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Miyazaki enlisted a frequent collaborator, the artistShinya Ohira, to animate Mahitos path through the inferno.
four words that serve both as the films existential prompt and its title in Japan.
But anyone whos followed Miyazakis work attentively could recognize those connections in the rest of his movies, too.
InMy Neighbor Totoro, the mother of two young girls is also hospitalized and bedridden.
The mendacious Gray Heron lures Mahito into a dreamlike world with the possibility of bringing back his deceased mother.
The scene brings to mind the way Miyazaki cannot resist animating his personal history.
Nothing will stop the now-82-year-old filmmaker from dying, but his drive to create remains irrepressible, even never-ending.
Like the Heron, he doesnt necessarily see falsehoods as all bad.
Miyazakis storyboards are known for their clarity, and his character designs share stylistic similarities from movie to movie.
That approach serves the production while allowing for the idiosyncratic embellishments that make his characters feel so lifelike.
Elsewhere, Miyazaki delivers scenes like Ohiras dreamlike opening smeary, squishy, painterly imagery deployed as abstractions.
In the twilight of his filmmaking career, his films still forge those connections.
