Gedo Senki Trailer!

Ghibliworld.com has posted a high-resolution trailer of Studio Ghibli's (who brought us such masterpieces as My Neighbour Totoro, Porco Rosso, Grave of the Fireflies and Princess Mononoke) newest film Gedo Senki, or Tales from Earthsea. Oh yes, it's a Ursula K. Le Guin adaptation! I love her Earthsea books- they're the very pinnacle of all-ages fantasy writing- so I'm very excited about this adaptation. At the very least, it should be better than the despicable recent Hallmark adaptation of the books.

Anyway, Gedo Senki is directed by a Miyazaki, but not the Miyazaki we're used to! This film is the directorial debut of Goro Miyazaki, son of the famed animator Hayao Miyazaki. Judging by the trailer, I think he may well have his father's talents. The animation is up the high standards that we expect from a Ghibli production, but what really stands out in the trailer is the theme song- which was written by Goro Miyazaki himself and is absolutely beautiful. I haven't been able to get my hands on a translation of the lyrics but I'll put em up as soon as I do.

In an interesting side-note, Goro Miyazaki's been posting a daily blog about the production of the film- a translation of which has been put up by the good folks at Nausicaa.net. Sadly, the blog reveals that that Hayao Miyazaki was against his son directing the film and subsequent entries show that a rift between the two men that seems to go back quite far. In his February 22nd and 23rd entries, partially translated by Ghibliworld.com, Goro Miyazaki wrote that the reason why it took him so long to enter the world of animation was because of objections from his mother. Apparently, his mother used to be an animator but the pressures of child-rearing forced her to resign- while his father worked so hard that his family hardly saw him at all.

Is this, then, the price of genius? Hayao Miyazaki is undoubtedly a genius in the medium of animation, and it is ironic that many of his films are about childhood. In fact, as many have noted, the depictions of children in his films are more nuanced and realistic than many other animations, or live-action films for that matter. Its ironic that his own son would feel this way about him now. Is it truely impossible to balance the burden of a singular creative vision and the responsibility of being a parent? Or is this more of a generational gap issue? Impossible for me to say. I only hope that the release of this film (which, if all goes well, will be Ghibli's latest masterpiece) will go some way towards healing the rift between the two Miyazakis. Perhaps Ghibli's next film can be a collaboration between them!

Gedo Senki is set to come out in July in Japan, so hopefully it'll reach Singapore before the end of this year!