[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_00]: The podcast where we debate the accuracy of IMDB's sub-250 movies of all time.
[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_01]: My name is Johannes, and I am Raji.
[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Today, we're discussing a film that brought international acclaim to Studio Ghibli Princess Mononoke.
[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: This film is filled with supernatural elements and vengeful spirits.
[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_00]: It was hand drawn over the course of three years and became a successful film in Japan until Titanic took the crown later that year.
[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_01]: The film was written and directed by Hayal Miyazaki, who drew inspiration from Japanese folklore and the lesson on manga Muthman.
[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: We're following diving to environmental themes and the movie's impact.
[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I have to ask Johannes, how are you doing today?
[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing good.
[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_01]: So this is the week after going to my first theater audition.
[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't get it, but it's fun experience.
[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: It was interesting.
[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_01]: The crazy thing is, I worked all week to learn the lines.
[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Two scenes, one scene was better than the other.
[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And get there.
[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_01]: They want me to do the one I didn't like as much.
[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_01]: But okay, messed up in the middle.
[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Apologize for it, which I think was my mistake.
[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_01]: When you're in a scene, you're not acknowledging that you messed up, but it did.
[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's fine.
[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_01]: First of all, I'm doing this.
[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_01]: It's fine.
[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not like getting hung up on that.
[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01]: But the epiphany on there was just kind of like, okay, I spent like a considerable amount of time to learn these fricking lines.
[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And then it's three minutes.
[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's, that's the frustrating part because it's like, okay, I spent a lot of time.
[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_01]: But at least I figured, like I learned the lines.
[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Like there was always something that is hard for me.
[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_01]: So I recognized that learning lines is a challenge.
[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I figured out the way that makes it a little easier, I think.
[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's good.
[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, there's an interesting experience.
[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So there's how are you?
[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I can imagine how frustrating that is.
[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: That's, that's, I can, but that was it.
[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously you're not going to give up on it on the fresh dry.
[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_00]: So, um, I mean, you, you, you're clear to the whole album last year.
[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So this is, this is something that you're going to probably push on to.
[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm guessing there's going to be an eventually good story that comes out from it and you can write a book about it.
[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: But how to keep several tries, but now you're a big Hollywood superstar.
[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: For me, it's been a really relaxed week.
[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: We're recording this sometime in June.
[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: So, um, getting ready for the euros.
[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I guess in a few episodes, you find out how I feel about it.
[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So you have to start next week.
[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And, uh, I'm not rooting for any team, but I'm thinking it's going to be a very exciting event.
[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm looking forward to it as well as a copa America, which is happening in the United States of America.
[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Great.
[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: So I was planning going to the Brazil versus Colombia game, which is happening in San Jose,
[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: but it tickets were like a thousand two hundred dollars for, for every ticket.
[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: So I was like, yeah, I'm not that fast.
[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to see for the world cup.
[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_01]: You're like, what's your status with?
[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I did see a bill, Bill Burley last night.
[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: He was in Berkeley.
[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And that was quite a lot of fun.
[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I went to my younger brother and we got to watch some good comedy over the course of a few hours.
[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: That was nice.
[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I saw something in Berkeley at the Galileo musical at Berkeley right now.
[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_01]: And that was good.
[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a, like, brand new production never played anywhere else.
[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Some big Broadway people in it.
[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_01]: It was enjoyable.
[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_01]: It needs some work.
[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_01]: But you know, it's, it's a good start.
[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_00]: That's, I mean, I saw it at the Greek here there.
[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: It was like my first time at an open theater.
[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: So it was quite nice, quite nice.
[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: But working up those hills where we was quite experienced.
[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I was nice to.
[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Great venue though.
[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Like, great venue.
[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Then put some of the things on the floor.
[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: The work kept talking about how he was doing comedy in the daytime.
[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And he can see everybody.
[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: There were a couple of Trump supporters out there,
[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and making fun of them.
[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: He was, it was wild.
[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: He was wild to say the least.
