The Boy and the Heron

Wednesday, February 14th

7:30pm at the Capitol Centre

124 mins | 2023 | Japan
Dir: Hayao Miyazaki
Language: Japanese

The Boy and the Heron

On February 14th, join us at the Capitol Centre for a one-night-only screening of THE BOY AND THE HERON.

Already acclaimed as a masterpiece in Japan, Hayao Miyazaki’s new film begins as a simple story of loss and love, and rises to a staggering work of imagination. Coming after the maker of Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke announced his retirement, The Boy and the Heron is an especially precious gift, and possibly the final film we will see from one of cinema’s greatest artists.

During the Second World War, young Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki) suffers a heartbreaking family tragedy and must move immediately to the countryside, where his father (Takuya Kimura) works for a family making planes for Japan’s military, as Miyazaki’s own father did.

Isolated, Mahito begins exploring the mysterious landscapes and encounters a grey heron, persistent in its presence. The boy also happens upon an abandoned tower. Curious, he enters. From there, The Boy and the Heron expands into a wondrous, often-startling phantasmagoria.

“This may be Miyazaki’s most expansive and magisterial film… He takes the time to deliver worlds within worlds, layers under layers, to create an overwhelming experience by the end.”
– Caryn James, BBC
 
“No one needed further proof that he’s a master. This meditation on grief and growing up does solidify the position, however, that Miyazaki remains the greatest living animator today, period.”
– David Fear, Rolling Stone
 
“If this film is Miyazaki’s true bow, it’s a magnificent final flourish that folds together many of the thematic and aesthetic threads he’s explored through his career: man’s relationship to nature, the majesty of flight, the twin pulls of love and loss. It’s stunning and inscrutable and measures among the best of his works.”
– Clint Worthington, Consequence

Trailer