Monday, September 20th
The films showing on this day were:
Mimi O Sumaseba (Whispers of the Heart) at 2:30 P.M.
and
Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind) at 6:00 P.M.
The day started out in a less frenzied way than the others, I was in no hurry to get to MoMA since I had gotten my ticket for Nausicaa two days before. However I was carrying everything that I had brought on this trip plus everything that I had acquired during my stay so I did want to drop most of it off at the MoMA check room. I picked up my ticket for "Mimi O Sumaseba".
So I wandered the streets of Manhattan one last time. I stopped in at Kinokuniya again, I found a Japanese restuarant (Ten-Kai on 56th) that sold boxed lunches on the street. I ate lunch on the sidewalk, I was really starting to feel like I had lived in New York my whole life. Too bad it was all coming to an end soon.
Whispers of the Heart was the movie that was playing in the early afternoon on this day. Like Porco Rosso I had not seen this movie before so I happy to get the chance to do so. It's a lot different from Porco however, different than many of the Ghibli films. Instead of intense adventure or imaginative comedy, this was a simple realistic story set around a Japanese family at home. The center of the movie was the daughter who is about to enter high school but wants to find what her true talent is. The other main character is a boy who is about the same age. He seems to have already found a talent in making violins and other musical instruments, but wants to know just how good he really is. I liked the way this movie explores how different artists and artisans see the world and how they fit into it. However I didn't like how the story tends to sway towards "typical" boyfriend/girlfriend dilemas, whereas it seems that all the other Ghibli films have something very unique in the character relationships.
The next few hours after "Whispers" were spent mostly passing time in the sculpture garden. I got to finish up a few sketches for the illustration. Tom and Marc were also there, and we finally had some time to have some good discussions on Miyazaki topics. And the last few hours went quickly by...
Well, the time finally came for the show to start. I got there early and found a good seat right in the front row. The theatre quickly became the most crowded that I had seen it, every seat was taken. My heart was beating so fast with anticipation that I seriously thought that it might burst. This was really the reason for this whole trip and I guess it's fitting that this was to be the last movie that I saw before I left instead of the first one. However, my heart kept pounding throughout the whole movie, so maybe it wasn't anticipation after all...
This movie had a translation that I had never seen before. Maybe I'm just attached to the script that I've been used to for years, but I found a few things that I didn't quite like here. First of all the God Warrior was just known as the "giant soldier". Eventhough it isn't portrayed as much more than a war machine in the movie, I felt without a proper name like "God Warrior" it was even harder for the audience to indentify with the creature as a tragic character. The only other problem that I found with the script was purely a personal thing. They had replaced one of my favorite lines with something of much less impact. "Despite the taste, I could still eat a bootfull (of Chiko Nuts)" was replaced with "I could eat some more..." *sigh* ... "A boot full of Chiko Nuts", it just has so much class it seems a shame to change it.
But Nausicaa's speech was very eloquent and fitting of her, so that's good.
It seems that many people were watching this movie for the first time, so it was interesting to observe their reactions. They all laughed when they first saw Teto because he was so cute, but all gasped when he bit Nausicaa's finger. Although I promised myself to pay full attention to the movie until the very end I couldn't help but look back at the audience during one of those "crucial emotional moments" during the ending scenes. Many, MANY people in the audience had their eyes filled with tears (if they weren't running down their faces), eventhough I've read some reports saying otherwise, emotions like this just can't be denied.
After the movie got out, I decided to walk the twenty-or-so blocks down to the train station. I felt that I needed to be alone with my thoughts for a bit, eventhough the streets were still teeming with life, people, and lights. Now I had gotten to see all the films in a row up on a big screen, I don't mind saying that Nausicaa is still the best. Eventhough it's good to see how Miyazaki has developed his skills greatly as a filmmaker since this first solo venture, nothing else draws you in... nothing else plays with your emotions like Nausicaa does... and nothing will ever come along to challenge that.
She's one of a kind... and so are her stories... and so much more.