[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: But the great thing was that as the show came to the end, the sunset.
[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And he, you know, we got to experience the whole sunset while the show was going on, which was beautiful in its own way.
[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. That sounds great.
[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_01]: I like the Greek because we're getting good venue for fun.
[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Talk about Greek.
[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about Japanese.
[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, okay.
[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Who will make their work?
[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I went there.
[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like there's a lot of Japanese media out these days.
[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I can understand Princess Mundo Nokey is a 90s film.
[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_01]: But with Shogun currently being a thing again,
[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_01]: having to remake.
[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like there's a lot of Japanese stuff coming in.
[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the new Godzilla film is on Netflix too.
[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Yep. This is to be like every nation of Japanese theater.
[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Which, you know, it's good.
[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I think there's this just very interesting kind of cultural differences that are displayed, which I appreciate because it's always good to see.
[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, like in the Godzilla film, the thing that I feel like.
[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_01]: And if you, if you think I'm crazy, please correct me.
[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_01]: But I feel like one of one of these military against something, films that are from Japan.
[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Oftentimes, you have one character that is questioning authority a bit.
[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, we cannot do this. We need to go home.
[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_01]: You're all crazy here. What are you doing?
[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_01]: And then they're like, you know, no, we do it because now we have hope.
[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_01]: We can do this, right? Inspiration. And that was like, that's so interesting.
[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like American war movies, you don't have the character because you don't question the prowess, the military prowess of your country like that.
[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I was, but I don't know, just something I noticed in the recent media of Japanese varieties.
[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: What I would say I noticed is in Japanese films, it's usually the essence of this nothing we can do about it.
[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just nature. And if you watch the Japanese version of Godzilla, and watch the American, as you see,
[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: like Americans are trying to, we're going to take the initiative in our hands and you know, the Japanese are always like,
[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: we've got to run. There's nothing we can do about this.
[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: This is just godly events. And I think it's just a symptom of growing up in the island that is always having,
[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, like he's shogun said, there's always earthquakes, there's always things that I get destroyed and all you just have to do is be able to build fast,
[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: and return to normalcy. So I think it's kind of ingrained in them.
[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah. That's right.
[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about this. Let's talk about it before we do that. I guess we should hear a synopsis.
[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Princess Mononoki is a visually stunning and thematically rich animated film director by Ayau Miyazaki.
[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_01]: The story follows Ashitaaka, a young warrior who, after being cursed by a demonic bore, sits out of fine the cure and discovered the source of the bore's rage.
[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_01]: His journey needs him to the epicenter of a conflict between the industrialized humans of Iron Town,
[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_01]: that by Lady Ebochi and the mystical creatures of the forest, including the fierce princess Mononoki, a human girl raised by wolves.
[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_01]: As Ashitaaka seeks balance and understanding between the warring sides, the film explores themes of environmentalism,
[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_01]: the clash between traditional progress and the interconnectedness of all life. Princess Mononoki is a claim for its steep storytelling and complex characters and breathtaking animation.
[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's what that film is about. Inspiringly joke.
[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_01]: So this was the first time for me seeing it.
[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. Yeah, you've seen it before? I think. I've seen it before.
[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. Yeah. Like the before I watched it, the common thing that I heard from people that have seen it is that it's different and darker.
[00:09:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Mm-hmm. Yes, I mean, this one of the few studios you've been filmed, I probably only let my daughter watch until she's much older.
[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_00]: So in a sense, yes, I do agree with that.
[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, a grave of the five lives that could be fun.
[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I agree with the five lives. I mean, there's nothing to agree with the five lives that I would prevent my kids from watching, but I really have to explain to her what's going on to give her some context.
[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But that movie is not one I would say by key. This is a very adult theme is going on, but in the day to day life of the kids, there's nothing to be touched on.
[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing that I would say prevents my daughter from watching it.
[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_00]: But deal with all the things is sad and something that you probably have to explain to your kid like, hey, this kids are going through a lot.
