A new film by Hayao Miyazaki filmmaker (or anything from animation house Studio Ghibli) is always worth celebrating. And for Miyazaki’s first feature film in a decade, TIFF pulls out all the stops. “The Boy And The Heron” opens the 48th edition of the festival tonight.
While the title of Miyazaki’s new film references Genzaburō Yoshino‘s 1937 novel of the same name, “The Boy And The Heron” is an entirely original work from the Japanese animator. In the movie, set in 1943 Japan during the Pacific War, a young man travels to a fantastical world populated by the living, the dead, and a talking grey heron.
Here’s an official synopsis for “The Boy And The Heron,” in poem form, courtesy of GKIDS Films:
A young boy named Mahito
yearning for his mother
ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead.
There, death comes to an end,
and life finds a new beginning.
A semi-autobiographical fantasy
about life, death, and creation,
in tribute to friendship,
from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.
“The Boy And The Heron” features a voice cast that includes Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Aimyon, Yoshino Kimura, Shōhei Hino, Ko Shibasaki, and more. Miyazaki both writes and directs the animated film.
“The Boy And The Heron” continues a long traditions of Studio Ghibli titles screening at TIFF. The most recent to do so was “The Red Turtle” in 2016. Other Studio Ghibli titles that have screened at TIFF include “The Tale of The Princess Kaguya,” “The Wind Rises,” “From Up On Poppy Hill,” “Spirited Away,” and “Princess Mononoke.” Mayazaki’s new film is the first Japanese film and the first animated film to open the festival.
Mayazaki film opening TIFF also comes shortly after TIFF’s “POP Japan” showcase that ran in May-June this year. The series celebrated popular, cult, and pulp Japanese movies, and included two of Mayazaki’s most revered films, “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away.”
“The Boy And The Heron” already had an unannounced theatrical release in Japan this year on July 14. After it opens TIFF and screens again at the New York Film Festival, Miyazaki’s latest hits American theaters and IMAX on December 8. Watch a new teaser for the film below.
