For millions of animation fans, Studio Ghibli is like Disney without the weird cryogenic baggage. Year after year, Hayao Miyazaki and his team of animators have produced absolute classics that transcend genre. He has now apparently, by-and-large, for the most part, more-or-less retired, but Mami Sunada documented the master at work on his final masterwork, “The Wind Rises.”
Sunada quietly observes the Studio Ghibli comings and goings, but still captures plenty of drama in “The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness.”
Studio Ghibli might only continue as a licensing company, but it ended its original productions on artistic high notes. Both Miyazaki’s “The Wind Rises” and Isao Takahata’s “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” are extraordinarily accomplished capstones to their legendary careers.
While Miyazaki’s farewell film was a monster hit at the Japanese box office, Takahata’s was not. They were also supposed to be released simultaneously, but even at the start of “Kingdom,” everyone realizes that is highly unlikely to happen.
While there is plenty of pencil-sharpening and studious sketching going on in “Kingdom,” real conflict emerges between the venerable Miyazaki and the largely unseen Takahata, who gave Miya-san his start in the business decades ago at the Tohei studio. They share an awful lot of history together, but their working methods could not be further apart.
