Hayao Miyazaki’s Magical Realms

“Michael”—a new film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, charting Michael Jackson’s rise to fame—just had the best opening weekend in the history of bio-pics, proving that audiences are still eager to celebrate the King of Pop. The movie also ends, pointedly, before the first in a series ...  Show more

Cynicism is widely considered a defining quality of our conspiracy-addled, irony-poisoned age. But audiences and creatives alike now seem ready to cast it aside in favor of an attitude that’s long been out of style: earnestness. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunning ...  Show more

This week, The Cultural Frontline explores family, legacy and creativity.Studio Ghibli is one of the biggest names in animation, famous for films such as The Wind Rises, My Neighbour Totoro and the Oscar winning Spirited Away. For years, Studio Ghibli was led by its co-founder, t ...  Show more

As an American, Sam Anderson knows what it feels like to arrive at a theme park. “The totalizing consumerist embrace,” he writes. “The blunt-force, world-warping, escapist delight.” He has known theme parks with entrances like “international borders” and ticket prices like “mo ...

Howl’s Moving Castle is one Hayao Miyazaki’s most magical films and is beloved by many. Listen to hear us break down everything from this film in our latest installment of the Ghibli Rewatch podcast series, going through every Studio Ghibli […] 

A world of sprites and spirits encountered by childhood sisters in the 1988 animated feature film by Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) and Studio Ghibli has become a hit stage adaptation for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The original composer Joe Hisaishi worked with playwright Tom ...  Show more