The Bird is the Word

It’s the end of an era, and for many of us it feels like an end to our never-ending childhoods. Studio Ghibli’s new film The Boy and the Heron is legendary anime writer-director Hayao Miyazaki’s last, and we will have to get our magic elsewhere from now on.

Billed as “semi-autobiographical” and confrontationally named “Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka” in Japan, which translates to “How Do You Live?”, Miyazaki’s latest and supposedly final film deals in mortality and an optimism for shaping a world torn by war and senseless loss of life.

THE BOY AND THE HERON ★★★ (3/5 stars)
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki  
Running time: 124 mins

The opening minutes of The Boy veer as close as ever to formulaic Disney fare with the main character Mahito’s mother dying in a fire that consumes the hospital where she’s a patient in World War 2-era Tokyo. Mahito’s father Shoichi, a war profiteer, moves him out into the countryside after knocking up his deceased wife’s younger sister Natsuko.

Naturally, Mahito is resistant to all of this, struggling to adjust to his new environment and he even self-harms. It’s around this time a grey heron starts antagonizing him. Mahito sets out to hunt the bird down with a makeshift bow and arrow, but suddenly Natsuko goes missing. The heron begins speaking to Mahito and insists that Mahito’s mother is actually still alive, and he can find her and Natsuko if he’ll just follow the bird into the catacombs beneath a derelict tower.

This is where things get fantastical. A wizard appears and orders the heron to guide Mahito in finding Natsuko. They zap into a different reality with overgrown parakeets and spirits that are yet to be born into our world. It’s a harsh reality full of peril, but here is where Mahito can learn what it is to live a selfless life.

Miyazaki is nothing if not the master of the coming-of-age anime. The Boy registers as more realistic and contemplative than, say, Spirited Away, and as a standalone piece I think it suffers for it, but in the context of Miyazaki’s career and in its message I think it will endure. This is an artist wrestling with not just their own legacy but with an opportunity to leave a positive mark on the world.

The recent evolution of anime as a medium may be responsible for this, but The Boy and the Heron left me wanting something more, and perhaps that’s the message it means for us to take away when we’re talking about a more realistic view of the world. We should demand better. The magical alternate reality is there if we’re courageous and pure of heart enough to pursue it.

But, anyway, let’s talk about that fucking bird because I know that’s why you’re here. Most of the delightful moments in The Boy come from the grudging alliance between Mahito and the Grey Heron as they navigate this magic kingdom. This is a devious bird. Make no mistake. But I suppose anyone who trusts a bird deserves what’s coming to them. The English dub boasts a noteworthy voice performance by Robert Pattinson as the Grey Heron in addition to an all-star voice cast with the likes of Christian Bale, Florence Pugh, and Mark Hamil.

The Boy and the Heron is the type of sendoff for a legendary anime icon you would wish upon someone who has gifted us so many cherished stories. Miyazaki gets to go out on his own terms, leaving behind a monument to what he’s learned along the way. We should all hope to close the book on our careers in such a manner.