Howl's Moving Castle is a good film. I saw it in my neighborhood theater last year. (This was the same theater where I'd seen
Steamboy,
Spirited Away, and
Princess Mononoke. The theater survived the storm and is open again; silly as it sounds given my city's ruined condition, I'm hoping we'll be getting more anime as soon as something gets decent theatrical distribution.)
The theater is on the third floor of a building. Moviegoers can write comments on index cards; outside the glass doors, on a wall facing the food court where office and retail workers nibble at their lunches, there's a corkboard to which the cards can be pinned. Landmark employees even provide thumbtacks to patrons.
When the movie was over, I exited the theater and looked at the board.
One card read simply, "I want Howl to be my boyfriend."
I preferred the scarecrow to Howl, but still.
It's a good film. Some cool-as-heck set pieces, some humor, some sorrow, and another wonderful, capable female protagonist. Some interesting stuff about age, war, appearances. And I loved the Castle, which kind of reminds me of the hut owned by Baba Yaga, the witch from Russian folktales and fairytales, with the structure ambulating about on chicken legs.
I wish my apartment had doors like those of the Castle. I'd save a bundle on travel expenses.
If you're interested in the film, you might want to check out the work of artist and novelist Albert Robida. Toshio Suzuki, Miyazaki's producer and producer on Oshii's
Ghost in the Shell: Innocence and the forthcoming
Tachigui: The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters, said in an interview (
Animerica, June 2005): "On [Albert] Robida, actually Miyazaki learned about him very recently. He's an artist from the end of the 19th Century, he's a French artist, and at that time, during the height of the machine age, Robida imagined how technology would continue to advance, and what kind of technology would be available in the 20th century. That's what he portrayed in his futuristic art and Miyazaki used those ideas."
This information delighted me. I enjoy Robida's work, and I wish more people were familiar with it.
The following links will take you to a French site, L’Association des Amis de Robida, The Association of Friends of Robida. The links lead to some examples of his artwork, including his newspaper and magazine illustrations, pieces inspired by literary classics, and the cover art of his science fiction novels.
http://www.robida.info/images/visionnaire/jujubie.jpg
http://www.robida.info/images/visionnai ... _femme.jpg
http://www.robida.info/images/visionnai ... chalet.jpg
http://www.robida.info/images/visionnaire/aerobus.jpg
http://www.robida.info/images/visionnaire/aerocab.jpg
http://www.robida.info/images/historien ... xenete.jpg
http://www.robida.info/telechargement.htm
http://www.robida.info/images/chronique ... _metro.jpg
http://www.robida.info/images/chroniqueur/le_rire.jpg
http://www.robida.info/images/chronique ... guerre.jpg
http://www.robida.info/illustrateur.htm
http://www.robida.info/graveur.htm
Robida's views on women's liberation often shocked his contemporaries. As the site says of his fictional world: "Women wear pants, smoke in the streets. They are doctors, notaries, lawyers. They are voters and are eligible." Keep in mind, this was a Frenchman writing about the 1950s in the 1880s and '90s.
I especially like these illustrations of militant females and women lawyers:
http://www.robida.info/images/visionnai ... _femme.jpg
http://www.robida.info/images/visionnaire/avocates.htm
You can find a Boston Globe review of a recent translation of Robida's novelistic endeavors- and a funny-as-can-be example of his predictive abilities- here:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/ ... ks?mode=PF
(Notice the ratio of man to woman in the illustration, and observe the men's expressions. I think Robida was onto something...)
Hope you enjoy Robida- and the film- as much as I do.
Have a good day, and happy viewing.
The Wallace and Grommit movie wasn't all that good. A true shame that Howl's lost.
