Kimitachi wa do ikiru ka

Als der lang erwartete „neue Miyazaki“ diesen Sommer in Japan in die Kinos kam, fielen die Reaktionen, nicht zuletzt wegen einer beispiellosen (Nicht)Werbekampagne, die keinerlei Informationen preisgab, gespalten aus. Viele fanden KIMITACHI WA ..., den Miyazaki als „autobiografische Fantasie“ bezeichnet und der die Reise eines 12-Jährigen am Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs in magische (Unter)Welten erzählt, „unverständlich“. Obwohl enigmatischer als seine bisherigen Filme, weist dieser doch alle Vorzüge und Besonderheiten von Miyazakis unverkennbarem Bilder-Kosmos auf und ist eine mit unzähligen Referenzen ausgestattete philosophische Lebensbilanz dieses singulären Animationsmagiers. (Roland Domenig)

The work of Miyazaki Hayao is so beloved that we always fear his next film might be his last. With KIMITACHI WA DO IKIRU KA, the dream-weaving director returns in full force to spin a beguiling and poignant story about the fear and wonder of finding one’s place in the world. Mahito has struggled since his mother’s death in a fire during World War II; his father remarries and moves the family to the countryside (working, like Miyazaki’s father, as a manufacturer). There Mahito finds a portal in an abandoned tower that leads to a parallel realm, inhabited by a civilisation of giant royalist parakeets, a no-nonsense pirate and an ancient demigod, to name just a few. Working through his grief, the boy comes to embrace the challenges posed by his adventures. Miyazaki’s hand-drawn animation remains unparalleled at folding us into the slipstream of imagination and fleshing out characters with idiosyncratic detail and behaviour; no matter how fantastical, they feel like they’re simply going about their lives in front of us. KIMITACHI WA DO IKIRU KA brings the perspective of a Prospero-like master filmmaker to a boy’s hard journey through innocence and experience. (Nicolas Rapold)

Miyazaki Hayao: THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO (1979), NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (1984), CASTLE IN THE SKY (1986), MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (1988), KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE (1989), PORCO ROSSO (1992), PRINCESS MONONOKE (1997), SPIRITED AWAY (2001), HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE (2004), PONYO (2008), THE WIND RISES (2013)