Miyazaki Films

Director Miyazaki and his films, are among many things that I learned about during the course of this year. I had however heard of Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, but I had not actually watched either of them. I was a bit surprised to find out that we would be watching Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke in class but never the less it was certainly fun. All of the movies shared the anime style. Miyazaki was able to apply great detail to his characters and this technique made all the movies more believable and easy to follow.

The story line for Spirited Away and Princess Mononke follow a similar basic format. In Spirited Away, Sen ended up in a new place, much like Ashitaka in Princess Monoke and they were both seperated from the ones their families. Ashitaka and Sen also both fell in love with people with animal characteristics. For example, Haku turned into a dragon, and San was raised with the wolves. Unlike Ashitaka, Sen was more of a naiveté instead of a skilled fighter like Ashitaka.Another thing that I noted was that all of the movies had animals as relatively important roles. In addition the main human character tried to understand and befriend them. Miyazaki's movies tend to involve nature quite a bit as well. In Spirited Away water was the main element used where as inMy Neighbor Totoro and Princess Monoke the forest was a major part.

In My Neighbor Totoro I especially liked the fun, likable characters. They were drawn so well you couldn't help but like them, especially Totoro. My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away were more comedic than Princess Monoke. I think that Princess Monoke was partially that way because Miyazaki was trying to get an actual message across, one about the importance of harmony between people and nature.

All in all Miyazaki's movies are very detailed and believable. He has shown the capability to create movies that make you want to laugh at times and feel terribly sad.

Waking Life and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Waking Life and Eternal Sunshine are both different styles of movies; however they both made me think in similar aspects.

Although Waking Life was animated it did not follow the general stereotype. The style of movie was very different than anything I have ever seen before. The story line consisted of many thing s I think about but never talk about, or hear anyone talk about. It consisted of many deep thoughts and conversations about life and consciousness. One scene in the movie really drew my attention, the one with Ethan Hawke and the other lady, in the apartment bedroom.I was fascinated to listen to them talk about consciousness, and lack there-of. The movie as a whole had this unique essence about it. The entire script just, seemed to make sense. There was a message in everything, no wasted or useless space whatsoever. I am pretty sure my eyes never strayed from the screen throughout the entire movie. Afterwards, as after viewing any enlightening or touching thing, I looked at things with wider eyes and in a slightly deeper, more analytical way. One night later that week, I had a dream, it like most of my dreams, was a little weird and hard to remember; however, one thing that I do remember is being in a car and trying to turn on the overhead light, and having it not turn on. Immediately after I awoke I thought about Waking Life and the scene in which the main character was talking with this man about how to distinguish consciousness from dreams. One of the things he mentioned was that in dreams you can't adjust lighting. I found it a little weird that this actually happened to me, maybe it always does and I just never notice. I never noticed again, but I still found it interesting. Overall, the topics covered within this movie have really stuck with me.

Eternal Sunshine appeared to me to be similar to a chick-flick romance film. That is, it appeared to be that way at first. However, as the plot developed, I started noticing several more interesting aspects of the movie. For one, it was clearly not your average story. It had the unusual quality of being science and brain related all while avoiding technicalities but certainly making you think and wonder more about life,love, and the risks we take. This was not an emergency room, or hospital movie, but rather an exploration of the brain. The thing is, this was expressed so beautifully and artistically. Not only that, but, as Lindsay had mentioned earlier, Michel Gondry's use of light played a big role in adding emotion and depth to the movie. The transitions used between scenes were also seamlessly done. This technique was great in keeping consistency and fluidity throughout the movie as to give less chance in diverting the viewers attention. Although, I find it hard to believe that one would be bored viewing this movie. Music is another common thing used in movies such as this to add emotional value, to make the audience responsive. On another note, this movie could possibly one of my favorite. I have to admit that I fall under the common girl stereotype of being emotional and liking, publicly proclaimed "chick flicks." This movie not only connected with my emotions and thoughts but it made me feel what the characters felt. After viewing this movie I could not believe that I had never previously even heard of it. For this reason I am probably going to look for more , not so popular, movies either from this director or similar.