Miyazaki, the spirit of nature: portrait of an “animated” artist [critique]

A sort of b-side to Hayao and the Heron, this documentary deciphers in depth the work of the master of animation.

With Hayao Miyazaki and the Heronrecently available on Netflix, Kaku Arakawa paints an already complete portrait of the creator of Totoro (1986), Chihiro (2001) or even Kiki the little witch (1989). One might think that we know everything about the Japanese filmmaker, even in his most mundane daily life, this documentary aims to get as close as possible to the day-to-day production methods of the master of animation. However, another film arriving this Friday, December 20 on Arte (at 10:45 p.m., but also free on replay until spring 2025) offers us a perfect complement: Miyazaki, the spirit of nature.

With The Wind Rises, Miyazaki creates an adult, sad and moving film [critique]

“The wind is rising, we must try to live”

Choosing the angle of Nature, with a capital N, is an excellent idea to immerse yourself in the cinema of Hayao Miyazakiwithout falling into the ease of describing a work “eco”. Narrated by actor Mali Zidi, this new portrait of Léo Favier (Apollo or wild life) is much richer than that, presenting him as a creator “animated, carried by a breath”explain here his collaborators or cinema specialists who have studied his work, and his life, in detail.

In Japanese culture, Nature does not have quite the same meaning as in the West. It designates a whole, a whole of which humans are also part, our species being linked to other animals, as well as to plants or minerals. In Miyazaki, Nature is essential and the connections between the different worlds are always present, in different ways from film to film, from the dense forest of Totoro to the raging waves of Ponyo passing by the floating islands of Castle in the Sky.

Taken as a whole, his worldview is not as “simple”nor as childish as one might believe at first glance, this child of the Second World War, who grew up with a seriously ill mother, having become aware at a very young age of the chaos reigning on the Earth. If his pessimism towards the human species is more palpable in his recent films, notably in Princess Mononoke (1997), The Wind rises (2013) and The Boy and the Heron (2023), Hayao Miyazaki, from the beginning of his career, wanted to make his humans, young and old, interact with natural elements. Under this prism, his filmography is incredibly coherent, designating him as a genius inventor, who, through his worlds by turns marvelous and nightmarish, and without ever repeating himself, never stopped searching for a certain lost harmony.

This rich portrait also perfectly accompanies his latest film, now available on VOD.

The Boy and the Heron: Miyazaki's winning return [critique]