Hayao Miyazaki is one of the greatest filmmakers ever, and his best movie picks clearly shaped his development as an artist. Honing his craft as an animator in the Japanese TV industry throughout the ’60s and ’70s, Miyazaki eventually co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985. What followed was a string of classic films like My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke.
Freed from the conventional constraints of live-action storytelling, all of Miyazaki’s films have a unique and whimsical tone. They focus on the mundane beauty of life, even in the context of fantasy and the supernatural. Masterpiece works like Spirited Away showcase the flexibility of the animated medium, and few have harnessed it quite like Miyazaki.
Though his art is one-of-a-kind, Miyazaki’s influences are clear. The legendary animator has been quite open about what films shaped him, and which movies are his favorites. Though he’s named over two dozen films as his favorites, a narrower list of 10 is still a comprehensive look into Miyazaki’s mind. Underneath everything, it’s clear that Miyazaki loves cinema.
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
How Green Was My Valley is mostly remembered today as the film that infamously beat Citizen Kane for Best Picture at the Oscars, but the John Ford classic deserves more. The film is set in a Welsh mining town, and chronicles the lives of the Morgan clan as tumultuous changes shape the new century. Essentially, it’s a human condition story.
The influences on Miyazaki are clear from the start, and many of his films also explore emotion in the face of larger shaping forces. How Green Was My Valley is one of John Ford’s greatest works, and that’s saying a lot. The Oscar controversy distracts from the fact that the 1941 gem is a purely human slice of Hollywood cinema.
The Old Mill (1937)
Disney’s Silly Symphony short films shaped the studio before they moved on to features, and “The Old Mill” is a highlight. The 10-minute piece shows various animals who seek shelter in an abandoned mill as a storm rolls in. The animation is gorgeous and fluid, and the visual storytelling is some of the best in Disney’s early catalog.
“The Old Mill” was released the same year as Disney’s first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Though Hayao Miyazaki represents the antithesis of Disney’s approach, even he can’t deny the triumph of “The Old Mill”. The animators pull everything out of their bag of tricks, and it’s an excellent showcase of the possibilities of the medium. Regardless of who is watching, “The Old Mill” is an ideal introduction to the art of animation.
Ran (1985)
Released the same year that Hayao Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli, Akira Kurosawa’s Ran was the last great epic of the iconic director’s career. Loosely based on Shakespeare’s King Lear, the story concerns a warlord who attempts to split his domain between his three sons. Kurosawa made three more films after Ran, but it was his true swan song.
Naturally, Miyazaki is heavily influenced by the work of the Japanese filmmaking master. Kurosawa’s sweeping-yet-intricate technique is on full display in Ran, and it leaves a mark on anyone who sees it. Though Miyazaki’s flicks are quite different, the animator borrows Kurosawa’s ability to find humanity in larger-than-life situations. Miyazaki and Kurosawa both put characters first.
Peter Pan (1953)
J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan left a mark on the entire world, and Disney’s 1953 adaptation spread its influence even further. At the turn of the century, Wendy Darling and her siblings are whisked away to Neverland by a precocious boy who never grows up. Fantastical and imaginative, Peter Pan fit snugly into Disney’s vision of animated filmmaking.
Despite being a Disney critic, Miyazaki’s love of Peter Pan is pretty evident. Like Spirited Away, Peter Pan‘s greatest strength is its sense of perspective. The world of magic and wonder is filtered through the eyes of children, and this opens the door for unorthodox approaches to the fantastical. Barrie understood as well as Miyazaki that imagination is key.
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Hayao Miyazaki named several John Ford movies on his favorites list, but none quite like My Darling Clementine. Based on the true story, Wyatt Earp and his brothers arrive in Tombstone and get wrapped up in the events at the O.K. Corral. Though it’s a quintessential western in a lot of ways, it’s also a unique addition to the genre.
Earp’s revenge is the plot’s driving force, but My Darling Clementine is also a slow-paced and pensive film. The mundane aspects of the Old West are highlighted, and that’s likely what most inspires Miyazaki. By the humanity of Earp and his gunslingers, Ford crafts a living environment. It’s the intersection of mundane and magical that sets Miyazaki apart too.
Modern Times (1936)
Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times is without a doubt one of the greatest films ever made. Chaplin stars as a hapless man who is employed at a high-tech factory, but all the innovations only lead to trouble. Underneath all the slapstick humor, Modern Times is an incisive critique of the dehumanization of workers.
Chaplin’s influence on cinema in general is so vast that it’s impossible to summarize, and Miyazaki also took something from the early Hollywood icon. Modern Times never loses focus on its humor, while keeping its message clear. Miyazaki’s films similarly obfuscate their deeper meaning behind the beauty and wonder of both the real and the fantastical.
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
Things were dour in post-war Italy, and 1948’s Bicycle Thieves doesn’t try to sugarcoat that fact. A poor man makes a living hanging posters, but finds his livelihood threatened when his bicycle is stolen. Along with his son, the man embarks on a quest for justice. Vittorio De Sica’s melodramatic masterpiece is the textbook definition of a slice-of-life film.
As with How Green Was My Valley, it’s pretty clear what Hayao Miyazaki got out of Bicycle Thieves. The unflinching portrait of the human condition not only makes for great cinema, but is the essence of all storytelling. Miyazaki’s films are never so gloomy, but they are just as influenced by the good and bad realities of the world.
Jaws (1975)
Every pick that Miyazaki mentions has a clear influence on his own work, except for Jaws. Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster concerns a beach town sheriff who finds his peaceful hamlet threatened by a massive great white shark. Taking the animal attack genre to the next level, Jaws is pure Hollywood magic thanks to Spielberg’s wonderful eye for storytelling.
There isn’t really an obvious line between Miyazaki’s filmography and Jaws, but the director is clearly a fan of the ’70s classic. Not so much in terms of tone, but Miyazaki’s approach to storytelling is similar to that of Spielberg’s in Jaws. They both include a slight sparkle of whimsy in their films, no matter the subject.
Ashes And Diamonds (1958)
War movies can be glorifying or deconstructive, and Andrzej Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds is certainly the latter. At the end of WWII, a Polish assassin is tasked with killing a Russian soldier who was once one of his allies. What could have easily been an action espionage flick is actually a psychological drama about the harrowing violence of war.
No disrespect to Hayao Miyazaki, but none of his films are as deep as Ashes and Diamonds. However, the director’s love of the film is still apparent in his work. It has a striking symbolic language, something an animator is equipped to understand. Miyazaki has used Wajda’s approach, but he’s translated it to fit his own stylistic needs.
Seven Samurai (1954)
Arguably Japan’s greatest contribution to cinema, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is the definitive pinnacle of the samurai genre. A rural village is attacked by bandits, so they summon a group of samurai to help protect them and teach them how to defend themselves. At three-and-a-half hours in length, Seven Samurai is every bit an epic.
Miyazaki’s love of Kurosawa is well-established, and Seven Samurai subtly influenced his filmmaking. Despite being so grand in scale, the movie shines because of the small things it does right. The characters are all clear and distinct, and exist outside the thrust of the plot. Hayao Miyazaki’s movies achieve the same effect, placing dynamic figures in huge situations.
Source: Far Out UK
- Birthdate
-
January 5, 1941
- Birthplace
-
Tokyo, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
- Height
-
5 feet 5 inches
- Professions
-
Animator, Filmmaker, Screenwriter, Producer, Author