Spirited Away team on the stinking soul stage Johan Persson Studio Ghibli Spirited Away It has been universally acclaimed and admired since its initial release in 2001. The animated film, which tells the story of a young girl named Chihiro who accidentally gets lost in a fantasy world full of spirits, is much loved for… Read More »
It’s a gray spring morning in London, and a box containing an old woman’s head sits on the pavement in Covent Garden. Or rather, parts of a piece. Its head is torn apart because, whole, it doesn’t fit: it’s about eight feet tall and even wider, its eyes are the size of a cauldron, its… Read More »
Released from Neon on an undisclosed date this year, Pablo Berger’s “Robot Dreams” was one of the animation delights of 2023. The hand-drawn Spanish/French drama film (adapted from Sarah Varon’s wordless graphic novel) is a bittersweet tale of friendship between lonely Dog and Robot in a version of ’80s Manhattan that’s populated with animals and… Read More »
When Hayao Miyazaki pitched “The Boy and the Heron” (GKids, now in select Los Angeles and New York theaters) to Studio Ghibli co-founder/producer Toshio Suzuki in 2016, he asked for permission to make the story about himself. This surprised Suzuki, then his friend of nearly 40 years; The legendary anime director isn’t known for getting… Read More »