[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_00]: But this one is a little bit more different. This is like active violence going on. People's heads getting chopped off, people's limbs.
[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And the way to do it is non-shalance, which kind of falls into the category of life is what life is, I guess, in a sense.
[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And you can't really do much about it, you just have to go on.
[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I guess we should take sides that we can talk more about the film.
[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Yep, cool. Okay, let's go and take sides.
[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll go with heads. Head to those.
[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to argue against the film.
[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we're going to argue against the film.
[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Let me argue against the film.
[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I have a couple of things that I can bring up, but I feel like it could help.
[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_00]: All right. So, the witness will address this court as judge or you're on.
[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Amir Prasicuted today.
[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I guess I studied as a singer. I'll go with Raji.
[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_00]: My name is Raji and I'm your Prasicuted.
[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Prices when a nookie is a movie they steeped in Japanese culture.
[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And conversations about the balance of environmentalism and human life and what role we play in that.
[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I think the problem is when you translate all of this Japanese ideology and ideas into different cultures, the perception changes.
[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Because if you don't understand what's going on, the movie feels bloated.
[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_00]: What are the major problems that you come to understand?
[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And something that happens in another studio, jubby films,
[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_00]: is there's no clear protagonist and no clear antagonist.
[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And this movie is nuanced in essence as all sugyjiby films are portraying a lot of things in very nuanced form.
[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_00]: But for people who watched this film outside the cultural expectations of Japanese people who don't understand what the spirit God is,
[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_00]: the Nightwalker, the Nightcrawler, the Tataris, the Demons.
[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_00]: It's an overwhelming film to follow.
[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And since we don't have a specific character that we are attached to, it becomes a little bit tricky to rule for any particular person.
[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll also say that the movie Prasicuted is quite devious in presentation because you think this movie is about the Prasic.
[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_00]: What is actually about the Prasicator?
[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And who's generally we follow from the very beginning, and who has to deal with the sense of hatred that is growing within him.
[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_00]: That is consuming him and wants to kill him.
[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_00]: But when you come in with the perspective that this movie is about a Prasicman or no,
[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: you are instantly not satisfied with what's going on on the screen because you feel like you may be de-t about what the story is.
[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I guess I'm speaking from perspective of just the name of the film, and what the expectation I would have had going into it and what expectations I got after the movie concluded.
[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So those are just the main points that I'm going to be following today.
[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to give it a thought.
[00:14:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Alright, ladies and gentlemen, so Prasicman and Nokey, at face value, and if we just look at the story presented,
[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I would actually tend to agree with some of your arguments, but I think we should look at this as a parable and kind of for like there's very distinct themes
[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_01]: and the film and the film makers criticize here, and even in the 90s which is kind of remarkable.
[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And mainly around environmentalism, kind of nature versus development, greed in a way.
[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And we have to solve a lot of the very fantastical and pretty package.
[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And we see a story where there's a constant fight of greed and expansion against nature, basically in nature,
[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_01]: is kind of fighting back in this very fantastical mystical.
[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And I guess from a Westerners perspective, a little odd way, but I think it's done so charmingly and kind of relatable in a way even the little tree goes are kind of freaky looking but also kind of funny.
[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think we see a lot of that. I think it's very clear in the way it's the characters are depicted that we have the demons that are all very dark and very kind of snake and maggot like in appearance in a way there's constant movement and chaotic and chaos, like literal chaos.
[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_01]: And heroic and kind of calm and pretty stable characters represent the good.
[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And at the finale of this, we see kind of the juxtaposition of that with a night day walker when he gets the head chopped off, you know, it turns into this chaotic mass that is like devouring everything but then everything comes back.
[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Once reunited with it's head. So I think there's a lot there to unpack already to recognize the brilliance of storytelling that we see here.
[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_01]: The package, yes, is very, very Japanese and very mystical and fantastical and draws on a lot of kind of that culture and lore but I think that doesn't necessarily
[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_01]: mean that as Western people we cannot enjoy and appreciate the content that we see here.
