THE BOY AND THE HERON (君たちはどう生きるか) review

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Aimyon, Yoshino Kimura, Takuya Kimura, Shōhei Hino, Ko Shibasaki, Kaoru Kobayashi, Jun Kunimura
Genre: Animation
Run Time: 124 min
Opens: 30 November 2023
Rating: PG13

Like John Wick, revered Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki is a man who cannot retire. His 2013 feature film The Wind Rises was announced as his final film. Then, working on the 2018 short film Boro and the Caterpillar ignited a desire in Miyazaki to make at least one more feature. After seven years in production, The Boy and the Heron arrives in theatres.

Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki) is an 11-year-old boy whose mother Hisako dies in a hospital fire in Tokyo during the Pacific War. Mahito’s father Shoichi (Takuya Kimura) marries Hisako’s younger sister Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura). The family moves from war-torn Tokyo to Natsuko’s countryside family estate. Mahito must navigate a fraught relationship with his stepmother/aunt and gets bullied at his new school. A mysterious Grey Heron (Masaki Suda) reveals itself to be a magical being, guiding Mahito into an abandoned tower built by Mahito’s granduncle on the grounds of the estate. The tower contains a portal to a magical alternate realm, where Mahito meets other-worldly beings including cuddly sprites and man-eating parakeet beasts. Mahito discovers mysterious connections between certain figures he meets in this world and the people he knows in real life, as he begins to learn his life’s purpose.  

Miyazaki has left an indelible impact on the medium of animation, and it’s easy to his why his and Studio Ghibli’s work at large has been so influential. The Boy and the Heron contains themes and motifs that will be familiar to those who have long enjoyed his work: it is a coming-of-age story that views the transition from childhood into adolescence and adulthood through a fantasy lens. The movie doesn’t feel like a soulless retread – far from it. There is invention, creativity, and heart throughout the movie, which was a labour of love for Miyazaki and his crew. There is a strong semi-autobiographical element, with Miyazaki drawing on his own relationship with his mother.

The movie embraces its weirdness – the Heron is nothing if not a weird little guy. Natsuko’s family estate is entirely staffed by little old custodian ladies who are equal parts endearing and strange, almost foreshadowing the magical creatures who appear later. The Boy and the Heron is unafraid to be off-putting at times and isn’t bound by the corporate packaging that can often be detected in Hollywood animated films.

Speaking of Hollywood animated films, The Boy and the Heron is a very different movie from Disney’s Wish, but having seen both films within days of each other, this reviewer cannot help but compare them. The Boy and the Heron is intended as a culmination of Miyazaki’s career, while Wish is intended to celebrate 100 years of Walt Disney Studios. As such, both movies contain “greatest hits” elements, but couldn’t feel more different in the ways they remind audiences of previous movies from their respective studios.

Taken on its own, The Boy and the Heron is a sometimes-challenging work to get into. The first half of the film is deliberately slow so we can learn more about Mahito’s grief, trauma, and his difficulty in adapting to a new life. It takes about an hour or so before Mahito travels to the alternate realm. While the fantasy elements are captivating, alternately grotesque and enchanting, the movie’s world-building falls short of, say, Spirited Away, arguably the Miyazaki movie that The Boy and the Heron most resembles. The plot is confusing and the events in the fantasy realm are difficult to follow, with some metaphysical time-bending shenanigans at play. The Boy and the Heron is often fascinating and there’s a lot to delve into and pick apart, but it stops short of being fully transporting and absorbing in part because there’s a lot going on.

Summary: The Boy and the Heron is a culmination of Hayao Miyazaki’s career, and it is fitting as the film that he un-retired (again) to make. Long-time fans of Miyazaki’s work and the other Studio Ghibli movies he didn’t direct will spot many recurring themes and motifs from those earlier films in The Boy and the Heron. The movie is unafraid to be sometimes weird and off-putting, but it is brimming with imagination and heart and the inimitable Miyazaki storytelling style. Parts of the movie are confusing, and the first half is deliberately very slowly paced, and it doesn’t work especially on its own, separated from the Ghibli oeuvre. However, it is undeniably something worth waiting for, and if it really, truly, actually is Miyazaki’s final feature, it will be a fitting cap to an incredible career.

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars                        

Jedd Jong

Napoleon review

Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Ben Miles, Ludivine Sagnier, Matthew Needham, John Hollingworth, Youssef Kerkour, Phil Cornwell, Édouard Philipponnat, Ian McNiece, Rupert Everett, Paul Rhys, Catherine Walker
Genre: History/War/Action
Run Time: 158 min
Opens: 23 November 2023
Rating: M18

In 2000, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator was widely seen as re-invigorating the historical epic genre. That movie is remembered for its lead performance from Russell Crowe, but also for an indelible villainous turn by a young Joaquin Phoenix, earning him his first Oscar nomination. 23 years later, Scott and Phoenix reunite for Napoleon, a historical epic of a different type.

Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) rises to power in the wake of the French Revolution. He goes from a ranking officer in the French Army to establishing himself as one of the most powerful men alive. Napoleon leads the French army through multiple bloody battles all over the world. During a 12-year-long stretch that became known as the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon led military campaigns including the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, but also helmed an ill-advised invasion of Russia that was crippled by the harsh winter. The movie also tracks Napoleon’s tumultuous relationship with Joséphine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby), a key source of tension in their marriage being her apparent inability to bear him a son.

Napoleon works best when its actors are allowed to hold court. Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of the title character as a mumbling, petulant, often childish, egotistical man might be an oversimplification of the historical figure, but it is often engaging to watch. Vanessa Kirby ably goes toe to toe with Phoenix and her Joséphine is breathtaking and magnetic. There is an irresistible intensity and yet also a lightness to her portrayal of the character that makes the viewer wish she had more screen time. Scott says the movie’s four-and-a-half hour-long director’s cut features more of Joséphine. The screenplay by David Scarpa positions this as the central emotional thread of the story, and that’s when Napoleon is at its most dynamic.

Napoleon is filmmaking on a grand scale, with battle scenes featuring hundreds of extras on locations in the UK, France, Morocco and Malta. Director Ridley Scott is famed for his ability to efficiently marshal a large production and Napoleon does possess an appropriate visual grandeur.

Much has been made of the movie’s historical inaccuracy. This reviewer saw the film with his brother, a history major with a specialised interest in military history, and he seemed to be in physical pain at some points. “Why use all these resources to get everything wrong?” he asked, almost plaintively. Indeed, it seems like Scott has taken pride in the movie’s lack of fidelity to history, especially in terms of the tactics and the sequence of events in the battle scenes, when it seems like the main reason to make a movie about Napoleon is to try and re-create said battles.

“When I have issues with historians, I ask: ‘Excuse me, mate, were you there? No? Well, shut the f*** up then’,” Scott told The Times. In a separate interview, Scott responded to the French media’s negative reviews of his film by saying, “The French don’t even like themselves. The audience that I showed it to in Paris, they loved it.” So, this is clearly a man who, at 85, has run out of f***s to give, and it could be argued that he has earned that right. Liberties are taken with every movie based on true events, but there is a sliding scale. The frustrating thing about the historical inaccuracies in Napoleon, especially when it comes to the battles, is that they don’t seem to serve the story, when dramatic license is typically taken for that purpose.

There’s a reason why filmmakers are praised for an obsessive attention to detail – indeed, Stanley Kubrick had tried for years to get his Napoleon movie off the ground. Suffice it to say that Kubrick’s approach would have differed vastly from Scott’s – which is not to say that there isn’t tremendous technical ability on display. The movie’s version of the Battle of Austerlitz is exciting and terrifying, with cannonballs breaking the ice and causing men and horses to drown in freezing waters – even if it didn’t happen that way at all. The battle sequences are packed with gory detail (the Siege of Toulon features an exploding horse) but after a while, the gruesomeness becomes diffuse and loses its impact.

Ultimately, it feels like even at 158 minutes, the theatrical cut of the movie is rushing through history, trying to get through as many major events as possible, while still leaving out the Battle of Leipzig. Napoleon offers the opportunity for a filmmaker and his cast to try and get inside the head of the historical figure, but everything feels frustratingly surface-level, as sweeping and grand as things get.

Summary: Napoleon reunites star Joaquin Phoenix and director Ridley Scott 23 years after Gladiator. Phoenix’s interpretation of Napoleon as temperamental, impulsive, and petulant is a simplification of the historical figure, but it is engaging to watch. Vanessa Kirby ably goes toe-to-toe with him as Joséphine in a performance that will leave you wanting to see more (something the movie’s four-and-a-half-hour-long director’s cut reportedly has). However, Napoleon suffers from Scott’s apparent contempt for historical accuracy, meaning the spectacular large-scale battle scenes do not portray the tactics that Napoleon became known for, and are often entirely made up. More than that, the movie feels frustratingly surface-level, refusing to drill down and explore the historical figure’s motivations and psyche. At 158 minutes, things still feel rushed, like the movie is trying to cover as much ground as possible.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars                        

Jedd Jong

Wish review

Director: Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn
Cast: Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, Natasha Rothwell, Jennifer Kumiyama, Harvey Guillén, Niko Vargas, Evan Peters, Ramy Youssef, Jon Rudnitsky, Della Saba
Genre: Animation
Run Time: 95 min
Opens: 23 November 2023
Rating: PG

At some point in many musicals, the protagonist sings an “I Want” song. The Disney animated canon is filled with “I Want” songs, from “I’m Wishing” to “Part of Your World” to “Out There” to “A Place Called Slaughter Race”. At the heart of each “I Want” song is a wish, and now there’s a Disney movie all about that wish.

