from Facebook: Studio Ghibli producer’s sexist take on female directors
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film criticism by maryann johanson | handcrafted since 1997
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Enchanting, startling; a rare story about a girl at a precarious age. Full of that exquisite Studio Ghibli sorcery that captures the beauty of the ordinary.
Paints an impressionistic canvas of unease and disquiet, of hope and wonder, filled with glorious music. Magical… though sometimes it’s black magic.
This spectacularly ill-conceived movie is what happens when a cheap ripoff cannot even rise to the level of crass Hollywood junk.
With an irrepressible heroine full of life and joy and humor, this is an ancient Japanese folktale fresh with immediacy and relevance.
Visually ravishing, as you’d expect from Hayao Miyazaki, but there is, disappointingly, no drama and no conflict here.
The creativity and ingenuity of fans will never cease to surprise and delight me.
Joyously warm and gentle… though perhaps too gentle to be entirely satisfying.
While perfectly pleasant and an entirely suitable option for anyone looking to take small children to the movies, it is a disappointingly minor entry in the annals of Studio Ghibli…
Do you have different criteria for judging foreign-language films than you do for English-language films?