[00:17:16] [SPEAKER_01]: The characters obviously, I mean you bring up an interesting point that Princess Mononoki is not necessarily at the center of it.
[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's true, but I think she's also representing nature in a way and it's like if we talk about this is the fight of, you know, nature versus kind of exploitation of nature.
[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_01]: In a way she is at the center of it all and she is kind of the main character of this. So all in all, I think that I think it's a great film, the animation is fantastic. It's very pretty.
[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And again, like the art direction is very clear, like you who you can trust to you cannot trust in a way because the lines are blurry, like you're indicated, right?
[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_01]: It's, it's a little fuzzy at times and you find yourself rooting for people at some point and then kind of moving back.
[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_01]: With other points because you recognize the true characters. So yeah, I think it's a fantastic film.
[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, and I would like to, well the, like the main issues that I think people come to appreciate about this film is that there's no sense of stated purpose for a lot of the characters.
[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And some of the intentions remain on clear. So if you look at the story from start to finish, the only person who in a sense.
[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_00]: All the characters that are to them are flat. So no character changes.
[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_00]: The slightest change that we saw in this film was Princess Malenoke saying, all right, I guess I will accept your attention Prince Akashita.
[00:19:11] [SPEAKER_00]: If you say it lovingly. But I'm rather than a live with you in the town, I don't like humans.
[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_00]: That's the only like leeway we got throughout this film. Every single character was the same when they started and the same when they ended.
[00:19:29] [SPEAKER_00]: But the problem is during the story, we saw their intentions change.
[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And the reason is way they're intentions change on clear. Let's look at the story of Lady Wushi. She comes in the first time we meet her, she's the leader of the town. She saved the woman. She's intent on bringing them protection.
[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_00]: To us in the film, the town is attacked. She thought that she's had an authority to help to get to save the women and she goes well, I've trained them.
[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I've given them every secret that I can. So no, I'm not going to go back. I want to go kill the god.
[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_00]: She gets an arm cut off from the very end. She's sitting down on a monster telephone and she's saying, I'm back here. I'm going to be a leader again and we're going to rebuild this town or we're going to make it better.
[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: The whole idea of iron town is also very weird because the idea is that for Lady Wushi, I am telling her, I am telling her has to exist because it's the only source of life they would.
[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_00]: For the town folk, this is the only way they can survive. They need the iron.
[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_00]: The forest, the Christmas when I'm no key and the guys in the forest are saying, I am telling is killing us we cannot survive without that town going away.
[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_00]: We need the iron town to go away so that we can survive. You guys are encroaching on us and we're paying the consequences of that.
[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_00]: A very good dice whose intentions are unclear as always. Destroy the town and there's peace somewhat.
[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody goes back to where they were at the very beginning because Wushi says, I'm going to rebuild iron town.
[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_00]: The only way we can survive and she goes, I'm going to protect the forest but I'm going to see you when you want to.
[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And the guys like, yeah, I guess so, I guess we can't be together. I'm going to help build the thing you hate.
[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And then at night I can come and see you. So we say, okay, we started at the very beginning. We ended at the point.
[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_00]: We started and ended at the same point nothing changed in the film. The only thing that changed is where the first is protected by the guys are not.
[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_00]: The gloves are dead so we get to determine control but nobody's intentions change and then you go like what really is the purpose of the film. Even the hate fellows in this hands.
[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Is not destroyed by circumstance because they would just happen to be there while the spirit god dice and the crashes into them.
[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_00]: While they give it its head, but ultimately they didn't get cured by anything any action they performed. They just got cured by circumstance.
[00:22:55] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's very interesting film where a lot of the things that just driven by circumstance.
[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I guess this is in a sense it's very Japanese but it's also very difficult to follow because eventually the movie becomes a little bit convoluted and complex.
[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think you said there's no character development. I think lady about she does have a development because at the end she's like, oh, thanks, you know, you saved us all which was like, well yeah, no kidding, you tried to kill everything.
