Princess Mononoke - Hayao Miyazaki, 1997
On one hand I'm impressed with the manner in which the film attempts to avoid an oversimplification of the conflict between nature and development. Eboshi may be intent on destroying the forest, but greed is not her sole motivation. By the same token, San's attacks on civilians hardly generates support for her cause from the audience. Both are virtuous, both have blood on their hands. Like Ashitaka, the film straddles both sides of this divide and, though ecology may ultimately be the "message", it is balanced enough to have empathy for all combatants in the conflict. On the other hand, balanced is not necessarily nuanced and this approach felt a little strained. How's that for a wishy-washy take? Of course, within this remarkably expansive and bizarre world, this binary mostly felt like very good bones to hang the film on.
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald - Koki Mitani, 1997
A pleasant farce about the behind the scenes shenanigans of a radio drama production. Shortly before going on air, the diva lead actress insists on script changes which instigates a series of events that completely transforms the narrative and precipitates several layers of chaos. Never is
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald especially funny, but it is thoroughly good-natured and operates within a certain American tradition of screwball chamber comedy that was a real pleasant surprise for me. I really don't know enough about Japanese culture to make any informed observations, but this film does seem to be consistent with the
Shall We Dance? (1996) current about liberation from rigidity. I guess I'll have to see it in a third before I can label it a trend. Anyway, fun script, good cast, and nicely paced direction made this solidly enjoyable.
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald is unexpected fun but
Mononoke is too singular and too much of a humdinger of an adventure to deny.
Princess Mononoke goes on.