Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, "What Life Do You Want to Live", which just won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, was released in Chinese mainland on April 3. This is also the fastest introduction of Miyazaki's works.
"What kind of life do you want to live" tells the story of the young shepherd's mother who formed a new family with his father and stepmother after his mother died in the fire. The real person who is deeply grieved is gloomy and withdrawn, and it is difficult to integrate into the new environment. In an accident, he follows a talking heron into a mysterious abandoned tower, but unexpectedly enters the fantastical "world of the dead" and embarks on an incredible adventure......
As a world-renowned master of animated films, each of Miyazaki's works is worth savoring. This article summarizes 25 pieces of information related to "What kind of life do you want to live", hoping to help the audience quickly understand the work before watching the movie.
After the release of "The Wind Rises" in 12013, Miyazaki announced his retirement, citing the decline in concentration, and Studio Ghibli's production department was disbanded. In 2016, Hayao Miyazaki announced that he was working on the animated short film "Caterpillar Pineapple". In 2017, Hayao Miyazaki officially made a comeback, announcing the preparation of the animated feature film "What kind of life do you want to live", and at the same time recruiting artists from Japan and abroad.
2 After Hayao Miyazaki began working on "What Life Do You Want to Live", Toshio Suzuki, the head of Studio Ghibli and also the producer of the film, revealed that "What Life Do You Want to Live" may be Miyazaki's last work.
3 The title of "What Life Do You Want to Live" borrows the name of the novel of the same name published by Japanese writer Genzaburo Yoshino in 1937, and the book "What Life Do You Want to Live" also appears in the film, but the story of the film is original by Hayao Miyazaki, not adapted from this novel.
4 "What kind of life do you want to live" is a novel published in 1937 by Japanese writer Genzaburo Yoshino, which tells the story of a 15-year-old boy "Little Copernicus" who, inspired and guided by his uncle as a college graduate, explores topics such as friendship, wealth and poverty, discrimination, bullying, people and society, and courage, so as to clarify the story of "the value of human beings".
5In the 1930s, when Genzaburo Yoshino published "What kind of life do you want to live", Japanese militarist forces were on the rise, and Genzaburo Yoshino may have sensed the abnormality and madness of society, and had a premonition that war was about to break out. He could not stop the trend of war, but he chose to write this book in an attempt to convey the value of "people" to the younger generation. The Second World War is also the background of the movie "What kind of life do you want to live".
6 When Miyazaki was young, he read the novel "How Do You Want to Live Your Life" and was deeply impressed by the book. Hayao Miyazaki once wrote about this book in his autobiography with a long essay "Memories of Disappearing Landscapes": "This book conveys the idea that no matter how difficult or cruel the times are, you must live as a person." ”
7 The protagonist of "What kind of life do you want to live" has a lot of Miyazaki's own shadow - Miyazaki, like the real person, moved from the city to the countryside with his family due to the impact of the war when he was young. In addition, Miyazaki's father, like Majin's father, ran a fighter jet factory during the war.
8 The prototype of the protagonist of "What kind of life do you want to live" is Hayao Miyazaki himself, the prototype of the heron in the film is Toshio Suzuki, the head of Studio Ghibli, and the prototype of his uncle is Isao Takahata, who is also one of the founders of Studio Ghibli. The film was launched in 2017, and Takahata passed away on April 5, 2018, at the age of 82.
9 The film focuses on three types of birds, namely herons, pelicans, and parrots, which are highly symbolic in the film. As for what each bird symbolizes, it is up to the audience to experience it in the movie.
10 In the movie, the gate of the castle connecting the human world and the other world is engraved with the Italian phrase fecemi la divina potestate. This quote comes from Dante's Divine Comedy, which means "divine power, the highest wisdom, primordial love". In the Divine Comedy, these words are written on the gates of hell. The symbol of the otherworld is self-evident.
11
《你想活出怎样的人生》Japan片名为《How do you live》,而英文片名为The Boy and The Heron。 所以该片还有一版中文译名为《苍鹭与少年》。
12
Hand-painted, "How Would You Like to Live Your Life" is Ghibli's largest production, with 60 artists working on the film at the same time. When Hayao Miyazaki produced My Neighbor Totoro, only 8 animators were involved, and it took 8 months to complete the production of My Neighbor Totoro.
