Studio Ghibli's first movie poster for their upcoming adaptation of The Borrowers, Karigurashi no Arrietty, has been available for a few weeks, and I've found it growing on me. Call it a hunch, a gut check. I really don't know any more than you do at this point. I'm just thinking of the previous Ghibli films not directed by Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata: I Can Hear the Sea, Whisper of the Heart, The Cat Returns the Favor, Tales From Earthsea.
Of those films, Mimi/Whisper is easily the best. And that's largely because director Yoshifumi Kondo's long working relationship with Miyazaki and Takahata. Kondo had many years to learn and study and collaborate; he also had time to develop his own style as an animator and artist.
Arrietty's director, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, has worked with Miyazaki on The Imaginary Flying Machines, Mei and the Kitten Bus, and has worked at Ghibli since Mononoke. GhibliWiki has an excellent piece on Yonebayashi-san from a 2000 NHK documentary on Spirited Away, Breathing Life Into Drawings. You can read about it here.
3 comments:
The Borrowers was one of my favorites growing up. Books, movies, cartoons... I loved 'em all.
Why oh why did I have to see this?!
Pardon my ignorance, but the 2010 summer release you mentioned in a previous post that is in Japan right?
(Trying not to get my hopes up)
That's correct. Summer 2010 is the Japanese theatrical release. There has been no word from Ghibli or Disney regarding any AMerican release.
The Borrowers is a familiar name, so that may work in its favor. On the other hand, this is not a Hayao Miyazaki-directed film, which limits its already limited appeal.
I would be thrilled to see this movie playing at the local theater, but that's deeply unlikely. We'll have to wait for the DVD and Blu-Ray release.
Any chance of finding that 2000 documentary anywhere? I don't want to read the article on it if it can be seen SOMEWHERE-- I'm sure it's hard to find due to NHK's usual stinginess/ hotness on copyright, but the article shows screenshots, which suggests it's been recorded somewhere at least. It's always very annoying to find great gems of documentaries like this are either impossible to find or mostly useless due to lack of subs (Ponyo documentary). If anyone knows where to find, do say!
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