The Studio Ghibli Series Part 8: Arrietty

[School of Movies 2023]

With the grandfather of the studio, Hayao Miyazaki retired and his son Goro not warmly welcomed by the fans, there was now an enormous question mark over the future of Ghibli that persists to this day.

Luckily, there was still amazing talent to be found within their walls. Hiromasa Yonebayashi (better known as Maro) made his directorial debut with one of our faviourites, which positively cries out for watching in HD, The Secret World of Arrietty. It's the tale -adapted from yet another classic children's fantasy book- of tiny people who live unnoticed in our houses, and the perils of their survival. Notable for its different British and American voice actor teams, since over here we got Saoirse Ronan and Tom Holland! 

After this, Goro attempted a second movie about confused teenagers, this time with a more delicate touch which achieves it low-key melodrama qualities. And in the absence of a breakout new direction, his father Hayao came back out of retirement to direct one of his most sobering reflections on aviation and war, with The Wind Rises (which is far more appealing to me than Oppenheimer's handling of similar themes this year). 

2010: The Secret World of Arrietty (1m 55s)

2011: From Up On Poppy Hill  (29m 30s)

2013: The Wind Rises (45m 35s)