Photos: Porco Rosso

Here are some Blu-Ray screenshots of Hayao Miyazaki's wonderfully nostalgic and bittersweet animated drama Porco Rosso. For the longest time, I felt this was the best movie Studio Ghibli ever made, and that may still be true. It doesn't rank as highly as some of the more visually dazzling or exciting movies, but it has a quiet confidence, a presence that is not immediately felt but revealed slowly over time. This is a movie that rewards multiple viewings, as its complicated back story is just as important as what happens on the screen.

It's fascinating that Miyazaki made a movie about romantic, adventurous air pilots, only to depict them in the closing days of their careers, instead of their younger years when legends were made. Marco the pilot is respected and awed by friends and rivals, and we only rarely see glimpses of the skills that created that respect.

A Hollywood production would focus on a younger Marco, not the disillusioned, older Porco. They would demand endless chase scenes and thrilling air battles. They certainly would not be happy if the director would decide, like Miyazaki, to limit the action to small fits and starts, and then turn the climactic showdown into the equivalent of a pie fight. The ending to this movie is a lot closer to Blazing Saddles, as Porco and his rival throw wrenches instead of bullets, and end up in a very stereotypical cartoon punch-out. Somewhere, Popeye and Bluto are feeling jealous.

Porco Rosso is the work of a mature storyteller. I don't think the younger Miyazaki could create something like this. He was wildly inventive and funny in Puss in Boots and Animal Treasure Island and Ali Baba, but those were over-the-top cartoons with no greater pretentious. This movie soars among the clouds, rich in unspoken histories and inferred legends.