Congratulations, Rebecca! — Plus Fantasy/Sci-Fi Films You’ve Probably Never Heard Of & “The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya”
Congratulations, Rebecca!
Yes, that’s right — the Sir Julius Vogel Award ceremony for 2015 was held on on Sunday night and Rebecca won the “Best Fan Writing” award, for a body of work that includes reviewing on FantasyLit.com, her own They’re All Fictional blog, and Big Worlds On Small Screens.
I really do feel this award is very well deserved so a big thank to everyone who nominated and voted for Rebecca.
~ HelenL
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Big Worlds On Small Screens: Fantasy/Sci-Fi Films You’ve Probably Never Heard Of — “The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya
~ by Rebecca Fisher
Although this sub-series is meant to highlight films you’ve (probably) never heard of, there’s a reasonably good chance that The Tale of the Princess Kaguya rings a bell. It’s not only a recently released film from Studio Ghibli, but one that was nominated for an Oscar at the most recent Academy Awards.
And yet there’s been surprisingly little buzz about it. Perhaps it’s because it was directed (and co-written) by Isao Takahata instead of the more renowned Hayao Miyazaki, or perhaps it’s because this is an unusual film, even by Studio Ghibli standards (which tend to forego the usual three-act narrative structure in favour of stories that are more meandering).
Based on a Japanese folktale called The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, the story tells of a poor woodsman who chances across a glowing stalk of bamboo in the forest. Before his eyes, a new shoot grows and blossoms, revealing a little girl small enough to sit in the palm of his hand. Believing her to be a blessing from heaven, he carries her home to his wife, where she promptly turns into a normal-sized infant.
Though she grows exceptionally fast, so much so that she’s nicknamed “Little Bamboo” by the village boys, the child is happy amongst her friends and family in the countryside. But when her adoptive father discovers gold and fine silks in the bamboo grove, he interprets it as a sign that she’s meant for grander things.
Without warning, the family moves to the capital city, where Little Bamboo is given the name Kaguya, which means “the shining princess of the supple bamboo”.
Rumours of her beauty stretch far and wide, and soon Princess Kaguya has a range of suitors seeking her hand in marriage: though on hearing their florid declarations of love, Kaguya stuns them all by requesting the impossible objects that she’s been compared to.
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is animated in a very sparse and simple style, rendered in muted pastel colours that make the whole film look like a children’s book brought to life. It’s very unlike the bright and bold animation of past Studio Ghibli films, but there’s a hypnotic quality about the way shapes and colours move and flow.
It also runs at a very gentle pace, and for a considerable length of time (I started watching it a little bit too late, and ended up having to divide it over two nights). The film takes its time in depicting such scenes as a baby learning to walk, or a woman diligently carving out the interior of a bowl – scenes that exist for their own sake and otherwise add nothing to the gist of the story.
Although Princess Kaguya’s search for true happiness is a tad predictable (I hardly think it’s a spoiler if I say happiness was not to be found in the city at all, but in the idyllic countryside of her childhood) the mystery of her existence provides a few unexpected twists. What exactly was she doing in the bamboo shoot? Where does she come from originally? By the time she finds out the story is ready to close on a haunting, bittersweet note.
It’s hard to imagine a hyperactive child sitting down to watching The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, and a few parental eyebrows might be raised at the frank depiction of breastfeeding and nudity, but it’s a beautiful, intriguing, curious film, which not only deserves it’s Academy Award nomination, but also the hope that it will reach a wider audience.
Next Time: The Sound of My Voice
2011 was a good year for watching Brit Marling in speculative science-fiction films. Not only was she the star of Another Earth, but she also featured in The Sound of My Voice, a psychological thriller about two documentary filmmakers who attempt to infiltrate and expose a secretive cult – one led by a young woman who claims to be from the future. But is she for real?
About The Reviewer:
Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com and her They’re All Fictional blog.
To read Rebecca’s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:
Congratulations, Rebecca!
Thank you!
Well done. Congratulations.
Many thanks for the informative reviews you have done.
Thank you (again), especially for guiding me through the “sample booklet” process!
Awesome, congratulations, Rebecca! I’ve been dying for the DVD to be released for what seems like years!
Great write up!
Thank you – and yes, the DVD for “Princess Kaguya” has certainly taken it’s time. Usually Studio Ghibli films are widely promoted, but this one seemed to slip under the radar a bit (thus it’s inclusion here).