Film Journal 2023: The Boy and the Heron

Film Journal 2023: The Boy and the Heron
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Distanced is not a word I thought I would ever use to describe my experience with one of Miyazaki’s films, but I’m finding it hard to come up with a different descriptive. What I don’t know is if it simply needs a rewatch to really figure out and unearth the story and the themes, or if the film is just genuinely elusive and unfocused in what it wants to say and is trying to do.

I’ll be honest. I went into this film after having just read the book, and the film is such a drastic departure from that story that it actively threw me off. This is mostly apparent in the way it trades the straight forward realism of the book for building out a magical world in the film. Two very different vibes, very different tones, and very different emphasis, and I’m still trying to piece together where the inspiration for the adaptation was being applied precisely.

Even as I write this my brain is still mulling over the general trajectory of the plot. Is it about the boys grief? That seems to fade from the picture for most of the films runtime. Was it about his mother? His father? His stepmom? His experiences at school? Almost of these things come into play at some level, but each of them are left somewhat confusing and barely fleshed out.

Even the concept of the family’s history and their connectedness to a greater sense of responsibility feels underwritten, which is strange because most of the worldbuilding sort of depends on this for establishing some necessary motivation and tension.

The technical elements are all great, including the animation and the score. It looks great and its lovely to experience, for sure. And it has moments where you can see the potential for this to be a lot of fun, even meaningful, and perhaps even brilliant. You can tell that this a personal film for the Director, being an adaptation of his favorite book and his final production (perhaps). It’s just unfortunate that it couldn’t have had more clarity and cohesion as a story and a vision. If this film has something big and important to say, I’m not sure it helps itself by keeping it so deeply buried.