13
The production of "What kind of life do you want to live" is a huge amount of work, and producer Toshio Suzuki revealed that the studio can only complete 1 minute of content in 1 month, and the total duration of the film is 124 minutes.
In 142017, when Miyazaki announced his new project, "How Do You Want to Live Your Life", he said that it would take three to four years to complete. Studio Ghibli head Toshio Suzuki has announced that the film is expected to be released during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In fact, "What kind of life do you want to live" took 7 years from the start of the project to its release.
15 After the production of "What kind of life do you want to live" began, Miyazaki Hayao was slow due to lack of physical strength. Toshio Suzuki teased Miyazaki about what if he died after just completing the storyboard? Miyazaki said that he was ready to die while making the animated film.
16 "What kind of life do you want to live" did not release any trailers, stills, TV trailers, newspaper trailers, etc. before its release in Japan, and all materials were only a poster.
17 After the release of "What kind of life do you want to live", Shunichi Nishioka, vice president of Studio Ghibli, said in an interview that the film will not be Miyazaki's last film, and Miyazaki has returned to the studio with the idea of a new work.
18 "What kind of life do you want to live" grossed $12.8 million in the first weekend of its North American release, topping the North American box office list. The film became Ghibli's highest-grossing film in North America (previously held by Arietti, the Borrowed Villain, which grossed $6.4 million in its opening weekend) and was the first original Japanese animated film to top the North American box office.
19After joining the theatrical version of animation, "What kind of life do you want to live" ranked sixth on the North American box office list of Japanese animated films. The top three are Pokémon Theatrical: Mewtwo's Counterattack ($31 million in the opening weekend), Demon Slayer Blade Theatrical Infinity Train ($21.2 million), and Dragon Ball Super: Super Cyborgs ($21.1 million).
20 "What kind of life do you want to live" won the 96th Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film, and its competitors include "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse", "Crazy Elemental City", "Monster Girl Nimona", and "Robot Dream".
21 "What kind of life do you want to live" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, which is the second time Miyazaki has won the award after "Spirited Away". And Miyazaki also won an Oscar - in 2014, Miyazaki was awarded the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
22After the movie "What kind of life do you want to live" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, Toshio Suzuki called Miyazaki to report the good news, and Miyazaki said on the phone, "As a Japanese man, you can't let people see how happy you are." Toshio Suzuki complained to the media about Hayao Miyazaki, "He used to look depressed, saying that he didn't have any thoughts about the award, but he actually wanted to win the award." ”
23After winning the Oscar, Miyazaki was absent from Ghibli's press conference, and Toshio Suzuki responded: "Director Miyazaki said that he will not appear in the world anymore. He held a large press conference before and announced that he would never do it again? In fact, he has been reflecting on it. After the project of "What kind of life do you want to live" came out, he kept saying, "I'm ashamed, I'm really ashamed, but I really want to make another one!"
The Chinese dubbing lineup of the 24 movie includes Liu Haoran, Dapeng, Gao Yuanyuan, Zhu Yawen, Zhang Hanyun, Chen Jianbin and so on. Among them, Liu Haoran dubbed for the real person, Dapeng dubbed for the heron, Gao Yuanyuan dubbed for Xia Zi and Jiuzi, Zhu Yawen dubbed for Shengyi and Parrot King, Zhang Hanyun dubbed for Huomei, and Chen Jianbin dubbed for his uncle.
The Japanese version of the voice actors includes Masaki Sugata, Satoshi Yamatoki, Yuki Shibasaki, Aimi, Kano Kimura, Takuya Kimura, etc. North American voice actors include Christian A. Bell, Dave Batista, Garma Chen, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson, Florence Pugh, etc.
25 At the Chinese premiere of "What kind of life do you want to live", Toshio Suzuki, the head of Ghibli, recalled that he and Hayao Miyazaki came to China together 40 years ago, and visited Chinese animation teams such as Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio, and the two greatly appreciated Chinese animation works such as "Little Tadpole Looking for Mother" and "Shepherd Flute".