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The tale of the Princess Kaguya
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:CreationDate: 2015-12-11 12:39:27
:Id: anime/review/princess-kaguya
:tags: - anime
- review
:rating: 4.5
:original: http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/the-tale-of-princess-kaguya-alt
TAKAHATA Isao (高畑 勲) is the other big name of Studio Ghibli: he has
explored the devastation of post-WWII Japan in Grave of the Fireflies;
the challenges growing up during the urbanisation and
industrialisation of the '70s in Only Yesterday; environmentalism,
integration and assimilation in Pon Poko; daily familial life in My
Neighbors the Yamadas. For his latest work, he brings to the screen
the tale of the bamboo cutter, believed to be the oldest Japanese folk
tale, dating from the 10th century.
As befit the age of the story, Kaguya is drawn in a style reminiscent
of Japan's traditional watercolours, with charcoal contours and very
soft tints. The result looks more like a beautiful series of moving
paintings, than just an animated movie.
The story is simple enough: an old bamboo cutter finds a thumb-sized
baby girl inside a bamboo stalk, and brings her home to his wife; the
couple adopts the little girl as their own, calling her Princess. She
grows rapidly, and befriends the other children in the area.
The cutter finds in other bamboo stalks gold and fine silks, and
interprets this as a divine sign that his girl must be brought to the
city and treated like a proper princess. She'd much rather stay in the
little village with her friends, but her wishes are not considered.
She sort-of settles in the life of a city noble, with private tutors
and maids, but she keeps a little garden in the back of the house that
reminds her of the countryside she grew up in. She's given the name of
Kaguya, and tales of her great beauty start to spread.
Five princes come to ask her hand in marriage, but Kaguya requires of
the impossible tasks before she'll marry any of them, and none
succeeds. She even refuses the Emperor's own proposal, always thinking
back to her happy childhood in the woods.
Finally, she remembers her story: she came from the Moon, to live
among humans for a while, but now she must go back. Guards and
fortifications are prepared to defend against the heavenly beings
who'll come to take her back, but in vain: her fate is with the people
of the Moon.
The story, and especially this adaptation, explores themes of love and
family and friendship, the dynamics of power and riches, the dignity
of work and the dissolution of nobles. As with Takahata's other works,
Kaguya is less a story than it is a bag of feelings delivered
masterfully to the audience: you will feel happy, sad, nostalgic,
exhilarated, dejected, together with the characters. And even without
any kind of happy ending, you'll still be glad to have experienced all
of it.
