The Boy and the Heron (2023)
- Today, Dec 7
Today, Dec 7 @ 6:30 pm: This presentation is in Japanese with English subtitles
Director: Hayao Miyazaki Run Time: 124 min. Rating: PG-13 Release Year: 2023
Starring: Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Florence Pugh, Gemma Chan, Karen Fukuhara, Luca Padovan, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe
Country: Japan
Language: English; Japanese with English subtitles
About the film:
Official Selection, 2023 Toronto Film Festival
A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. A semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.
“Miyazaki’s latest film stands as a testament to his enduring legacy. It’s a mature, complex masterpiece, weaving together the director’s past, present, and future – a beautiful enigma that promises to be worth the wait.”
—Emma Steen, Time Out
The Film Center will present The Boy and the Heron (2023) in Japanese with English subtitles on Thursday, December 7, at 6:30pm. The Japanese voice cast includes Aimyon, Jun Kunimura, Kaoru Kobayashi, Ko Shibasaki, Masaki Suda, Shohei Hino, Soma Santoki, Takuya Kimura, and Yoshino Kimura.
About the filmmaker:
One of Japan’s most distinctive filmmakers, Hayao Miyazaki’s stories consider the conflict between human progress and nature with the existence of the spirit world alongside the mundane. Before founding Studio Ghibli, he worked for various animation studios and crafted his first feature films Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (1979) and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984). With fellow animator and longtime collaborator, Takahata Isao, he launched Studio Ghibli in 1985 and began producing some of most iconic hand-drawn animated films of all time, including My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013). In 2015, Miyazaki received an honorary Academy Award for his impact on animation and cinema.
The Boy and the Heron (2023) had its international premiere at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival, becoming the first animated film in history to open the festival, and was a runner-up for the TIFF 2023 People’s Choice Award. Produced by Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki, the film features a musical score from Miyazaki’s long-time collaborator Joe Hisaishi. The theme song for the film “Spinning Globe” was penned and performed by global J-pop superstar Kenshi Yonezu.
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