My Miyazaki Ranking: Part One - CastleMania

by Cláudio Alves

After its triumph on Oscar night, The Boy and the Heron is returning to cinemas all over the world. To commemorate this theatrical re-release and start closing my chapter of the 2023 film year, I took this opportunity to review Hayao Miyazaki's entire oeuvre. And so, we find ourselves standing before one of the greatest filmographies in the medium's history - animated or otherwise - ready to rank the master's twelve features. I'd love to share my thoughts on Miyazaki's shorts, but sadly, most of them are exclusively shown at the Ghibli Park and Museum. Maybe someday I'll be able to witness their beauty - one can dream.

From times when Studio Ghibli was naught but a dream to its twilight years, spanning half a dozen retirements and the loss of countless colleagues, Miyazaki's gift to cinema is a sprawling wonder. This shall be my personal ranking, not definitive by any means as it's a love letter, an expression of the utmost awe. Ask me in a week, and I'll order the films differently. Today, this is how I see them…

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Are we getting a "Scarface" reunion at the Oscars?

by Cláudio Alves

As the first lists of Oscar presenters are released, it's fun to try parsing out potential connections between invited names. Even if it's nothing but a brief shot of nostalgia at seeing two familiar faces backed by a classic's main theme, there's something thrilling about the whole apparatus. Since the Oscars have grown so allergic to celebrating cinema's past – unlike the Grammys - these tidbits feel extra special. When perusing the first batch of celebrities, a couple of names stood out. First, we have Michelle Pfeiffer, eternal Film Experience favorite. And then there's Al Pacino, who starred with the blonde star in Brian De Palma's Scarface. The picture just celebrated 40 years last December, making an awards show tribute especially timely.

Would you like to recall Pacino's iconic Tony Montana and Pfeiffer's chilly, sensual Elvira? I know that in my ideal world, she'd have been a Best Supporting Actress contender in 1983, while her costumes would have earned an Oscar. And these are far from the only big names presenting at the 96th Academy Awards…

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Interview: 'The Missing' director Carl Joseph Papa and actor Gio Gahol on making Oscar history for the Philippines

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Carlo Aquino and Dolly de Leon.

Carl Joseph Papa's Oscar submission The Missing (original title: Iti Mapukpukaw)  centers on a mouthless young man whose life is rocked when a familiar alien returns to his life. In telling this deeply personal story using animation, Papa examines the long-term effects of childhood trauma on people and how far kindness could go in helping them in reclaiming their voice. The Missing is the Philippines' official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, becoming the country's first animated feature film to represent the country (out of 33 submissions). Out of the eight countries that submitted for the category's first competitive year in 1956, only the Philippines is yet to be nominated.

In this in-depth discussion, writer-director Carl Joseph Papa and actor Gio Gahol tackle the taboo topic of childhood sexual abuse in the country, pulling off the feat of shooting the film within four days, the artists that inspired them in their craft, and working with BAFTA nominee Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness)...

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An AI Biopic? No, Thank You!

by Cláudio Alves

Warner has released a proof of concept image showing what the animation will look like.

With the SAG strike over and a new three-year contract in sight for actors, it felt like we could all breathe a sigh of relief over the current Hollywood AI takeover. Not forever, but a temporary reprieve nevertheless. Well, guess what? There's no rest for the cinephile, for a new nightmare is upon us. The Warner Music Group has partnered with the Edith Piaf estate to create an AI-based biopic, running for 90 minutes and mixing archival future with animation. Over it all, a feat of technological necromancy will have the legendary French singer narrate her own story or the corporate-approved facsimile of it.

The execs behind the travesty speak of authenticity, but I only see mercenary intent. It's anti-art, sickening in the worst way…

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TIFF '23: "The Boy and the Heron" goes into the unknown

by Cláudio Alves

Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron"

Hayao Miyazaki's last last picture before his latest last picture – already being discredited as such by Studio Ghibli VP Junichi Nishioka – saw him take on the model of a relatively conventional biopic. Despite its wavering between reality and dream, the now and the before, The Wind Rises represented one of the director's most straightforward efforts, doing away with the fantasy elements that defined most of his career. Had it stayed his swan song, it would have made for a career's closing chapter shaped like an intersection of culminating obsessions and stylistic disruption. The Boy and the Heron, previously known as How Do You Live?, posits a inversion of those paradigms. Oft-repeated ideas are invoked only to be collapsed, while tone and style return to the land of fantasy and dream logic.

Before reading ahead, A WARNING. This film will probably be best enjoyed by those who go into it blind, similarly to how Japanese audiences received it. If you want that experience, be satiated in the knowledge this is another masterpiece by Miyazaki. If you yearn for more, come with me down to a place that's no place within a time without time…

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