[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Like it was like, you know, she already said that she already said thanks when he brought two soldiers back. So she was prone to same stuff like that already.
[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but I think that that show a little bit over more or so at least the way I understood that he was healed.
[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Was because he did something good for the gods and the gods kind of go right up his demonic kind of affections in the Zaron because he saved the gods and saved the planet basically right saved the world.
[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_01]: So I feel like there's this a lot of that there. I think it seems like there's a lot of just kind of mixture of stuff right, the participant in the noki is basically kind of the mogui right living with the wolves and always kind of like, oh, I hate humans. I hate humans but it's like you're kind of human to.
[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but just kind of yeah, this just kind of tribalism and I think that's also one of the things that's being and critiques here right because there's so many different factions that kind of come out of nowhere.
[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_01]: You have to summarize randomly attacking people and and tribes and that's kind of a sea plot.
[00:24:58] [SPEAKER_01]: You have the nature versus iron town is kind of at the focus of then you have the the same versus what's the same as she darker.
[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Kevin, the center of it all right and.
[00:25:18] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, like I said at the end of the day, I think it's it's a film that is that is dealing with these contrast and with the with the.
[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Struggle of industrialization versus nature of of greed versus being content of.
[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, gaining more and more and more and more.
[00:25:45] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and which is the great but.
[00:25:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's it's wrapped up in this very interesting just fable that we see here that again is just very mystical and.
[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Foreign for westerners eyes, but I think it it still kind of sparks some interesting debate and then we have one of these right now I think the the message at all right is like you cannot.
[00:26:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Just exploit nature the way we do it right and I think it's quite powerful that this was done in the 90s and we're still doing this.
[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Right, and we're still doing this even worse and and and the alarm belts happen wrong for decades now but it's like nah.
[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_01]: What we just need to expand and grow and grow and grow and grow and at some point something has to give right and I think the.
[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_01]: What we see here is that at the end of the day something gave and something had to fight back to kind of re we go back I hope like we as a civilization will get to the point that I hope it will be a point where we actually can.
[00:27:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And so you know come back from this because I think it's it's going dire and dire by the by the day, but.
[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think as a as kind of a warning sign I think it's a very compelling film because we do see.
[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_01]: And we're wrapped up in this fantastical kind of looking like a children's story animation film.
[00:27:27] [SPEAKER_01]: You know what what can happen if you just kind of go down the path of greed and the end of the day it's it's it's it's like so many other stories right but I think it's.
[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_01]: It's it's just presented in a way that is very interesting and fun and pretty and I think that that makes us do you give me some compelling because I think.
[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_01]: On one hand the story telling is very strong on the other hand the presentation is very strong the visual director is very strong the animation is fantastic the music is great right and that it's it's losing by the prettyness and.
[00:28:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And again kind of it loses you in through the quirky characters and and.
[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Kind of.
[00:28:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Enter more for theizing animals and all that writing you like oh that's kind of interesting and weird but it's it's also.
[00:28:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Cool right and I think that's that's one of the big strengths of still you could say so again fantastic phone.
[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah it's it's like I said movies like I can argue about the animation that and I do about.
[00:28:38] [SPEAKER_00]: The production quality the music you can I give a lot that think the only thing you can really focus on in this movies how the story was told.
[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And you know.
[00:28:52] [SPEAKER_00]: While the movies typically great I can see how the complexity of this movie could result in you having to watch it multiple times to try to grasp what.
[00:29:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Directed to a scientist now that is neither good or bad but for somebody who's a casual viewer I feel like this movie just be too complex on the first watch.
[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm as a result.
[00:29:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like the directors intentions are lost because a lot of people are just going to watch this movie once and everybody's going to come up with an interpretation or come up with no interpretation of what the director is trying to say and I think that's a fairly not the director spot.
[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_00]: If you don't have any clear message I mean the only clear message that you can really say is that.
[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Because of the complexity of our relationship.
