I’m afraid this will be a short newsletter about my run-through of the films of Hiyao Miyazaki. I loved most of them, and the ones that I only liked a lot were still full of interesting ideas, excellent music, and beautiful animation. Something I was struck by is how most of his films have an dreamlike quality, as discussed much better in a recent newsletter by my friend Emily.
Without a doubt, I recommend watching all of the films. I prefer watching the subtitled versions, but they are still worth watching dubbed as well*. Now that the Studio Ghibli films are on HBO Max, it should be a lot easier for many people to see most of Miyazaki’s films, as all but The Castle of Cagliostro are available on the streaming service.
There, that’s it. That’s the newsletter. It’s now 1:00 am as I’m writing this, I’m not going another week without a newsletter, and I need to head to bed. Sometimes I write 3000 words. Sometimes you get this.
On to the rankings!
11. Porco Rosso
10. The Castle of Cagliostro
9. Castle in the Sky
8. Howl’s Moving Castle
7. Ponyo
6. Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind
5. Princess Mononoke
4. The Wind Rises
3. Kiki’s Delivery Service
2. My Neighbor Totoro
1. Spirited Away
One More Thing
Last week, instead of writing a newsletter, I put together a Spotify playlist. The list is meant to tell a part of my story through curated songs, but it’s possible that it looks more like a random set of songs without the connections I had in my head when I created it. Anyway, it’s short (like this newsletter) and has some good songs on it, so please give it a listen!
* The quality of the dubbed voice work varies wildly, from very good to Billy Bob Thornton in Princess Mononoke.
Enjoyed it Amy
Another good oneEveryobe should read this one.