ADirected by Hiyao Miyazaki Starring Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, and Mari Natsuki Review by Jon Kissel |  |
In Spirited Away, the most critically acclaimed film in Hiyao Miyazaki’s extensive and oft-praised career, the most powerful and memorable image isn’t of wonders like a multi-armed spiderman operating a bellows or a dragon fleeing from a swarm of paper birds. These, and many others, fill Spirited Away, but an early shot wins out. It’s simply a broad-shouldered man, shot from a low angle, walking confidently forward. Through the eyes of pre-teen protagonist Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragai), daughter to the man, the whole world is captured in her gaze as she watches her father lead her into an unknown future. Her parents can lead her to the enchanted spa she finds herself stuck in, but she has to be the one to get out of it. That shot is so self-evidently loving, that it is enough to want Chihiro to escape a truly incredible place, one of cinema’s great fantasy locations. It’s the fulcrum on which the film is balanced, and it powers Miyazaki’s masterpiece as surely as that aforementioned spiderman powers the spa.
Spirited Away begins in a place far away from joy and closer to fear and apprehension. Chihiro starts the film sulking in the backseat, resentful of a move her parents have made from a place where she had lots of friends to a place where she doesn’t know anyone. Her dad takes a wrong turn, but uses the experience to stretch his legs and go exploring. The family of three comes upon a deserted outdoor shopping center, overlooked by a giant multistory pagoda. A sumptuous and steaming buffet entices mom and dad, but Chihiro isn’t hungry. While crossing over to the pagoda, a young boy, able to use magic, warns her to leave immediately. She runs back to her parents, but they have turned into giant pigs in too-tight shirts, and the grounds have been overrun with ghostly figures, all heading toward the pagoda. As the sun sets, Chihiro is now trapped amongst these ghosts, leaving her with no choice but to head towards the pagoda with everyone else.
The adolescent wizard, Haku (Miyu Irino) takes pity on Chihiro and helps her get acquainted to her new surroundings. He tells her that the pagoda is a spa for spirits run by the witch Yubaba (Mari Natsuki). She holds the names of her workers as collateral, which keeps them in the spa and makes them increasingly forgetful of their previous lives, but it prevents them from fading away into nothing. The most important thing in the spa is to hold a job, so Haku sets Chihiro up as an errand girl for Kamaji (Bunta Sugawara), the mustachioed furnace keeper well able to do his work thanks to his many extra arms. Now being sent throughout the spa, Chihiro is able to take it all in, finding new spirits and obstacles around every corner.
Much of Spirited Away plays out like a Japanese role-playing game, with the plot moving forward through the accumulation of experience or special items. That is said with the utmost charity, as this aspect allows Miyazaki to create several set pieces that are necessary to advance the plot, but mainly function to immerse the viewer in the spa and what’s possible here while also maintaining a pervasive sense of momentum and accomplishment. Two clients, one allowed and one uninvited, give Miyazaki an opportunity to let his imagination run wild. Both also beef up the motifs of gluttony and overconsumption that run through Spirited Away. The invited guest, a lumbering blob, requires the entire staff to help clean him up and results in an ecstatic celebration. The intruder, let in by a trusting Chihiro, is the most iconic creation of the film, the No Face creature. Initially speaking only in breathy grunts, this all-black apparition wears a smiling mask that suggests that behind it is where his face is. That is incorrect. The No Face is a ravenous beast once inside, gobbling up anything in hysterical fashion. Both guests serve as mini-bosses for Chihiro, necessary to continue on her journey back to her life, but their placement in the film is most memorable as a pair of delightful detours. Chihiro’s quest is an easy one to invest in, but simply hanging out in the spa would make a great film all on its own.
There is an endless amount to discover in the spa but Spirited Away is first and foremost about Chihiro. She’s a magnetic protagonist, confident but afraid, tentative but able to rise to a challenge, and charitable above all else. What she is not is graceful. Not quite an adolescent herself, the gangliness of adolescence is already upon her. Miyazaki and his team animate her as a barely controlled tangle of limbs, repeatedly having her move faster than her appendages can carry and spilling over herself into a C shape. Ghibli films are always packed with fantasy imagery and the continuous risk is that the spectacle will outrun the characters. That’s not a concern here, thanks to the endearing writing around Chihiro and Hiiragi’s earnest voice performance.