The Kingdom of Rosas is ruled by King Magnifico (Chris Pine) and Queen Amaya (Angelique Cabral). Magnifico has mastered sorcery and has the power to grant wishes. When each citizen of Rosas turns 18, they hand over their wish to Magnifico, and he guards the wishes, choosing which one to grant. Asha (Ariana DeBose), a young tour guide, wants to become Magnifico’s apprentice. She also hopes for the king to grant her grandfather Sabino’s (Victor Garber) wish, as it is his 100^th birthday. When Magnifico refuses, Asha learns he is abusing his power. She makes her own wish, and is visited by Star, the star that she wished upon. Star’s magical gifts include giving Asha’s pet goat Valentino (Alan Tudyk) the power of speech. Meanwhile, Magnifico feels threatened by a magical presence that he cannot wield control over and grows ever more tyrannical. It is up to Asha, her friends and Star to free the wishes that Magnifico is holding captive and return them to the people of Rosas.

Wish has its charming moments and some very endearing characters, especially Star. The magical entity has adorable facial expressions, is round and cuddly, and demonstrates an economy of design. The idea is that this is the star that “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio is about.

The voice acting is great, especially from leads DeBose and Pine. Asha and Magnifico are generic in many ways, but DeBose and Pine lend their characters life and personality. Pine seems to be having a grand old time hamming it up as the cackling villain, while DeBose gets to show off her wonderful voice in several musical numbers. Magnifico will be a fun character for cast members at Disney parks to play and have interactions with visitors. Alan Tudyk, who has been Disney’s good luck charm for a decade now, is entertaining as the talking goat Valentino, delivering a vocal performance that is reminiscent of his turn as Clayface in the Harley Quinn animated series.

Wish is intended as a centennial celebration for Disney, and long-time Disney fans will have fun spotting the various Easter eggs and references to Disney movies past scattered throughout the movie. Everything from Bambi and Robin Hood to Peter Pan and Mary Poppins gets a shout-out of some kind.

Unfortunately, Wish often feels like it exists mainly because of a corporate mandate. It feels caught between trying to honour Disney films past and standing on its own. As a result, it feels oddly rigid and flat, lacking in crucial dynamism. The animation is largely technically proficient, but the Kingdom of Rosas is no Corona from Tangled or Arendelle from Frozen. The animation style seeks to blend the classic watercolour look of something like Snow White with the recent CGI 3D animation seen in most Disney animated features. It is somewhat reminiscent of the now-defunct Telltale Games’ art style. Sometimes it looks interesting, but other times it feels a little cheap.

Asha has a posse of seven friends modelled on the Seven Dwarves, and it seems like the only reason there are seven of those characters is to make that reference. Sometimes the references are fun, but other times they can feel shoehorned in. The story is a simplistic enough fairy tale for children to grasp, but all those references are aimed at adults, and Wish doesn’t bridge that divide as well as some other Disney movies have.

The movie has the chance to comment on the nature of wishing, on the difference between hoping something will happen and trying to make it happen; on how wishes can inspire us but also hold us back. Careful the wish you make, wishes are children – that sort of thing. Wish isn’t really interested in any of this, and that’s fine too.  

The songs by Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice feel more in the Lin-Manuel Miranda mould than the Alan Menken mould. Asha’s big number “This Wish” is catchy, but it being in all the trailers is a big contributing factor. It’s all a matter of personal taste, of course, but this reviewer feels a movie that’s meant to celebrate the entirety of Disney animation should have a more classic, throwback sound. Wish’s songs feel like contemporary musical theatre, sitting somewhere between Miranda and Pasek and Paul. They’re not terrible by any means, but fall short of Disney’s most memorable, sweeping songs.

