Forum - View topicGhibli's/Miyazaki's The Wind Rises is...a let-down.
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NefariousPlatypus
Posts: 53 |
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I know. Blasphemy. I was so freaking excited. I went in blind cause I didn't wanna have any preconceived notions. (Other than it was gonna be amazing.) Well, it's not amazing.
The pacing was a mess. The movie felt looong. It tried to be a story about the times with WWII, and yet a movie about a guy living through it. Despite its length, it managed to not properly delve into either side in a substantial way and ends up being about...nothing in particular. The story spends way too much time in a lull, and doesn't really come together in a gratifying way. Just felt like highlights of events in someone's life. Loosely strung together, without strong cohesion or proper focus. I know it's supposed to be semi-autobiographical, but damn. There was so much time wasted on banal moments. Some positives:
Awesome sound effects for machines done by vocals/voice-actors Airplane-porn. (Seriously, the film's kind of a love-letter to planes.) Amazing & terrifying German guy The film's set in the real world, but it still had touches that made it feel dreamy and surreal. (Just, more like a realistic and lifelike mundane dream.) I don't hate it. I just wanted to like it way more than I did. |
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EricJ
 Posts: 876 |
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Yeah, I got the sense from the trailer of someone who was WAY too sentimentally close to his own material, and didn't care because he was retiring and felt he "deserved" to make it, audience be darned. I keep confusing Miyazaki's fillmography with Akira Kurosawa's, and the exact same complaint could be leveled at Kurosawa's farewell "Madadayo"...What a sentimentally retirement-lulling, self-indulgent "semi-autobiographical" mess without a shred of narrative plot THAT was. (But you had me at "Airplane porn". That sounds like Miyazaki in his own personal sandbox.) |
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NefariousPlatypus
Posts: 53 |
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Yeah, you could tell there was immense love and care put into this aspect of the film. That alone makes it worth watching at least once. Also, I should clarify that the movie does try to focus and be about Jiro and his dream/goal in life. But, the execution was just all over the place. The movie really should have been a book instead of a film. |
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Chagen46
 Posts: 4377 |
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No comment on Hideki Anno's acting? From what I've heard, it was horrible, and even the Japanese didn't like it.
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NefariousPlatypus
Posts: 53 |
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Totally forgot about this. I didn't know he voiced the protagonist until after finishing the movie. He's obviously an Anime god and it would have made me even more excited so I'm glad I was unaware going in. I'm not sure how to say this without sounding mean (especially since I admire him so much) but...he had a weird lisp. I think . I don't really speak Japanese, but his voice sounded oddly off. |
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vanfanel
 Posts: 1261 |
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Anno's performance was very soft-spoken and unassuming, to the point that I couldn't get into the character's head, and got no sense of there being anything else in there except airplanes. I do want to talk to a native speaker who's seen it, and find out what kind of impression he or she had. To me, Jiro seemed to be drifting through his own life and times as a spectator rather than as a participant, at least whenever he wasn't working.
There were some great scenes here and there; however, the film as a whole just didn't seem to gel into something that had much to say about the issues it raised. Oh well, there's still "Princess Kaguya" to look forward to! |
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NefariousPlatypus
Posts: 53 |
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Yup, it'd be interesting to see what native speakers thought of Jiro's voice. And yeah it definitely had some great bits in there. Like you said though, it all just doesn't really come together. I feel like Miyazaki gave himself too much free reign. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Wait, that was Hideaki Anno voicing adult Jiro? Holy crap on a stick, I didn't even realise. But it explains so much. Jiro's adult voice was so atrocious I was forced to switch to the English dub, for perhaps the first time ever. Joseph Gordon-Levitt wasn't great but he was at least tolerable.
Seriously, why and how did Anno get the lead role? I'm just completely baffled. |
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shamisen the great
 Posts: 658 Location: Oregon, USA |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Well they must be for Anno to get the lead role over a professionally trained seiyuu.
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shamisen the great
Posts: 658 Location: Oregon, USA |
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Yeah, as much as I respect Anno as a director, acting is not amongst his talents.
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jl07045
 Posts: 1527 Location: Riga, Latvia |
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A quote from Carl Horn about their relationship:
That being said, I don't think it's as much pure nepotism, as Miyazaki also thinking that Anno, being the kind of person that he is, might be a good match for that role. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Anno is/was a deeply troubled person emotionally and mentally, which is not a criticism so much as an observation (one that I believe is not controversial, given Anno's comments in various interviews about himself). Jiro - at least how he was portrayed in the movie - was a young man whose biggest concern (apart from his sick wife) was lacking the technology to design a truly beautiful airplane. He didn't come across as someone grappling with depression. I think the biggest problem though is that Anno was fifty-three when he voiced Jiro, and he made no attempt to prevent Jiro from sounding like a fifty-three-year-old man. The voice and character design are so incompatible I couldn't stand it. If Miyazaki thought that Anno would do a good job - and if he liked Anno's work - then he's off his rocker. |
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jl07045
Posts: 1527 Location: Riga, Latvia |
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That is an observation of Anno circa original Eva. The newer interviews show a more stable person. But what Miyazaki was going for was likely his obsessiveness as a giant robot/ship otaku.
And of course Miyazaki is off his rocker, I don't remeber him ever being on it. |
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