While not my favorite Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro still holds the crown), Spirited Away is as complete a package as any film, animated or otherwise. Wonder with a sprinkle of melancholy, joy without a trace of cynicism, Miyazaki is in complete control of the visual and emotional palette. There is an impossible level of detail in every shot. Things likely stick out on each new viewing. This time, my eye was repeatedly drawn to a fat duck extra with a lily pad hat. Next time, who knows, and there certainly will be a next time. If I’m Chihiro and Miyazaki is Chihiro’s dad, I would gladly follow him to any creative vista he wants to take me to. There’s no one else like him, and there are few films like Spirited Away. A
The adolescent wizard, Haku (Miyu Irino) takes pity on Chihiro and helps her get acquainted to her new surroundings. He tells her that the pagoda is a spa for spirits run by the witch Yubaba (Mari Natsuki). She holds the names of her workers as collateral, which keeps them in the spa and makes them increasingly forgetful of their previous lives, but it prevents them from fading away into nothing. The most important thing in the spa is to hold a job, so Haku sets Chihiro up as an errand girl for Kamaji (Bunta Sugawara), the mustachioed furnace keeper well able to do his work thanks to his many extra arms. Now being sent throughout the spa, Chihiro is able to take it all in, finding new spirits and obstacles around every corner.
Much of Spirited Away plays out like a Japanese role-playing game, with the plot moving forward through the accumulation of experience or special items. That is said with the utmost charity, as this aspect allows Miyazaki to create several set pieces that are necessary to advance the plot, but mainly function to immerse the viewer in the spa and what’s possible here while also maintaining a pervasive sense of momentum and accomplishment. Two clients, one allowed and one uninvited, give Miyazaki an opportunity to let his imagination run wild. Both also beef up the motifs of gluttony and overconsumption that run through Spirited Away. The invited guest, a lumbering blob, requires the entire staff to help clean him up and results in an ecstatic celebration. The intruder, let in by a trusting Chihiro, is the most iconic creation of the film, the No Face creature. Initially speaking only in breathy grunts, this all-black apparition wears a smiling mask that suggests that behind it is where his face is. That is incorrect. The No Face is a ravenous beast once inside, gobbling up anything in hysterical fashion. Both guests serve as mini-bosses for Chihiro, necessary to continue on her journey back to her life, but their placement in the film is most memorable as a pair of delightful detours. Chihiro’s quest is an easy one to invest in, but simply hanging out in the spa would make a great film all on its own.
There is an endless amount to discover in the spa but Spirited Away is first and foremost about Chihiro. She’s a magnetic protagonist, confident but afraid, tentative but able to rise to a challenge, and charitable above all else. What she is not is graceful. Not quite an adolescent herself, the gangliness of adolescence is already upon her. Miyazaki and his team animate her as a barely controlled tangle of limbs, repeatedly having her move faster than her appendages can carry and spilling over herself into a C shape. Ghibli films are always packed with fantasy imagery and the continuous risk is that the spectacle will outrun the characters. That’s not a concern here, thanks to the endearing writing around Chihiro and Hiiragi’s earnest voice performance.
While not my favorite Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro still holds the crown), Spirited Away is as complete a package as any film, animated or otherwise. Wonder with a sprinkle of melancholy, joy without a trace of cynicism, Miyazaki is in complete control of the visual and emotional palette. There is an impossible level of detail in every shot. Things likely stick out on each new viewing. This time, my eye was repeatedly drawn to a fat duck extra with a lily pad hat. Next time, who knows, and there certainly will be a next time. If I’m Chihiro and Miyazaki is Chihiro’s dad, I would gladly follow him to any creative vista he wants to take me to. There’s no one else like him, and there are few films like Spirited Away. A
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