghibli imprimatur.
He’s directed eleven features (links to where reviews exist on this blog) represent a stunningly coherent and visually imaginative body of work:
The Castle of Cagliostro
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Laputa, Castle in the Sky
My Neighbour Totoro (go here for image gallery)
Kiki’s Delivery Service (go here for image gallery)
Porco Rosso
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Howl’s Moving Castle
Ponyo
The Wind Rises
The man's a genius, and he's earned the right to do anything he wants, but...
ReplyDelete...it's not the first time he's announced his retirement, is all I'm saying.
Ah, yes - didn't he announce his retirement about 15 years ago after 'Princess Mononoke'?
ReplyDelete