Will be really interesting to see how this is gonna be received here in the west. It's a weird one. Couldn't help myself to actually feel disappointed after the credits rolled, and a lot of people in the audience felt the same way. It's super vague, the story jumps constantly, new ideas and (seemingly) new plotlines are constantly opened but never resolved. It's confusing. And because of this, I just never really cared about any of the characters. Which is something that usually never happens to me in a Ghibli film...no emotional attachement whatsoever. After sleeping over it and reading some reviews and interepretations from Japan, I can accept and respect the film much more now. It's a supposedly final goodbye from Miyazaki, a potpourrie of his ideas and visions, a micro-history of Ghibli itself. It's fine. But it's not for me and probably a lot of other people. But that's okay.
What an incredible script, very well structured. A story that grips you from start to finish, very tense and very well done. The performances are magnificent and the connection between the characters makes everything so much more exciting to watch. In addition to these aspects, the movie is set in the 80s, which gives everything a special touch.
It is honestly so refreshing to watch a movie that is trying new things! i was paying attention to everything every second of it. i'm still not sure of how i feel about the ending, but the experience was totally worth it!
Having seen both this and the documentary, I really appreciated Howard's widening the scope to include the less visible helpers, like the farmers whose crops were ruined and the water engineers/laborers. Beautifully made. Might just be Ron Howard's best work for me.
No dramatization of anything. No portrayal of politics, or the rights and the wrongs. A movie that truly honors the people, the volunteers involved in the rescue, and most importantly the people who lost their lives.
Caught a special preview earlier tonight. It was pretty funny. I'm talking there were parts where the entire theater was laughing out loud. This kind of reminds me of raunchy love story movies like American Pie. Overall it was a lot of fun.
This was a lot of fun and felt fresh through and through. For me, the 2+ hours passed by like nothing. I enjoyed most of the dialogues, of course the camera work, the soundtrack and the overall vibe. The final 10-15 minutes made me smile nonstop, this was just really good cinema. I personally also loved the ending shot. Left the theatre with a big grin and a good feeling.