Summary: Wish features a wonderful voice cast led by Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine and largely technically competent animation. It’s a straightforward fairy tale, but it also feels burdened by the corporate mandate of commemorating the 100^th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company. Wish fits in as many references to Disney movies past as it can but comes off feeling underwhelming rather than triumphant. Enough of it works, but it feels like a shadow of the studio’s greatest hits. There still are plenty of funny and moving moments, but it often feels like something is holding Wish back. Stay through the end credits to see illustrations representing Disney’s animated feature films (in chronological order) and for a sweet little post-credits scene.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars                        

Jedd Jong

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes review

Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schaefer, Josh Andrés Rivera, Jason Schwartzman, Viola Davis, Fionnula Flanagan, Burn Gorman, Ashley Liao
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-fi
Run Time: 157 min
Opens: 16 November 2023
Rating: PG13

The last instalment in the Hunger Games film series, Mockingjay Part 2, was released in 2015. Since then, Lionsgate has been eager to extend the franchise in some way, and so when author Suzanne Collins announced she was penning a prequel, it was a given that it would be adapted into a movie.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes centres on Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), the future president of Panem. Coriolanus is the son of General Crassus Snow, who died in the war between the Districts and the Capitol. The Hunger Games, an annual deathmatch between youths from each of the Districts, was instated to punish the Districts for daring to rise up against the Capitol. The Games are now in their tenth year and were created by Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage), Dean of the prestigious Academy.

The Games’ flagging popularity leads Gamemaker Dr Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) to make several drastic changes: for the first time, the Games will have a host, TV anchor Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman). The Tributes from each District are also assigned a student from the Academy as their mentor, and Coriolanus is paired with Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a singer from District 12. As the Games begin, Coriolanus and Lucy form an unexpected bond and Coriolanus undergoes experiences that will eventually lead to him becoming the ruler of Panem.

We’ve seen franchises dip into the prequel well before – the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, the Fantastic Beasts series, the Hobbit trilogy and Prometheus and Alien Covenant come to mind. In all cases, these movies were not as well-received as their forebears, and it’s easy to be sceptical about what seem like cynical attempts to stretch out the IP.

Part of the Hunger Games brand has always been that it has a bit more on its mind than its Young Adult fiction cohorts. What The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has going for it is that the setting of The Hunger Games is intriguing and raises many questions, notably: how did teenagers killing each other in a televised competition become a building block of society? This story is interested in exploring the various factors that make people gravitate towards authoritarian rule, and the ways in which seemingly good people can be bent to the will of the ruling class. We see the origins of how the Games got turned into a media spectacle. While the Games still feature heavily in the story, it’s the academics and politicians who create and run the Games that are the focus.

The production design by Uli Hanisch is eye-catching: the main Hunger Games movies were vaguely futuristic, whereas The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes has a bit more of a 50s vibe. The logo for the tenth Hunger Games looks a bit like the sign for a retro diner that sells overpriced hamburgers. Trish Summerville, who designed the costumes for Catching Fire, returns. The world-building is layered and works especially if one is already invested in the Hunger Games lore.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is long. There’s a lot of lore to fit into its 157-minute runtime, and while there are thought-provoking ideas at play, the movie sometimes struggles to hold the audience’s attention. It’s not quite to the extent of The Phantom Menace being about trade route negotiations, but the action takes a backseat in this movie, such that it’s rarely very thrilling. There are suspenseful moments, especially during the Games itself, but otherwise, it’s very much a character piece. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but for audiences who aren’t already acquainted with the existing books or films or both, it might sometimes be difficult to care too much about what happens. The movie is split into three chapters, and as such feels a bit more like a TV miniseries than a movie. When the Games conclude, there’s still over an hour left in the movie’s runtime – while that hour is essential to Coriolanus’ character development, it feels like the movie has already ended. 

Who do you get to play a young Donald Sutherland (younger than Kiefer and Rossif Sutherland are now)? Tom Blyth proves a good pick. He plays a golden boy who gets tarnished, and Blyth conveys Coriolanus’ ambition and intellect and initial struggle to be an ethical person well. The character goes on a complete arc, and even though there are many years in between the ending of this film and the beginning of The Hunger Games, it still feels like a satisfying story.

Lucy Gray Baird is, in many ways, a proto-Katniss. There are major differences between the two characters, but Lucy Gray is intended to remind audiences of Katniss. She is a folk singer, and so the casting of Rachel Zegler, who delivered an astounding vocal performance in Spielberg’s West Side Story, makes sense. The movie’s incorporation of music might not work for everyone, but this reviewer thinks it works as a textural element in the world-building. The story is very much Coriolanus’, and so Lucy Gray sometimes feels sidelined.

Josh Andrés Rivera, who also appeared in West Side Story, plays the idealistic Sejanus Plinth, who opposes the Games. The dynamic between Sejanus and Coriolanus is perhaps the movie’s most interesting thread.

The Hunger Games movies boasted wonderful supporting performances from actors like Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci and the aforementioned Donald Sutherland. Here, that tradition is continued by both Jason Schwartzman and Viola Davis, who are having a grand old time as over-the-top villains (or villain-adjacent characters).

