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Forum - View topicREVIEW: House of the Lost on the Cape
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Neko-sensei
Posts: 283 |
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Thanks! I generally agree with this assessment—but I still thoroughly enjoyed the movie for its sincerity and perspective, and I think it hides some artistic depths one needs to ponder a bit to appreciate.
Produced as part of a project commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the Tohoku tsunami, Misaki no Maiyoiga (is that really the official translation of the title? Ew) is a heartful, reflective little anime that focuses not on remembering the dead but rather on the question, "how shall those who alone survived live responsibly?" Each of the film's characters is someone who alone was spared out of their family, and each finds that "responsibility," in the sense of joining a community, protecting the destitute, respecting Japanese and especially Shinto traditions, and persevering in the face of grief, is the key to recovery. Mayoiga's set-up reminds me strongly of Job 1:13–19 ("suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!"), and the film does have a very Job-like view of the problem of evil: disaster is simply and literally unreasonable, so rather than asking "why?" it's more important to live righteously despite the reality that evil things happen to innocent people. On a visual level, of course I loved the brushwork-inspired art design each time Kiwa tells one of her many Tōhoku folktales. I think Shinya Kawatsura's storyboarding and direction is also quietly outstanding, constantly presenting innocuous-seeming images that soon turn out to have a deeper meaning—for instance, the first shot of the film is a long close-up of grass growing through a crack in a road surface, but the audience soon realizes that what at first seemed like a pillow shot to establish a rural mood is actually a depiction of the aftereffects of the earthquake that created that rift in the concrete. In fact, the film hides constant silent reminders of the disaster in nearly every frame of the first act, generating what I can only describe as a "gently post-apocalyptic" tone. In the end, I think Mayoiga borrows elements a bit too heavily from other works to be an instant classic—there's a bit of My Neighbor Totoro, a lot of A Letter to Momo, some Summer Days with Coo, and so forth—and I'm not really sure that it should have given priority to its somewhat underdeveloped supernatural rather than its mundane conflict in the final act (although that might be unavoidable given the fact that it's an adaptation of a well-read novel), but I do give it a strong recommendation whenever it makes it to your country. |
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OjaruFan2
Posts: 661 |
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What do mean by that? |
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Neko-sensei
Posts: 283 |
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a_Bear_in_Bearcave
Posts: 514 Location: Poland |
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"Too on the nose" is correct English idiom meaning "lacking in subtlety", though it seem to be more of a movie and writers world lingo than general thing, and I think that what was meant here. "On the nose" means exactly or precisely right, that sort of thing. |
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Neko-sensei
Posts: 283 |
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Class is now in session.
Yes, "on the nose" absolutely can mean "lacking subtlety, nuance, or imagination"—in short, "too obvious." However, it in can only be used in this sense within a specific context. The "nose" is the target (imagine boxing), and the idiom describes how that target is reached or hit. Both the target and the method must be clear for "on the nose" to function in communication. The idiom cannot be used as a general description of an artistic work. Examples are the best way to explain this. ----- Good uses of "on the nose" in this sense:
----- Misuses of "on the nose" in this sense:
----- Using an idiom correctly entails a lot more than just looking it up in a dictionary. As you can see, "on the nose" in a derogatory sense can be particularly tricky to use correctly, so I generally recommend avoiding it and employing a simple adjective instead. (Sadly, "on the nose" been used badly by so many people and in so many contexts that I think that it's already well on the way to meaninglessness.) I'm sure no one will actually read this post but man, I needed to say that somewhere on the Internet. Thank you for the opportunity. |
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Swissman
Posts: 768 Location: Switzerland |
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I have seen Misaki no Mayoiga twice at animation film festivals now and neither me nor my friends thought for one second that the movie was inspired by Totoro (but I see the reference with A letter to Momo with the playful Youkai). We all thought the movie was memorable.
I also disagree with the assessment that the movie lacks punch or that its story would have better suited as a television series. You don't need to dwelve deeper into the side characters' circumstances to understand that they all had gone through a quite traumatic experience and share the pain of loss and grief. All you need is a bit of empathy. I rather prefer this kind of storytelling because otherwise the risk of it getting tacky is too high. |
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Folcwine P. Pywackett
 Posts: 99 |
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I belong to a blogging group where we have just completed our discussion of "The House of the Lost on the Cape (岬のマヨイガ, *Misaki no Mayoiga*)". We are basically in agreement with The Swissman above as we also thought this work was memorable. I find the ANN review to be a fundamental misreading of the work. This movie is not some children's monster flick, or fantasy. "After the initial conflict is resolved, the story meanders for a while, balancing scenes of daily life with appearances of staple figures of Japanese folklore. It gestures somewhat towards an episodic narrative structure of heartwarming small town adventures (think ["Natsume's Book of Friends"], but eventually an antagonist emerges, and the film pulls itself together for a rather conventional climax. It never feels entirely believable that the antagonist is a manifestation of the negativity in town when the auxiliary characters only get to show their cheerful and helpful sides." [Kim Morrissy, ANN 2021-9-18] This is a misread. ".. but eventually an antagonist emerges, and the film pulls itself together for a rather conventional climax." spoiler[The destruction of the Agame monster by Yui and Hiyori is not the denouement of the story! The killing of the Agame monster is a post-coital afterglow of the actual climax which took place much earlier. Yui and Hiyori are walking together, and the vision of Yui's evil Father returns to take possession of Yui. This almost succeeds until Hiyori in desperation utters a blood curdling scream which breaks the possession into which Yui is falling! This sound which is the first we have heard from Hiyori breaks the hold that takes possession of Yui and she pushes it away. This breaking of mute silence is the very moment of the denouement because the antagonist is not some monster, but lives in all of us. "Why do good people suffer evil? Why me?" This is what cripples Yui and Hiyori, and in the influence of myth and fantasy, and their mutual support together, they are able to break free from their own sadness, grief, and depression. ] spoiler[This is the point of the story, not some tale of monsters. If you track the characters of Yui and Hiyori closely, anyone can clearly see the character changes that these girls undergo through the progress of the movie. They have both suffered enormous tragedy and loss and are now orphans. As The Swissman observes, surely one can feel empathy for this loss. While Yui and Hiyori are fictional, there are thousands of children undergoing just that loss right here and now, and not in some fantasy world. ] spoiler[The movie shows clearly the healing power of myth and how it can actually work its effects in real human beings when real people care! Each encounter with the mythological leaves an impression and the girls slowly begin a series of changes under the influence of the Mayoiga and other mythological elements and it reaches its climax in the scream of Hiyori's pain which she is finally able to release. This scream is the moment where both girls suddenly change and become sisters in a new family. ] I believe this story to be one of Reiko Yoshida's greatest works. Perhaps the story is too quiet for more sophisticated reviewers to handle. This brilliant woman does more than theorize about storytelling. She actually shows how myth functions to help individuals escape their own internal demons. She is making an argument that has been made by others such as Tolkien whom she appears to quote with the Eye of Sauron. Terry Pratchett made this exact claim explicit in his "Hogfather" where Death says, "No, humans need fantasy to be human, to be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.... Yes, justice, mercy, duty, that sort of thing....You need to believe in things that aren't true, how else can they become?" If we do not believe in human love, how is love to become? Live well and thrive! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED |
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