Porco Rosso

Tonight and again on the 23rd are your chances to see Porco Rosso on the big screen. It's about an ex-fighter pilot-turned-bounty hunter, and it takes up the themes of the brotherhood of war, honor vs. loyalty, honor vs. celebrity, Old World vs. New, genius vs. experience, and, of course, love. The early part of the movie is more for kids and is rather comic. For me it is an odd juxtaposition with the more serious themes that emerge later in the film. I guess, then, another theme would be the heart of a child vs. the heart of a combat veteran.

Being able to see it in theaters is due to the efforts of GKIDS, the distributor for some anime in the US. Last year, GKIDS sponsored Studio Ghibli Fest, which put one Studio Ghibli animated movie in theaters each month. It was apparently pretty successful, so they are doing it again this year. Studio Ghibli is Hayao Miyazaki's studio, the most famous Japanese anime studio. It created films like Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away.



If you are interested, you can see if any theaters near you are playing it by going to the Studio Ghibli Fest website, scrolling to Porco Rosso, and putting in your zip code.
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3 comments:

  1. Grim1:33 PM

    I skipped seeing that movie many times when my younger relatives were young enough to watch it over and over, as children do. Maybe I should watch it after all.

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  2. Tom3:13 PM

    If all you see is the first part of the movie, it's really not that interesting. It might be worth watching once just for the animation. After that, though, it gets into a lot more depth; in some ways it's almost a different movie. It's still kid-friendly, but adults will pick up on a lot of things kids don't.

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  3. Anonymous4:19 PM

    I use parts of the film when I talk about the rise of Fascism in Italy. It's an interesting tale, especially the second half or so.

    LittleRed1

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