benlehman

Saw "Howl's Moving Castle" today, in a theater bootleg DVD by way of Taiwan. No subtitles, thought I was able to follow most of the plot, until the end, when it diverged from the book. The first half hour was almost spot on the original text, with a gorgeous, gorgeous "Hal and young Sophie flying together" scene. Calcifer (the fire elemental) ruled, as is to be expected.

The overall verdict: It's Miyazaki, so it is good. He's really beginning to show his age, and that's a good thing. I think that half of this movie was about growing old, and half of the movie was his own lovesong to animation and a deconstruction of animation as artifice. There are some amazing scenes which were clearly done just to watch things move.

On the whole, I would put it in the middle of his movies. It isn't a Totoro or Nausicaa, but it is easily better than Porco Rosso. When I see it and can understand it, perhaps I'll have a better judgement.

Other than that, work in building my library continues, my mother got the first proofs for her book (exciting!) and I had a lovely dinner with Marc and Akemi.



And what is it with me and Asian girls ten years older than me, anyway?