Isao Takahata and His Tale of the Princess Kaguya

And this week's Friday night movie has been.....Isao Takahata and His Tale of the Princess Kaguya!

Original image located here. Accessed 7th December 2018

Well I saw The Tale of the Princess Kaguya last week (as well as The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness earlier this year) so seeing this was inevitable.
As mentioned last week, I'd always felt that Takahata tends to get overlooked by Ghibli fans so seeing this documentary, focusing on the man himself is welcome indeed. Much like the aforementioned The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, we see the trials and tribulations going into making a movie at Ghibli and the approach the director takes - but in this case the approach is completely different from Miyazaki.

Thus we see Takahata pushing the envelope as to what animation could accomplish (largely to compensate for his inability to draw), a real trial and error approach to completing a task and facing down a monumental workload. And despite the frustrations caused, Takahata remains funny, passionate and a contrast from the Grumpy Old Man that Miyazaki has become known for in recent years.
I think some of the best moments in the movie come from seeing both Takahata and Miyazaki together and watching these two personalities bounce off each other. It looks natural and a delight to see two long-lasting friends and creative talents together and the bond they clearly have.
A bond that has sadly since been broken

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

And this week's Friday night movie has been.....The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness!

Original image located here. Accessed 24th August 2018

Yes, it's the documentary on Studio Ghibli, documenting the process behind the development of both The Wind Rise and The Tale of Princess Kaguya. Granted I'm cheating somewhat as I have (at time of writing) yet to see both movies but with Isao Takahata passing away earlier this year and more recent revelations been made about him being difficult to work with, now would be good time to watch it.

What i found interesting is that on the DVD cover (see above), there's Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki and Takahata - yet in the movie itself, Takahata gets little screen time. In a way it;s not surprising knowing what we all know now (and the fact that he got a separate documentary all to himself with his work on Kaguya). Which ultimately means that the documentary's focus then falls on Miyazaki and Suzuki.
While we do see Miyazaki at work and see what is involved whenever he makes a movie, the real surprise is what Suzuki has to go through with facing the press, having to make uncomfortable announcements and dealing with clashes with staff.
I was expecting this movie to the complete picture of Studio Ghibli but what I got was a reinforcement of the notion that making any movie is near-miracle in itself. And quite frankly, this documentary is all the better for it.