Few filmmakers have ever chosen to retire on a note as overtly self-conscious as this, the last feature film from Japanese animation master – and my favorite director – Hayao Miyazaki. Not only is the film highly, unmistakably personal, devoted to Miyazaki’s obsession with flying and filled with metatextual musings on the delicate and finite nature of creativity, but in its dense thematic core, The Wind Rises also offers a profound distillation of the major ideas that tie all of Miyazaki’s cinematic works together. Exploring what it means to live and to love and to endure in a broken, deeply flawed world, and questioning the worth and morality of art when that very same world often creates a tremendous gap between intention and function, Miyazaki uses the tale of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the “Zero” fighter, to bring these complex ideas, previously explored in fantasy landscapes and magical settings, firmly back into the real world. The results are poignant, thought-provoking, and challenging, and I feel it will take many more viewings to fully digest what Miyazaki has created here.
And with its stunning use of color, massively detailed set pieces, and endlessly evocative depiction of the sky and the horizon during flight, The Wind Rises may well be the most beautiful film in Miyazaki’s filmography – which automatically puts it on (or atop) the shortlist for the best animation ever crafted by human hands. Bold, gorgeous, gentle, and moving, The Wind Rises is a terrific swan-song for this all-time great filmmaker, capturing the air of an artist who has said all that he wishes to say, and is now tying a lifetime of creative and intellectual exploration together in one final, majestic coda.
The Wind Rises will open in limited release the United States on February 21st, and will expand nationwide on February 28th. Read my full review of the film here.
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