My Neighbor Totoro

MOVIE #1,604 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 05.03.24 宮崎駿監督のフォーカス I really just vibed with this one, didn’t take any notes. And I had an excellent time. I knew going in that this was one of the most beloved and legendary entries in the Miyazaki canon and it lived up to the hype. (I watched this with subs and the original Japanese voice cast — FYI.) I was surprised how the fantastical elements almost felt secondary to the story of these two little girls dealing both with moving to a new house and their mother being sick. This is still the first work that directly deals with the concept of animism (the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence) and I was struck by how sincerely it addresses this intangible if not wholly magical idea.

The soundtrack is Joe Hisaishi is his best work yet, as well. Just banger after banger, ranging all the way from classical Hollywood interpretations to minimalism and almost James Ferraro-like bleeps/bloops (obviously the influences of the latter work in reverse — that’s just an observation).

Where this film shines is in the details, like how the cat bus's 'door' opens up, which we see from multiple angles — just flawless animation...


I think I missed my moment to ever become a super-fan of this genre/stuff, but when it’s this good, it’s undeniable.

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,603 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,605 ⫸

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My Neighbor Totoro (Japanese: となりのトトロ, Hepburn: Tonari no Totoro) is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten. It stars the voices of Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto and Hitoshi Takagi, and focuses on two young sisters and their interactions with friendly wood spirits in postwar rural Japan. It was released on April 16, 1988.