The Boy and the Heron | Hayao Miyazaki | Studio Ghibli | GKIDS | NA Debut at TIFF | WINNER OF THE OSCAR FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

[MovieMan89]

5 hours ago, JustLurking said:

Tale of Princess Kaguya was 100% rt and 8.2 and it wasn't even enough to beat Big Hero 6 to the academy - I would keep my expectations very low honestly

8.2 vs 8.7 is honestly a chasmic difference. There are loads of animated films that have hit 8.2. We’re talking like count on one hand that are in Heron’s current stratosphere. Not even counting top critic which is really out there in its own world rn. Obviously that could still change once we double reviews number, since it should get at least that. 
 

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by MovieMan89

[titanic2187]

Whether is Best Picture or best animated feature, 2023 is a far stronger than recent years , perhaps since 2019. Up to now I would say of 10, 5 best picture slot has already been “taken”. 
 

And Miyazaki stubbornly refuse to attend any campaign or marketing activity in NA is causing serious “threat” to its chance.  
 

But if heron exploded at the BO on Dec 8 as an indie anime, that could change the course of the conversation. 

[WrathOfHan]

If this gets a big critics group win that isn't animated or really overperforms domestically, it will be hard for voters to turn a blind eye even with the animation bias. The narrative writes itself. That might not necessarily mean Picture, but Score and an extra nomination aside from Animated would make sense.

[harrisonisdead]

I can't help but think of del Toro's Pinocchio, which at various points in the award season had rumblings of being nominated for score, song, production design, VFX, and even picture, and ended up somehow missing out on all of those. If even industry darling Guillermo "animation is cinema" del Toro couldn't disrupt the Academy's bias against animation, I have a hard time imagining this will. (The Boy and the Heron's reception thus far is arguably a good notch higher than that film's, but I don't think the distinction really matters, and the gap could always narrow post-festivals.) Keep in mind too that there might also be a push to nominate Spider-Verse for non-animation categories this year (like score, sound, or VFX).

 

Would definitely love to see Joe Hisaishi get his first Oscar nom, tho. Talk about overdue!

 

If this movie were really seriously pushed as Miyazaki's last, maybe there'd be a bit of a better chance, optimistically believing they've made progress in the past decade when it comes to international films and animated films. But at this rate I think The Wind Rises was probably the closest we're ever going to get to a definitively advertised "final film" from Miyazaki, unless he dies in the time between completing a film and the film being released.

[JustLurking]

Another problem is that Japan didn't pick the film as its international representative, which doesn't help this film's case.

[MovieMan89]

I can’t see GDT Pinocchio as a parallel here at all. For starters, an animated adaptation of Pinocchio was never getting into BP unless the reviews had really been off the charts. As it is, its avg is lower than a solid dozen or so Pixar classics just to start. Moreover, there was no “narrative” to speak of there. They already awarded GDT “against all odds”, there was no Oscar narrative they love for why they should nom Pinocchio. Not to mention Netflix movie really killed any remote chance. 
 

I can’t think of a stronger narrative for animation than industry’s biggest living legend comes back after a decade to deliver one of the most critically acclaimed animated films of all time about an entirely original idea and IP, dealing with adult abstract themes and death and one’s mortality. That’s basically the ultimate Oscar narrative an animated film could ever ever hope to get, barring the situation TS3 was in for its narrative, which is unlikely to ever be topped as far as animation BP narratives go. 

Edited October 22, 2023 by MovieMan89

[MovieMan89]

Again, Miyazaki got the Academy to award anime in 2003 - even despite him vocally wanting nothing to do with it given US’s involvement in the Iraq War at the time. That’s just insane to think about. He absolutely has a huge reputation. There is an uphill battle for any animated or foreign film to get into BP to say the least, but I wouldn’t expect it to happen for animation again for who knows how long if it doesn’t happen with this. 

[cannastop]

5 hours ago, WrathOfHan said:

and an extra nomination aside from Animated would make sense.

what category?

[MovieMan89]

Hopefully it at least gets screenplay and score if it misses BP. Score sounds phenomenal from the little bit in the teaser. 

[harrisonisdead]

This has slowly but surely crawled past the 80 review mark on Rotten Tomatoes, so certified fresh should be imminent.

[Danhjpn]

42 minutes ago, harrisonisdead said:

This has slowly but surely crawled past the 80 review mark on Rotten Tomatoes, so certified fresh should be imminent.

What are the conditions for the certified fresh there?

[harrisonisdead]

10 hours ago, Danhjpn said:

What are the conditions for the certified fresh there?

A wide release has to have at least 80 reviews and a score higher than 75% to be certified fresh. If a movie's score is closer to 75% or it has a particularly volatile score they may hold off on giving it certified fresh in case the score falls, but this one should be pretty immediate considering the movie has 99%.

[cannastop]

Oh I'm so anxious. When do tickets go on sale? Has to be in the next two weeks...

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

this was boring

[Valencia]

Horrible audience scores from the South Korea opening.

 

6.88 Naver

7.4 Megabox

69% CGV

Edited October 25, 2023 by Valencia

[Borobudur]

How is this movie getting the best critical review for Miyazaki since Spirited Away but audience reception is at the polar opposite end?

[SchumacherFTW]

28 minutes ago, Borobudur said:

How is this movie getting the best critical review for Miyazaki since Spirited Away but audience reception is at the polar opposite end?

It's hard to explain, but there's not a lot of handholding with how the story progresses and the symbolism etc that's on offer, so can imagine it's certainly alienating to a section of the audience myself including. It's certainly one where I don't think it's necessarily right or wrong if somebody comes out feeling very high or very low on it. 

[Danhjpn]

How many reviews from the critics left in the tank? 

[harrisonisdead]

41 minutes ago, Borobudur said:

How is this movie getting the best critical review for Miyazaki since Spirited Away but audience reception is at the polar opposite end?

I'm honestly kinda surprised on both accounts. If some reviews hadn't already been out by the time I watched it, I would have expected a bit more polarized a critical response (only slightly, like The Wind Rises). But I also would have expected audiences to be more satisfied with it than they are. I do feel like initial public reaction to a movie like this isn't necessarily going to tell the full story, and that like Howl's Moving Castle it has the chance of gathering its own strong following that leads to broader admiration. Fanbase-motivated reactions can be fickle. But I also wonder if critics scores will ease as the movie gets out of the festival season.

 

P.S. The Boy and the Heron is currently close to Miyazaki's lowest rated feature on Letterboxd, only above Porco Rosso and Lupin. Impressively, all of his features currently have a 4.0 or higher (rounded to the nearest tenth: the three mentioned technically have between a 3.95 and 4.0). I wonder how many filmmakers have that kind of track record.

[harrisonisdead]

12 minutes ago, Danhjpn said:

How many reviews from the critics left in the tank? 

Probably 100+ more to go on Rotten Tomatoes. Maybe 20-30 more on Metacritic.