A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Hayao Miyazaki, “Gake no Ue no Ponyo” / “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” (2008) As always with Studio Ghibli films, and especially those SG…
Hiromasa Yonebayashi, “Mary and the Witch’s Flower” (2017) A visually very attractive family movie, clearly influenced by the Studio Ghibli animation style – indeed, director Hiromasa…
Hayao Miyazaki, “My Neighbour Totoro” (1988) The film that brought Studio Ghibli to an international audience, “My Neighbour Totoro” may be charming and sweet, suitable for…
Vaishnavi Sundar, “Dysphoric: Fleeing Womanhood like a House on Fire (Part 4: For a Gender Critical Future)” (2020) In the final episode of this four-part documentary…
Hayao Miyazaki, “The Boy and the Heron” (2023) A decade after “The Wind Rises”, the film that originally had been intended as his swansong, Hayao Miyazaki…
French and French-language Films
Jacques Plaisant, “The Egypt Code Breakers” (2022) A fascinating tale in itself, told in a mix of animated sequences and live action interviews with archivists and…
Anatola Araba Pabst, “Afro Algorithms” (2022) Here comes a very well-made 3D animated short that urges viewers to consider carefully how technologies like Artificial Intelligence and…
Gordy Higgins, Ryan Zujic, Christoffer Klungerbo, “The Guardian’s Tale” (2012) Told as a delightful fairy tale in the style of “Beauty and the Beast”, this animated…
Jeffrey Morris, “Parallel Man: Infinite Pursuit” (2014) Based on a comic book series of the same name, the animated short “Parallel Man” takes place in a…
Australian and New Zealand Films
Radheya Jegavetha, “The Quiet” (2020) Created entirely by director Radheya Jegavetha and his father Jay Jay Jegathesan who co-wrote and co-produced the short and provided the…