I have just finished watching the first episode of 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki, NHK’s four-episode documentary about Japan’s foremost living film director. The series shows a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at Miyazaki’s creative process in making his acclaimed films.
In this episode, in 2006, two years after Howl’s Moving Castle, Miyazaki is shown going about his daily routine making coffee in the morning, drawing manga, installing a video camera in his car to record the scenes while he is driving.
And then he talks about his new film, Ponyo. Drawing storyboards, exploring different ideas, taking brief naps, discarding things that don’t work.
There are scenes of neighborhood children walking past his studio, Miyazaki listening to Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, giving his opinion about his son’s film Tales of the Earthsea.
Ophelia by John Everett Millais, Tate Britain
One particular segment in the video where Miyazaki visited Tate Britain museum personally resonated with me:
A trip to the UK left him with a stunning revelation. It happened during a visit to the Tate Britain art museum. He found himself transfixed by the works of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, particularly by a painting called “Ophelia.” Miyazaki was startled by the artist’s minute attention to detail, by how different amounts of light rendered subtle changes in the painting’s appearance.
Miyazaki: "I thought my work is shoddy compared to those artists. I was just astonished. At that point, it became clear to me. Our animation could not go on as before.
While I was growing up we had a book in our house called 1,000 Great Events over which I would spend countless hours reading.
Like Miyazaki, one particular image that stayed in my mind was this painting, described in the book as The Death of Ophelia by John Everett Millais with its richly detailed colors depicting Ophelia (a character in Shakespere’s Hamlet) singing before she drowns in a river.
Of course, I was looking at a tightly cropped image in a small page. It must have been astonishing for Miyazaki to see this this 76.2 cm × 111.8 cm painting in person hanging on a wall on Tate.
I look forward to watching the rest of the series.
Episode 1: Ponyo is Here
Miyazaki allowed a single documentary filmmaker to shadow him at work, as he dreamed up characters and plot lines for what would become his 2008 blockbuster, “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.” Miyazaki explores the limits of his physical ability and imagination to conjure up memorable protagonists.
Episode 2: Drawing What’s Real
As he dreams up characters and plot lines, he delves into memories of his late mother for a thread to weave the story. “Movies show who you are,” Miyazaki says, “no matter how hard you try to hide it.”
Episode 3: Go Ahead Threaten Me
Sparks begin to fly as he and his son, Goro - an up-and-coming director - work on the film “From Up on Poppy Hill” (2011). In the final stretch, a massive earthquake and nuclear disaster rock Japan and leave the team in shock. Amid power outages, they decide they must pause their work. That’s when Hayao puts his son’s resolve as a director to the test.
Episode 4: No Cheap Excuses
At age 72, he takes on a new challenge - one that would become the highly-acclaimed “The Wind Rises” (2013), Miyazaki’s first film about a historical figure. Bringing the film from concept to reality turns out to be a long and difficult journey. In the process, Miyazaki grapples with tough questions about issues like aging, and the meaning of making animated films in a turbulent time.
