The Wind Rises (2014)

Too much of everything

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

He's created so many influential masterpieces consistently, so the question is did he go out in style? No, but very very close. This is a fictionalised biopic on Jiro who was famed for designing one of the most accomplished airplanes ever that were used in the Second World War. This area of the biopic was fascinating, only a pioneer like Miyazaki could make a film about engineering innovative and compelling. The other area of the film was his romance with a young lady named Nahoko. Which, again, was tender and beautiful to watch as their relationship blossomed. The problem is, the two do not match at all and so the overall plot and story is somewhat unfocused. Consistently jumping back and forth between his career and love life, the two just didn't marinate together as a narrative. More importantly, like with any Studio Ghibli production, the animation is absolutely beautiful. Colourful, vibrant and with fluid motion, I was transported into Miyazaki's vision. I loved Jiro's dream sequences which gave Miyazaki a chance to show some fantasy elements that he is all too famous for. The character of Jiro himself was well developed. Summed up easily as a Good Samaritan, a helpful chap who was career minded and aspired to be great. I found him to be relatable and likeable. The film includes many of Japan's historic events such as The Great Kanto earthquake, Second World War and the epidemic of tuberculosis. These are dealt with gently and intelligently. It might look like the film is aimed for the younger audience, but if you look deeper it is a far more humanistic drama about aspiration and inspiration. Can definitely appeal to the more mature audience. Also liked the English dub, thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt was well cast as the voice of Jiro. Oh, and the musical score was tremendous, particularly the more heartfelt softer pieces of music. So whilst this might not be Miyazaki's best work, it still is a beautiful, compelling and engrossing animated feature.

Written and directed by Japanese maestro Hayao Miyazaki, "The Wind Rises" (2013), based on Miyazaki's manga, is his eleventh feature film. There's an almost ungraspable beauty to the animations and the story is an inspiring and heartwarming one./Mårten Larsson

I knew this was a film from the Japanese animation geniuses at Studio Ghibli, I didn't know it was based on a real story, to be honest though I mainly wanted to watch it because of its inclusion at the Oscars, directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away). Basically it tells the true story of Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed Japanese fighter planes during World War II. As a young boy, Jirô (Zach Callison) dreamed of flying and designing beautiful aeroplanes, he was inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Giovanni Battista Caproni (Stanley Tucci), he has a dream about meeting him. Unfortunately Jiro's nearsightedness from a young age prevented him from becoming a pilot, but in his dream, Caproni told him he never actually flew a plane in his life, and that building them is better. When he grows up, Jirô Horikoshi (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) joins a major Japanese engineering company and becomes one of the world's most innovative and accomplished aeroplane designers, including the design for the Mitsubishi A6M Zero. The story sees him going through his own life, as well as experiencing historical events of the time, including the Great Kanto Earthquake, the Great Depression, the tuberculosis epidemic and Japan plunged into the Second World War. It also sees Jiro falling in love with Nahoko (Emily Blunt), who suffers tuberculosis and a lung haemorrhage, but eventually recovers and marries him, and it also sees his cherished friendship with his colleague Honjô (John Krasinski). Also starring Martin Short as Kurokawa, Mandy Patinkin as Hattori, Mae Whitman as Kayo Horikoshi, Jennifer Grey as Mrs. Kurokawa, William H. Macy as Satomi, Elijah Wood as Sone and Werner Herzog as Castorp. The stars doing the dubbed voices are all fine, there is no denying it is fantastic hand-drawn animation as usual, I'm not sure if going for a more realistic approach is right for the studio, we are more used to the fantasy stories with fantastical creatures, but it is just about interesting, an alright animated drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Worth watching!

Hayao Miyazaki had made many magical, fascinating animated motion pictures in his lifetime with Studio Ghibli. Some of these fantasy films include Spirited Away, Ponyo, My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Howl's Moving Castle, and The Cat Returns. His last film, The Wind Rises, was recently released, and is like none of his previous animations. In the other movies, the characters are set in a bizarre, surreal, magnificent world on an unusual mission. In The Wind Rises, however, there is no unseen, amazing world. Rather, the story is set in Japan, and it revolves around an airplane designer, Jiro Horikoshi. What Miyazaki does to bring the story to life is focus and discover the beauty in times most people don't see beauty. For example, work can be drudgery and an annoying aspect of life. However, Miyazaki sees work as a time of inspiration and an opportunity to display one's skills. The rain can be gross and make one feel dank, but Miyazaki sees it as a beautiful experience and an opportunity to hold close to a loved one under a small umbrella. By focusing on the different views, Miyasaki had made The Wind Rises just as enchanting as his surreal animations. The Wind Rises is extremely captivating in animation and thought. The story was based on true events, so it was realistic, yet it shows that life can be fantastic when looked at in the right perspective. In this picture, Jiro Horikoshi has vivid dreams of designing airplanes throughout his life. Along his journey, he faces a devastating Japanese earthquake and later meets his soul mate, who was dying. In the end, Jiro builds the "Zero" jet, later reminiscing about the creation and speaking sadly by the thousands of deaths caused by the "Zero" planes in the military. This film elicits giggles, smiles, and tears, getting to the hearts of the people.