Animation legend Hayao Miyazaki has just released what he claims is his final animated feature….and I know a lot of you are scoffing right now because he’s said that before. Ol’ Hayao has a history of “retiring” and coming back. But think about this…inevitably, one of his movies WILL be his final movie someday. Maybe it IS this one? In that case, wouldn’t you feel shame for mocking him?
Final film or not, Miyazaki and the studio he made famous, Ghibli, chose an interesting approach to market his new film…no approach whatsoever. There were no trailers, no clips, no screenshots, nothing beyond one drawing of a heron and the title, “How Do You Live?” The only way Japanese animation fans could find out anything about it was to buy a ticket on opening day. Of course by this point, Miyazaki had earned the clout that made a stunt like this possible, because there was a zero chance a new movie from him would be a waste of money. And according to reports, it did turn out good.
Internationally, the film has been retitled The Boy And The Heron. And for us, it has a trailer…in fact, this is just the teaser, so it may have more than one. That’s not what Miyazaki wanted, but he doesn’t control how foreign distributors market his films. There’s also the fact that the film is technically out somewhere, which means it wouldn’t be hard to find out information about it before you see it, should you choose to.
Some people will respect Miyazaki’s wishes and refuse to watch, and some will go ahead and click on this. The choice is yours to make. The Boy And The Heron will be released in US theaters December 8.
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