TIFF Report #1 — ‘The Boy and the Heron’ is A Masterpiece?

Here I am, tired from travelling, and in Toronto for TIFF. The big film yesterday was Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron.”

Before I delve into my thoughts, the reviews are fantastic (and rightfully so). It has an 89 on Metacritic, including a perfect A grade from IndieWire.

The film itself is astonishing. It’s truly surreal. It closely resembles “Spirited Away,” sometimes veering in Lynchian (or is it Miyazakian) territory. My jaw dropped in certain moments of this film. The artistry is nothing short of stunning.

Miyazaki has the imagination of a child, but the nature of an old wise man. The less you know, the better, but quite honestly it would be very hard to describe what happens in this film, there are images that defy words.

The setup has young boy Mahito, during World War II, devastated by death of his mother due to air raids. After the war, the boy moves away from Tokyo with his father to the country region, where he feels isolated with his father's new wife, and also finds it hard to adapt in the new environment.

Nearby, there is an abandoned house, and he finds a talking heron who reveals to him that his mother is still alive. Soon after, his father's new wife goes missing, leading Mahito to pursue the talking heron. The heron invites him to the abandoned house, which opens up into a surreal and fantastical world.

This is where the film’s complexities start to appear. “The Boy and the Heron” just envelops you into its strange world, where nothing is as it appears. Miyazaki conjures up these elaborate, nightmaresque, set-pieces that toss plot aside in favor of sheer cinematic nirvana.

This is a ballsy movie from the 82-year-old master. Audiences expecting plot might be disappointed, it’s all about letting yourself get swept away by the visual miracles on display. It’s Miyazaki’s best film since “Spirited Away” and, quite possibly, a masterpiece.

I should also not that yesterday morning’s press screening for Nikolaj Arcel’s “The Promised Land” was cancelled due to projector problems. It wasn’t a bad thing. I ended up catching up on some much needed sleep.

However, I was not happy when that same projector struck again for the 4:30pm screening of Bertrand Bonello’s “The Beast” — that screening also got canceled. I will now have to make it a priority to go to one of the other public screenings.

I did catch Agniezka Holland’s “Green Border,” which screened at Venice and is a contender for the Golden Lion. I honestly can’t say this one did much for me. It tackles the immigrant crisis between the borders of Belarus and Poland. A lot of misery porn in this one.