Totoro
My Neighbor Totoro is Miyazaki Hayat’s third film in STUDIO GHIBLI. This calm and warm film has made the lovely creature known all over the world. My Neighbor Totoro is perfect for a family.
In our countryside, there is a kind of magic elves; they are like our neighbors, live in our side and play. But they are invisible to ordinary people, and it is said that only the innocent minds of small children can catch their traces. If you listen, you can hear them running in the wind.
This is a legend that Miyazaki Hayat heard when he was a child in his hometown. When he was young, he also used to wait seriously on the path, looking for it in the grass. When he grew up, he devoted himself to animation, always thinking of the wonderful time he spent in the country, always thinking of this exquisite dream for the children. Inspired by this sentiment, “Totoro” was born.
The little girl May and her sister Amin move to a new house in the countryside with their father, and the story of “Totoro” unfolds in a picturesque pastoral landscape. As father often went to the hospital to visit his sick mother, the two girls had to learn about the new environment around them, the sky was so blue, the air was so good, there was no noise of traffic, no high thick concrete walls. In the embrace of nature, the two children experienced a joy they had never experienced before.
Then in the courtyard saw the moving Totoro, saw the mysterious towering old oak tree, and the nest of big and small Totoro in the tree hole. It’s as big as a hill, but it’s not scary at all. Fat Totoro, would you like to make a friend?
In the rain, at the bus stop to see you waiting for the bus, is still fat, standing in the rain, dad’s umbrella cannot completely cover you? And the roaring cat BUS, it must be nice to gallop on it, right?
Mother’s condition changed and she couldn’t go home. Sister also lost in the woods, May only can do is to find the old oak tree, to ask Totoro. Sitting on the cat BUS, they ran wildly across the fields and mountains. At this moment, the children felt the breath of the trees and heard the song of the wind. Like the first encounter with the Totoro, like the seed into a towering tree, all this may be just a child’s heart pure dream, also true also fantasy, reflected the beautiful aspirations.
Miyazaki Hayat loves to describe nature and weave dreams for children. The whole movie has its consistent style of magic realism, and uses some natural scenes to cut into the protagonist’s stream of consciousness, so that the viewer’s heart can get the most real resonance. Miyazaki says:
“Japan is a country blessed by the changing seasons and rich in natural beauty. And My Neighbor Totoro chose the countryside full of natural colors as the background.
“Clear rivers, forests, fields, the people, birds, beasts, insects who live in them, the heat of summer, the rain, the sudden gust of wind, the terrible night… These things all show the beauty of Japan. I think it’s important to protect these natural environments where life can flourish.
“Totoro, the strange creature in the middle of this story, has long since lived in the depths of the forest, never seen before. “Nature seems to have suffered a lot over the years, but the flowers, trees and rivers are still there for each other. Flowers, small stones, insects, etc., some of which are not beautiful in appearance, but you can also try to touch and observe carefully.”
If you have the chance to go to the countryside and see the dancing of the wheat, listen to the singing of the wind, sit on the wooden hedge and listen, perhaps you can hear the breathing of the Totoro next to you.
Review: Totoro, the main character, doesn’t appear until about 20 minutes into the film, and he only appears four times in total, which are the fewest appearances in any of Miyazaki’s films. However, each appearance gives a different feeling, so the audience will not be dissatisfied with the protagonist’s lack of appearances, but will look forward to his appearance, looking forward to the story of the Totoro to bring new changes. When he first appeared, Totoro was a typical “lazy cat” ^_^. The second time, with the lotus leaf playing umbrella, like a lovely child，The third time, with Totoro and early moon and millet, he was like a big brother when he went up on the tree and blew on the sea. . And the last time, called the cat bus gang early moon to look for millet, is just a desperate, want to think of the warrior! Four appearances, this time has a different feeling, like a child at the same time with the heart of the adult, no wonder it is popular with audiences of all ages at the same time, achieved such a huge success!
