The Wind Rises (2013)
Japan 126m, Colour
Director: Hayao Miyazaki; Cast: Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masahiko Nishimura
The Wind Rises is an incredibly cinematic and elegantly scored animated account of the life of Jiro Horikoshi, an aeronautical engineer who designed the “Zero” fighter plane for Japan during WWII. As a tragic love story, Miyazaki blends fact and fiction to create a heartwarming anti-war tale about a young man whose desire to become a pilot is thwarted by his poor eyesight, but whose dreams lead him to becoming one of Japan’s leading aircraft designers. This is a daring film that finds a beautiful balance through its portrayal of Jiro’s personal struggles and his professional achievements, and which tragically concludes that the fate of all he loved was beyond his control (Klaus Ming March 2015).
6 comments on “The Wind Rises (2013)”
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I can’t complain about The Wind Rises. I liked it a lot! Especially the fantasies about the European air pioneers.
And it gets a lot of points for weirdness at several points. I recognized Werner Herzog’s voice and I thought I was imagining things for a minute. And then the end, the slowly rising horror that, if the film had continued, we would have seen the Studio Ghibli version of Pearl Harbor.
I generally don’t watch the English language versions of Ghibli films, preferring the original Japanese performances, which I find vastly superior in the context of the films. But in this case, I did search out Herzog’s character and re-watched portions of this film when he appeared.
There’s a lot to like in this film. In fact, I like pretty much everything about it. It manages to be tragic and uplifting at the same time. Miyazaki ended his career on a real high note. It makes me sad that he won’t be doing more.
I really enjoyed it as well. Definitely one of his best, and very unfortunate that it may well be his last film.
Good review, but I did not like it at all. Miyazaki assumes that everyone is into flying and aircrafts. Was too slow for my taste.
It seems that this was a highly personal film, and at this point in Miyazaki’s career, I suspect he was more interested in making something that he was personally interested in doing.