GKids continues to support Isao Takahata's latest cinematic masterpiece, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, with limited theatrical screenings and an upcoming Blu-Ray release. I was fortunate enough to see it on the big screen here in Minneapolis, and came away astonished, overwhelmed, verklempt. In other words, the same reaction I have to all of Paku-san's films.
If any animated movie could be called a masterpiece, it's this one. I know, I know, that word gets bounded about far too often. But when I look at the animated feature films released by major and indie studios in recent years, I see that Princess Kaguya represents a quantum leap beyond any of them. This is a movie that aims to stretch the boundaries of the medium, both in content and presentation. And it does so with sly subtlety, with quiet patience, with the brilliance and skill of a cinematic master. Isao Takahata continues to prove that he is the world's greatest living filmmaker.
That so much of his long career remains unknown to the West is criminal negligence. It's as though Fellini or Renoir or Truffault or Bergman or Ozu remained unknowns. How is such a thing even possible? Thankfully, we have seen positive change over the past decade. The Studio Ghibli films are now (largely) available on home video. Horus, Prince of the Sun has just been released on DVD in the States. The Heidi fansub project has finally completed. We're making progress. But there's still so far to go.
Enjoy these screenshots of Princess Kaguya, courtesy of GKids' official website.
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