Venice 2013: Miyazaki Hayao Officially To Retire! | Twitch (http://twitchfilm.com/2013/09/venice-2013-miyazaki-hayao-officially-to-retire.html)
What are your thoughts/opinions? Do you think he’s just taking another sabbatical and work on something new in a couple of years? What’s your favorite Miyazaki film?
I’m really looking forward to The Wind Rises! The footage looks amazing and might just be the right movie for him to leave on a high note instead of retiring after Ponyo…
I don’t think we’ve seen the last from Miyazaki in general, but he’ll be popping up in less-intensive roles; producer, writer, consultant, etc. His works as director have taken their toll, physically and mentally. His quest for perfectionism and absolute control is admirable but has meant every film is literally a three to five year contract to work to the limit of human endurance and beyond, every single day and night, until release. The guy is in his seventies. He’s earned his retirement ten times over.
I wish him health and happiness, the very best of luck, and heartfelt gratitude for his body of work to date.
I really hope Ghibli can maintain relevance and survive… since they seem to market themselves as "STUDIO HAYAO MIYAZAKI with some other films every now and again" – box office receipts for the "other films" aren’t fantastic. Miyazaki has been their A Feature, all the others the B Features. Now they need new A Features, and they need somebody who can make them, and is willing to work as hard as Miyazaki did in order to reach the same (or, we can hope, better) level of quality.
Also, this is bad news for Joe Hisaishi fans… not that he has any shortage of work in recent years, but his Miyazaki scores have always, for me, shown him at his best. I hope he can find similarly fruitful collaborations in the future.
IMO I didn’t really enjoy the Tales from Earthsea or From up on the poppy hill as much as the rest of the Studio Ghibli films that were directed by Hayao’s films. I hope he can carry on the legacy but his film previous films isn’t near as breathtaking to me compared with Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away. But that’s just my opinion. :S
I’m not as much of a fan of Miyazaki as most of my friends are, but I understand why they think his works are so great. Anyone who can positively affect so many people is cool in my book.
I did like Spirited Away, so there’s that.
But yeah im excited for The Wind Rises as well.
I’m still waiting for a Porco Rosso 2
I’ve heard the current Studio Ghibli bosses are taking a break to think about the company’s future: either they will find a way to continue with producing high-quality movies or they will retire from production an transform into a company that manages the licenses for their older movies.