Director Hayao Miyazaki (
Spirited Away,
Howl's Moving Castle, and one of the finest movies for children ever made,
My Neighbor Totoro) is 83 years old, but he has made a beautiful movie about childhood and family.
Mahito is a ten-year-old boy who loses his mother in a wartime bombing raid, and who later moves out to the countryside, partly as an escape from the dangers of wartime. If this reminds you of the Pevensie children, the parallels continue when Mahito goes on a quest through a magical portal into a fantasy world.
Before he enters the fantasy world, some of the magic intrudes on our world. I loved that these moments were staged so that we don't know if only Mahito is experiencing these supernatural events and the adults don't, or if they also see them but don't comment on them? Miyazaki is deft at handling these moments so adult characters (and their rational minds) don't intrude/spoil Mahito's experience. Whether he's dreaming it or it's "really" happening is immaterial.
Ostensibly to rescue his dead mother- or is he rescuing his new stepmother? - the journey takes no straight lines. The Boy and The Heron is bursting with tangents, unexplained events, broad symbolism, and other moments that may be symbolic of something, but I didn't always know what. Much like the girl cursed with old age in Howl's Moving Castle, I appreciate that Mahito takes every unreal creature, charm, and curse he encounters at face value. This child does not have an adult's rational mind that asks for explanations or refuses to accept what can't be real.
In my middle age, I have developed a taste for movies that don't have to explain everything. I mind loose ends less than I used to. I have learned to embrace Christopher Nolan's affinity for muddled dialog that I can't follow. In that spirit, I enjoyed this trip I was taken on, and the resolution was very satisfying. However, if the movie didn't offer so many metaphors, the remainder would have had more impact. A little more plot momentum, a little less wandering. The boy sometimes didn't show enough urgency. Somewhere between Totoro's 86 minutes, and Spirited Away's 125 would have been stronger.
My Stub Hubby Grade: B-plus for wandering. 2 hours, 4 minutes. Rated PG-13 for some violent content/bloody images and smoking. Several human characters are elderly nicotine addicts, and crave cigarettes. Not a flattering depiction of smoking! (Regal Crossgates Albany with the whole fam)
