Gake no ue no Ponyo

Ponyo rantakalliolla / Ponyo på klippan vid havet / Ponyo. JP (c) 2008 Studio Ghibli. Hand-drawn and painted anime D+SC: Hayao Miyazaki. 101 min. Released by Cinema Mondo both in an original version and an edition dubbed into Finnish (Pekka Lehtosaari). Viewed at Tennispalatsi 3, 26 Sep 2009 (dubbed version). - An analogue look. - Hayao Miyazaki belongs also to the film artists whose new film I always look forward to, and Ponyo is no disappointment. - Miyazaki tells now a more simple and elemental fairy-tale, which is also suitable for quite small children. - The elements now include the sea and the wind. - The metamorphosis of the little goldfish Ponyo that turns human upsets the balance of the world. This is the story of the great flood, the tsunami. The little boy Sosuke plays a crucial role in it. - The story seems quite original despite the official inspiration of H.C. Andersen's The Little Mermaid. To a Finnish viewer it also brings to mind Tove Jansson's first Moomin story The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945). - A great fairy-tale, for keeps. - It's a pleasure to see traditional animation in an era of too much digital.

Kaze no tani no Naushika

Tuulen laakson Nausikaa / Nausicaa av vindens dal / Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. JP 1984. PC: Studio Ghibli. P: Isao Takahata. D+SC: Hayao Miyazaki - based on his manga (1982-1994). M: Joe Hisaishi. AN: Kazuo Komatsubara (an d). Voice talent: Sumi Shimamoto (Nausicaä), Mahito Tsujimura (Jihl), Hisako Kyôda (Oh-Baba). 118 min (the long version). Released in Finland (premiere 2008) by Cinema Mondo with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Janne Mökkönen / Sanna Hulden. Viewed at Kinopalatsi 9, Helsinki, 17 Oct 2008. - A beautiful analogue print. - Miyazaki's second feature film has already his hallmarks: the feeling for the secrets of nature, the concern for ecocatastrophe, the meditative tempo, the young girl as the protagonist, the dream of flying, and the visions of war. - It is a dystopia of the world a thousand years after "the seven days of fire": the nuclear holocaust and the following ecocatastrophe. The visions of the Toxic Jungle and the Giant Ohm creatures and the toxic plants in the Sea of Decay are memorable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind

Kurenai no buta / Porco Rosso

Porco Rosso (Finnish theatrical premiere title 7 March 2008) / Punainen sika (Finnish tv title 1995). JP 1992. PC: Studio Ghibli. D: Hayao Miyazaki. Theme song: "Le Temps de cerises". 94 min. Released by Cinema Mondo only in the original version with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Janne Mökkönen / Joanna Erkkilä. Rated 7 in Finland. Viewed at Tennispalatsi 8, Helsinki, 8 March 2008.

The Hayao Miyazaki anime masterpiece gets its Finnish theatrical premiere, having been seen in the country previously only on tv, the home vhs copies having become treasures of the owners. Its colour, sense of adventure and fascination with machines and landscapes resemble Hergé. The story takes place on the Adriatic Sea in 1929. The aviator hero is a bounty hunter who fights air pirates. His head has strangely metamorphosed into that of a pig's. Two strong female chacters: the club singer and the young mechanic wizard. The wonder of flying is based on the freedom from gravity, and Miyazaki has his fun with this freedom.