After Hayao Miyazaki took three years to finish the initial storyboard for “The Boy and the Heron”, it became obvious that he needed help. With diminished stamina and failing eyesight, the legendary anime auteur was no longer able to control everything. So he invited Takeshi Honda (“Neon Genesis Evangelion”), the supervising animator on his hybrid CG/2D short “Boro the Caterpillar,” to join his upcoming feature.
Honda was flattered and told Miyazaki that he would think about it because he was already committed to “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time,” the franchise film finale. “But at that time, Miyazaki san said, ‘I don’t have time — there is no one in the Miyazaki family who is over 80 years old.’ I thought it was a big deal,” Honda told IndieWire over Zoom through an interpreter.
Honda couldn’t refuse Miyazaki (now 82) and proceeded to spend the next seven years on a journey of a lifetime,...
Honda was flattered and told Miyazaki that he would think about it because he was already committed to “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time,” the franchise film finale. “But at that time, Miyazaki san said, ‘I don’t have time — there is no one in the Miyazaki family who is over 80 years old.’ I thought it was a big deal,” Honda told IndieWire over Zoom through an interpreter.
Honda couldn’t refuse Miyazaki (now 82) and proceeded to spend the next seven years on a journey of a lifetime,...
- 12/28/2023
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Japanese director of playful animation combining realistic drama with fantasy
Satoshi Kon, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 46, was one of the boldest and most distinctive film-makers to specialise in animation. His main body of work – four completed feature films and an acclaimed television mini-series – was playful, sophisticated and adult. Tired of the cliches of mass-produced Japanese animation – "robots and beautiful little girls," as he once put it – Kon sought to make animation that used ambitious and often disorientating editing, intercutting and scene-shifting.
"In animation, only what is intended to be communicated is there," he once said. "If I had a chance to edit live-action, it would be too fast for audiences to follow." Kon made only sparing use of CGI in his mostly drawn films, relying on such superb animators as Shinji Otsuka and Toshiyuki Inoue.
Much of Kon's animation combines realistic drama (usually set in present-day Tokyo) with dreams and fantasy.
Satoshi Kon, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 46, was one of the boldest and most distinctive film-makers to specialise in animation. His main body of work – four completed feature films and an acclaimed television mini-series – was playful, sophisticated and adult. Tired of the cliches of mass-produced Japanese animation – "robots and beautiful little girls," as he once put it – Kon sought to make animation that used ambitious and often disorientating editing, intercutting and scene-shifting.
"In animation, only what is intended to be communicated is there," he once said. "If I had a chance to edit live-action, it would be too fast for audiences to follow." Kon made only sparing use of CGI in his mostly drawn films, relying on such superb animators as Shinji Otsuka and Toshiyuki Inoue.
Much of Kon's animation combines realistic drama (usually set in present-day Tokyo) with dreams and fantasy.
- 8/26/2010
- by Andrew Osmond
- The Guardian - Film News
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