Peter Dinklage is more subdued, but still makes an impact as the man who devised the Games and is perhaps a little haunted by his creation.

Summary: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes takes audiences back to the dystopian land of Panem. It sets itself apart from other prequels by displaying a keen interest in exploring the way the fictional world works, and how the decisions of academics and politicians affect the citizens’ lives. Tom Blyth steps up to fill Donald Sutherland’s big shoes as the younger version of Coriolanus Snow and puts in a compelling performance of a golden boy who is increasingly tarnished as the story goes on. The movie is long and relatively light on action, sometimes feeling more like a TV miniseries than a movie. However, there are more than enough ideas at play to justify the movie’s existence and to remind audiences that the Hunger Games series wasn’t quite as disposable as some might have thought.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars                      

Jedd Jong

The Marvels review

Director: Nia DaCosta
Cast: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, Samuel L. Jackson
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-fi
Run Time: 105 min
Opens: 8 November 2023
Rating: PG13

2019 was a different time for the world at large and for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Captain Marvel opened in March, crossed a billion dollars at the box office, and then was followed by Avengers: Endgame. Yes, Captain Marvel still had the attendant controversy, but audiences couldn’t get enough of Marvel. Things have changed and many feel the MCU’s fortunes have turned, but that doesn’t mean the return of Captain Marvel can’t still be enjoyable.

The Marvels finds Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Kamala Khan/Ms Marvel caught in a bit of a predicament: an encounter with an ancient alien artefact cause the three heroes’ powers to become entangled, making them physically switch places each time they use their powers, which are all light-based. While Kamala is thrilled to be teaming up with her idol Captain Marvel, there is awkwardness between Carol and Monica, who last met during the events of the first Captain Marvel movie when the latter was a little girl. Carol was the best friend of Monica’s late mother Maria, and Monica feels Carol has abandoned her. The trio must team up to solve the problem of their entangled powers while facing off against the Kree alien revolutionary Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), who bears a grudge against Captain Marvel and is armed with a bracelet like the one Ms Marvel has.

A lot of comic book movie fans view silliness as the enemy, and some might say with good reason. However, when a comic book movie captures the inherent exuberance and joy that comics have the potential for, it is something special. Director Nia DaCosta keeps things airy in a franchise that can feel weighed down by all its baggage. The Marvels has a largely upbeat energy and embraces the kind of sci-fi shenanigans that have made something like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds so enjoyable. The Marvels has a planet of musical numbers and a space station overrun by cats (okay, aliens that are outwardly indistinguishable from cats), and there’s a place for stuff like that in a comic book movie. The latter moment is accompanied by perhaps the greatest needle drop in MCU history.

There’s an earnestness and good-naturedness that keeps The Marvels going, and it is at its best when it’s a three-hander buddy movie. Larson, Parris and Vellani do make for a watchable team and each actor imbues their character with a humanity that can sometimes be missing from big franchise movies. Vellani’s fangirl exuberance, which she carries over from Ms. Marvel, is especially endearing. There is also a fun dynamic with the conceit of the characters switching places each time they use their powers, which is incorporated into the fight sequences.

Samuel L. Jackson has been in so much of the MCU, and the largely poorly received Secret Invasion is still on a lot of people’s minds, but he just brings both a sense of gravitas and levity to the proceedings like nobody else can.

As alluded to above, the discourse surrounding the MCU is trending negative for various reasons. Unfortunately, a lot of that will be pinned to The Marvels and it won’t be allowed to exist as the thing it is. Still, it is a movie that feels held back by needing to tie back to not just Captain Marvel but WandaVision and Ms. Marvel, and it seems like the filmmakers struggled with just how much information to convey in flashbacks and exposition. The Marvels is also saddled with some typical MCU problems, including a generic villain, a mismatch between the overall tone and the dire end-of-the-world stakes, and of course, portals in the sky. There are big wide terrible portals in the sky.

Summary: The Marvels is an enjoyably upbeat sci-fi adventure with room for silliness and an easy, likeable dynamic between its three leads. The movie is often breezy and light enough on its feet in a franchise that can often feel weighed down by its labyrinthian continuity. Yes, there are connections to other MCU entries that might be confusing even with flashbacks and exposition, and old MCU problems like a generic villain rear their head. However, The Marvels should be allowed to exist as the largely enjoyable, diverting thing that it is, tempting as it might be to pin all the MCU’s current troubles on it. The mid-credits scene is a big deal, but you don’t have to stay until the very end of the credits if you don’t want to.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars                   

Jedd Jong