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Castle in the Sky: World premiere on February 4, 2000. at 6:00 P.M.

at:

Director's Guild of America Theatre: 110 West 157th Street

      The premiere of Castle in the Sky was shown at the Director's Guild of America theatre which is located midtown just a few blocks below Central Park and right next to the Russian Tea Room. Earlier in the day I met up with Justin Sevakis formerly of the Anime News Network and we wandered the streets visiting Kinokuniya Bookstore, Asahiya Bookstore, and ate at East Soba Shop located in Times Square.

      The day was cloudy and occasionally a few flakes of snow fell from the grey sky. It was already getting dark by the time we got the theatre (as seen the picture above.) The start of the film was delayed quite a while since there was a problem with the seating and tickets and I found myself along with a number of others waiting out in the lobby while everyone else was filing in. Finally, the show started with a special guest from Ghibli, Steven Alpert. The producer for the English language versions of the Ghibli films. After a few words from him, the room darkened.

     The show started with a French animated short feature named At the Ends of the Earth, an insanely funny and somewhat twisted film about a house that was perched at the top of a mountain that rocked back and forth as to let the odd inhabitants in one door or out the other. The film got funnier and even more bizzare as it progessed and the whole theatre was roaring by the end.

Then the real film began...

      Castle in the Sky is a film that really begs to be seen on a big movie screen, more than any other Miyazaki film. The visuals, especially the sprawling landscapes and cloudscapes are ten times more impressive than they could ever be on a TV screen.

      The english dubbing job, like with Mononoke was very good. The actors played the parts of the characters very well and most of the original Japanese script remained intact. The actor who stood out above the rest though, was Cloris Leachman who played the part of Dola, the mother pirate, sounding much like the original voice at many times. However, with many dubbing jobs it seems like the "need for snappy banter" was fufilled here. Although it was really kept to a minimum, sometimes corny lines and fast spoken jokes were added in at points that were not needed. Also, dialog was added at point that no words were spoken in the original, gestures simply told the story. Overall, it was well suited to an American audience that is unfamiliar with Japanese animation, and that is the goal that I think that Alpert set out to fulfill.

      As for the music... the music was redone to "fit the needs of an American audience" or something like that. That simply means that the music has to to be pretty much playing almost at all times with no silent pauses. I thought that the music was perfect as it was and normally I'd be against this kind of thing but the person who was heading the project was none other than the original composer and the man behind the soundtracks to most of Miyazaki's films, Joe Hisiaishi. So I was really expecting the music to be great and something totally new. It was great to hear in in digital stereo but unfortunately it wasn't really new... not that much anyway. What had taken place was mostly the old tracks simply redone with different instruments or other slight differences. And for anyone who is used to the original sountrack, it won't sound the same, and in this case, it won't be as good. Some of the music was changed and played in different scenes but it still it seemed somewhat disorienting. The bottom line is that it really improved on one scene at the end but messed up on a few key others. 

However, taking into consideration the criteria that was needed to be met, it was once again, a very good job. Any new fan will love it!!

      After the show, a reception was held in the downstairs lobby. It was very crowded, I don't think that the room was equipped to hold so many people..

 The reception was catered  with some pretty good food, ranging from chocolate cream puffs, which I think were the big hit, to some kind of sushi, nachos, and finally down to a measly peanut butter sandwich. I had to leave early in order to be able to catch my train back home. However, I did run into Steven Alpert at the top of the stairs. He was conversing with an animation professor from NYU (?) and I was able to show them a small section of my portfolio...

The professor liked it, but I don't think that Alpert could have cared less. I forgive him though , he was being constantly hounded that evening by numberous anime production firms trying to get a piece of the Ghibli goodness.

He did give some good advice to a young fan who asked what he should do to grow up to be an animator...

"Draw... a lot." he said. I overheard this and thought to myself... "OK, I will."

Oh well, time to go home. I'd be back soon enough next week for...

Nausicaa screening: on February 12th, 2000 at 4:30 P.M.

at:

Cantor Film Center: 36th East 8th Street

      This is the Cantor Film Center, I arrived too early to be admitted as the Osamu Tezuka show was still taking place and the halls were very crowded. I decided to take a quick walk down to Anime Crash on 4th street. I just wanted to check in and see if they had anything that I really need (I got the Nausicaa soundtrack there years before)... they didn't. I was saving up for a trip to Pearl Paint later that evening anyway so maybe it was for the best that I didn't buy anything...

A quick walk back, and upon arriving at the theatre with still a good 15 minutes to spare...

...the line had already formed and was out the door and down the sidewalk! This is how long the line was in front of me...

And before we were allowed into the theatre, the line had grown nearly twice as long. It's reassuring to see that New Yorkers have such fine taste in their movies!!

The theatre sat about 300 people. There seemed to be just enough seating for everyone. I got a seat right up front.

Before the film started, they held a raffle with three prizes. I won a book!! The Anime Companion by Gilles Poitras.

      The version of Nausicaa that was shown was the subtitled version that was shown at the MoMA as well. It was good but I personally think that a few changes should be made to this particular translation before it becomes the official script for a wider release. I don't like the fact that the proper names of many of the important things in this film were not used. For example, Nausicaa's glider "Mehve" was simply called "the flyer". The God Warrior was simply referred to as "the giant soldier."  The names were carefully chosen for a purpose and some of the richness to the story is lost when things are simplfied like this.

      I also didn't like the fact that Nausicaa's insect whistle was known as the "mesmerizer". Please read the Insect Whistle section for my study on how this device works.

     This audience was very receptive and were good "active viewers," unlike the crowd at the MoMA who prefered to sit still and be diginfied. These folks were nearly cheering for the characters during and at the end of the film. Everyone left chattering about the movie with much enthusiasm.

After the show I hung around outside in the lobby and met some new friends. If any of them are by chance reading this ...hi!

After that... a visit to Pearl Paint to pick up some new Holbein watercolors (the kind that Miyazaki uses.)

What did I make with those paints?

All text and artwork, unless otherwise specified, by Griffin Waldau. Updated December 20, 2000.

e-mail: griffin@waldau.com

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