[00:29:52] [SPEAKER_00]: We've got to kill gods.
[00:29:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And all sentient animals.
[00:29:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And as a result.
[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_00]: This movie sees the two characters who.
[00:30:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And what you say that the love is convincing.
[00:30:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Separated at the very end by society's pressures on them.
[00:30:17] [SPEAKER_00]: One being concerned as you can see.
[00:30:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Who has to stay the village to build a metal farm and.
[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And for this woman who has to stay with the forest.
[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_00]: She keep it safe.
[00:30:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And those two characters are going to go on different parts.
[00:30:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And while there's positivity that maybe they could get together.
[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_00]: The reality is that they're fighting for two different goals.
[00:30:44] [SPEAKER_00]: That would eventually lead to them facing each other in battle.
[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think the flip side of that is though it doesn't have to be sincerest so.
[00:30:56] [SPEAKER_01]: So tight of early already right like I think the argument they're making in this film is that.
[00:31:01] [SPEAKER_01]: If the.
[00:31:03] [SPEAKER_01]: The goals are aligned like you can find the balance.
[00:31:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully and I think that's kind of what they were going for you.
[00:31:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Right, so the like you have the representation of the forest after representation of the company town like if those two.
[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Stay together and kind of.
[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_01]: In communication then you can do this stay.
[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think it's an interesting thing that's probably they can they we can explore further but I think we can do that in this sidebar.
[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I'm wrong.
[00:31:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Get back in.
[00:31:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a big one in my chain stop people on the witness.
[00:31:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I rest like a totally below us.
[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I.
[00:31:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. I'm going sorry.
[00:31:51] [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, go ahead.
[00:31:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think that even listen to my arguments you would think that I hear this film.
[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't hate this film. I like the film.
[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_00]: But of all the studio jewellery films.
[00:32:05] [SPEAKER_00]: This is probably the least interesting.
[00:32:08] [SPEAKER_00]: This is less interesting to me than Kassikas to me or go.
[00:32:14] [SPEAKER_00]: It's because I just feel like.
[00:32:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Didn't it's too nuanced. It's too nuanced. I like the film, but it's too nuanced and everybody comes up with letters talking about how this is about environmentalism.
[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_00]: It's about that really then we really messed up because even in that particular sense, the environment was destroyed.
[00:32:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And what the first God being killed and the town coming back to life despite all the arguments is an indication that
[00:32:46] [SPEAKER_00]: this is just going to continue unfettered. So in a sense, it's just the end of nature and how humans are just going to encroach on nature.
[00:32:59] [SPEAKER_00]: On check, I feel like I'm not entirely sure what he's trying to do in this movie, but it was the visuals are great.
[00:33:11] [SPEAKER_00]: The beginning of the art style is fascinating to watch.
[00:33:17] [SPEAKER_00]: The story convoluted as it may be provided lots of points where I was blown away by the act direction.
[00:33:26] [SPEAKER_00]: So overall the movie is still amazing to me, but the story is probably the weakest part.
[00:33:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I agree. Once we were done with this, I felt like this was probably the weakest studio you'll be filmed or I've seen so far.
[00:33:41] [SPEAKER_01]: In quite a dive and seen many great, but it's.
[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_01]: It's too drawn out to and have hours is a long time for the story that we presented with and it gets sidetracked, I kind of alluded to that.
[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not entirely sure what that's all about, like the samurai attacking towns lifted right.
[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_01]: That seems like a distraction.
[00:34:12] [SPEAKER_01]: More than anything, it's also setting up a couple things that are not necessarily redeemed, like the super power that he has that can be had people with an arrow and all that kind of stuff.
[00:34:25] [SPEAKER_01]: That's not that set up, but it doesn't go anywhere. I felt like.
[00:34:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And it also goes a little weird with the people that hide in board skins and just kind of swarm the forest at the end and like that doesn't do anything doesn't go anywhere.
[00:34:46] [SPEAKER_01]: So there's many things that are presented, but not resolved.
