Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
7th January 2009, Wednesday
Over the course of the last week as the year draws to an end, you can see plenty of award show or year-end or countdown gig in Japan.
The line-up of artists generally remained the same...from the usual A list to those with a good performance or breakthrough act for the year.
In 2008, there was an 8 year old girl Ohashi Nozomi and 2 60 something uncles Fujioka Fujimaki who broke into the scene circa July 2008..the song "Gake no Ue no Ponyo", the theme song of the latest Studio Ghibli theatrical production of the same name.
Since conceptualized in 2006, grand master Miyazaki Hayao and his lads from Studio Ghibli had been back to the drawing board for yet another comeback after his son's failed project "Gedo Senki (Tales of the Earthsea)".
A story which Miyazaki sensei came out with when staying with a friend at Tomonomura and took him 170,000 hand-drawndrawings to make.
It was perhaps the movie with the biggest box office netting in Japan but then no Studio Ghibli productions fare too badly (yes even Gedo); everyone knows the excellent track records for sure.
Here in Singapore, there are a bunch of rabid Studio Ghibli fans perhaps me, my wife and my La Tendo chums could be part of that demographic group.
On Saturday, much appreciation from Bryan and Yanhui who gave us a movie treat for the birthday gifts we bought them; the timing however was near midnight when we took like one of the last train to town which was really an experience.
Despite the show time, the theater was all packed with many local fans alike to discover the magic of the sea creature known as Ponyo.
101 minutes later many of us were bought by the simplicity Studio Ghibli had delivered with Miyazaki's beautiful visual extravaganza.
The story which resembles Little Mermaid's wish to be a human was very well written without any beating round the bush.
The typical environmental message was strongly heard when the seabed at the opening scenes were polluted by human activities while the former human father of Ponyo, Fujimoto plotting a revenge on the human race.
Ponyo is an infectious little sea pixie who resembles Mei from "Tonari no Totoro" and watching her all drained and exhausted from using her powers, one just can't stop giggling and for the missus, the eyelids getting as heavy as hers.
The tsunami thread mill for Ponyo as well as when she expands Sousuke's toy boat are just scenes to behold.
The old world seas creatures which appear after the flood also revealed the amount of research done and surely up the alley of those aqua-enthusiasts.
The couple beside us were having a great time chatting about the storyline but ourselves as well as Vincent and Miyano at the other side too enjoyed so much we couldn't stop chatting about it.
The nice flow of the storyline was well complimented by the enchanting music by Miyazaki's old chum, Joe Hisaishi who also written the theme song of the movie as mentioned and seen below:
Personally I prefer this over "Howl's Moving Castle" but "Laputa- Castle in the Sky" is still my all time favorite Ghibli movie... I know Miyazaki-san is nearing seventy but I do hope for more quality stuff from him in the future
Over the course of the last week as the year draws to an end, you can see plenty of award show or year-end or countdown gig in Japan.
The line-up of artists generally remained the same...from the usual A list to those with a good performance or breakthrough act for the year.
In 2008, there was an 8 year old girl Ohashi Nozomi and 2 60 something uncles Fujioka Fujimaki who broke into the scene circa July 2008..the song "Gake no Ue no Ponyo", the theme song of the latest Studio Ghibli theatrical production of the same name.
Since conceptualized in 2006, grand master Miyazaki Hayao and his lads from Studio Ghibli had been back to the drawing board for yet another comeback after his son's failed project "Gedo Senki (Tales of the Earthsea)".
A story which Miyazaki sensei came out with when staying with a friend at Tomonomura and took him 170,000 hand-drawndrawings to make.
It was perhaps the movie with the biggest box office netting in Japan but then no Studio Ghibli productions fare too badly (yes even Gedo); everyone knows the excellent track records for sure.
Here in Singapore, there are a bunch of rabid Studio Ghibli fans perhaps me, my wife and my La Tendo chums could be part of that demographic group.
On Saturday, much appreciation from Bryan and Yanhui who gave us a movie treat for the birthday gifts we bought them; the timing however was near midnight when we took like one of the last train to town which was really an experience.
Despite the show time, the theater was all packed with many local fans alike to discover the magic of the sea creature known as Ponyo.
101 minutes later many of us were bought by the simplicity Studio Ghibli had delivered with Miyazaki's beautiful visual extravaganza.
The story which resembles Little Mermaid's wish to be a human was very well written without any beating round the bush.
The typical environmental message was strongly heard when the seabed at the opening scenes were polluted by human activities while the former human father of Ponyo, Fujimoto plotting a revenge on the human race.
Ponyo is an infectious little sea pixie who resembles Mei from "Tonari no Totoro" and watching her all drained and exhausted from using her powers, one just can't stop giggling and for the missus, the eyelids getting as heavy as hers.
The tsunami thread mill for Ponyo as well as when she expands Sousuke's toy boat are just scenes to behold.
The old world seas creatures which appear after the flood also revealed the amount of research done and surely up the alley of those aqua-enthusiasts.
The couple beside us were having a great time chatting about the storyline but ourselves as well as Vincent and Miyano at the other side too enjoyed so much we couldn't stop chatting about it.
The nice flow of the storyline was well complimented by the enchanting music by Miyazaki's old chum, Joe Hisaishi who also written the theme song of the movie as mentioned and seen below:
Personally I prefer this over "Howl's Moving Castle" but "Laputa- Castle in the Sky" is still my all time favorite Ghibli movie... I know Miyazaki-san is nearing seventy but I do hope for more quality stuff from him in the future
Japanese word of the day: 崖 ~ga-ke~ (Cliff) There's a scene of flashing signaling between Sousuke and his father at sea which reminds me of my navy days
posted by Kei at
3:44 PM
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