Growing up with the surname Miyazaki can’t have been easy. Any child born to the legendary animator and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, would surely have a lot to prove, so the notion that one of them would willingly enter the film business is a pretty strange one. But his eldest son Goro decided to do just that.
Born in Tokyo in 1967, Miyazaki Jr. spent years avoiding the siren call of the movie business, preferring instead to hone his craft as a landscaper. In fact, it wasn’t until his late 30s that he succumbed to undoubtedly inherited urges and decided to swap the cultivation of beautiful landscapes for gorgeous animation.
His first foray into the directing business was with Tales From Earthsea in 2006. Production was hit by multiple setbacks; when approval was finally given for the film to be made, Hayao Miyazaki was busy working on Howl’s Moving Castle. As a result, the directing duties were handed to his son, much to Hayao’s chagrin as he believed the younger Miyazaki lacked the required experience to successfully guide a Ghibli animation to completion. Despite this, Goro resolutely ploughed on and the finished product hit screens on time and as he envisioned.
It was critically savaged, earning Goro Japan's Bunshun Raspberry Award for "Worst Director" and reportedly causing an escalation in friction between him and his father. Though the odd good review did exist, for many there was no question that this would mark both the start and end of Goro’s directing career.
At the time, I wasn’t aware how the film was actually critiqued. There was no need to worry about such things, because I didn’t think I’d be doing another film after Earthsea.
Fast-forward seven years and that’s not been the case. From Up On Poppy Hill, Goro’s second film, was released in Japan back in 2011 before hitting America earlier this year and Europe this month. Unlike its predecessor, the film received almost universal acclaim and proves beyond all doubt that Goro is his father’s son. But the fact that the movie exists at all is something of a miracle; after all, what motivates someone to come back for more following such a caustic reaction from fans and critics alike?
“At the time, I wasn’t aware how the film was actually critiqued,” Goro explains. “There was no need to worry about such things, because I didn’t think I’d be doing another film after Earthsea. That said, I think the reasons behind it not being well received were the fact that I am Hayao Miyazaki’s son, that it is different from previous Ghibli films, and that I dared to make changes to the original story.
“I got through the first film with intuition and grit, but for the second film, I had to have a deep understanding of the work. I didn’t receive any concrete advice from Hayao Miyazaki in relation to this, but I do think he made some suggestions about what ought to be done when making a film.”
Set in rural Japan during the late 1960s, From Up On Poppy Hill is a more sedate and nostalgic offering than other Ghibli fare like Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle. Considering it’s so rooted in Japanese culture, without the fantastical trappings or international origins of the source material, many have asked why Miyazaki opted to go for this tale. Could the fact it’s essentially a love letter to an almost-forgotten Japan be an attempt to appease the nation’s critics that he failed to impress in the past?
I do not currently 'know' how to make films, I am 'coming to know' them. I think I have only just turned the first corner.
With this in mind, we asked him what he feels unites the Ghibli movies and helps the animators select which project to go for next. His response? “I don’t think there are any specific criteria. But if I had to suggest one, it would be whether or not something made an impression. We don’t look for source material in order to make a movie. We dig out from our memory something that has stayed firmly embedded there, something we have read in 'the past,' and build on it. To this past, I think we then add the 'present' of the director.”
It’s telling, then, that much of From Up On Poppy Hill is centred around the notions of fatherhood and legacy; what we inherit, and how gracefully we do so. Adapted from a 1980s manga of the same name, it focuses on Umi Matsuzaki and Shun Kazama, a duo who team up to try and prevent their school’s clubhouse from being demolished. While children will undoubtedly find this strand of the story engaging enough, the blossoming romance between the two 16 year-olds compounded by their mutual inability to firmly know where they come from is what really makes the movie resonate.
That all of this is told without the fantastical elements usually found in Ghibli films makes it unusual, but there’s no denying that it still feels like a Ghibli movie. Does this mean, then, that future projects from the studio will continue on this trajectory of being increasingly varied? According to Goro, it’s unlikely; it’s not the setting that matters but the substance beneath it.
“It is not that we are trying to diversify the Ghibli style,” he explains. “I think it is just where the nature of the source material, our ideas, and my orientation as a director, have taken us. And while it doesn’t appear fantastical to the eye, it is a fantasy in that we depict an ideal world populated only by 'good' people. In that respect, I think its character is very much in keeping with previous Ghibli films.”
What’s next for Goro Miyazaki isn’t clear, but a multitude of options lie before him. As someone who’s experienced the bitter sting of criticism and hard-earned redemption in equal measure, he seems unlikely to walk away from making movies just yet. His response when I asked him what advice he’d give to burgeoning film-makers is at once both humble and promising: “I do not currently 'know' how to make films, I am 'coming to know' them,” he says. “I think I have only just turned the first corner.”
In other words, this is only the beginning.
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.
Source : ign[dot]com
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