[00:34:52] [SPEAKER_01]: So efficiently that make it a little frustrating to watch, I think.
[00:34:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I found, I know I said the music is great, I found the music to be.
[00:35:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Not very obvious, I guess. It's just kind of happening in the background. It's not like spiritual to the way where the music is very prominent and you're like, yes.
[00:35:18] [SPEAKER_01]: I know we're being put on this journey and this is great. I think the music here is very unintrusive and it's fine, but it's not something where I'm like, wow, the music is just fantastic even though I are good for that.
[00:35:33] [SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, again, like the animation is very, very cool.
[00:35:40] [SPEAKER_01]: I watched this in the English dub and the English dub was great, like you have lots of big people in this that do a fantastic job.
[00:35:52] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's great, I mean, it's a studio Ghibli film, it's great, but it's not something where I'm like dying to see it again.
[00:36:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think one of the people who voiced this movie was in the last movie, so many driver, she played living in a bushy.
[00:36:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And when she started to talk, I was like, I wouldn't worry, no doubt for it. Oh yeah, that was from the last movie we talked about, what's in there again.
[00:36:31] [SPEAKER_00]: The one with my statement.
[00:36:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Good one thing. Good real hunting, that's my brain, I'm getting old.
[00:36:41] [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I thought the English dub was good. I watched it in Japanese and I watched it in English, I think that you don't lose too much in the English version, I think there are a couple of lines that are spoken really fast to sync with the voice.
[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_00]: But I think that in that, I mean, the stories come very correctly, I try to film. I did like the music but I felt like, I've said what I have to say about this movie, it really knows much I can act.
[00:37:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I still like it. I think that anybody who gets a chance to watch it, I think that it does have a role in this, the movies, the stupid Japanese culture.
[00:37:22] [SPEAKER_00]: So understanding how Japanese view the relationship with nature allows you to at least decipher some of the message you're trying to say.
[00:37:32] [SPEAKER_00]: But I think for the casual view, it's just a lot of work to try to understand what the whole story is about.
[00:37:40] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, at the end of this unsatisfactory, despite how amazing some of the sequences are, how fighting with the during the voice scan, that's looked creepier.
[00:37:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So fighting with God, some of those things, the animation in those scenes were great but when deep down, deep down the story just feels a little weird.
[00:38:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Other than that, I think the movie is great and people should give it a shot.
[00:38:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah.
[00:38:08] [SPEAKER_01]: As I think goes for all of the Ghibli films, I think there's just something that they set up our, that makes watching the films enjoyable.
[00:38:19] [SPEAKER_01]: You may not always kind of get it or may not always like, you know, it's not always supposed to set a satisfactory maybe, but it's still a very enjoyable time.
[00:38:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely. So I think that's that's all good recommend watch it and report back to us.
[00:38:42] [SPEAKER_01]: That's all I had.
[00:38:44] [SPEAKER_01]: So I have to go. What's next on the list? What's next on the list? Another Japanese film.
[00:38:52] Your name.
[00:38:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you never ever had that movie for almost a year and a half and not I can go to jazz to watch it. So this is giving me a good opportunity to, well, I said the end.
[00:39:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I've been to just come out last year. So maybe in last year.
[00:39:07] [SPEAKER_00]: It came out in 2016.
[00:39:10] [SPEAKER_00]: 2016?
[00:39:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[00:39:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I got it last year.
[00:39:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I guess I'll be able to keep it on the teacher to watch it last.
[00:39:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah. So tack on that next.
[00:39:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Looks like it's kind of a freaky Friday story.
[00:39:28] [SPEAKER_01]: We'll see what that's like.
[00:39:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Until then, where can people find us?
[00:39:34] [SPEAKER_00]: On Instagram ex in Facebook on Apple TV,
[00:39:39] [SPEAKER_00]: or the can send us an email to contact that movie.
[00:39:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to go on the full day.
[00:39:47] [SPEAKER_01]: See you later.
[00:39:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Sounds good.