Two movies about helpful and confident young women.
Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989; HBO Max or your library)
A young girl—a “good witch,” as Glinda would say—sets off on her broomstick for the city, where she must find her place and learn how to use her gifts to help others. This is my third-favorite Miyazaki film. Kiki is helpful and considerate. The art of the film is bright and hopeful, while complex. The animators give a sense of large spaces around our small protagonist, like in Rebecca (1940). And Miyazaki’s fascination with flying vessels culminates with a blimp (what’s more exciting than a dirigible, I ask?). Fully down to earth, but it feels like young hope and kindness and the slowness of growing up and the mystery of artistic beauty all at once.
Usually the English-language dubs are good on these movies (and even include famous actors). But on this one, please watch it in Japanese with English subtitles. In English, Kiki’s voice is over-confident and grating like PBS Kids’ Pinkalicious. Her cat’s voice is, too, not to mention all the changed lines (whereas the subtitles preserve the original script). The original voices have a gentleness to them that gives the film its heart.
Cluny Brown (1946; YouTube)
A young woman stumbles into romantic comedy visiting upper-class British homes as a… plumber. This is an odd movie, rather dry in its humor. Ernst Lubitsch had made such classics as Ninotchka (1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), and To Be or Not to Be (thanks Joel!). Here, he makes a flop, and it’s delightful. Because his movies always have this optimistic tone with an almost childish romantic joy. “Funny how a dog can bring people together.”
It’s odd to see Jennifer Jones and Charles Boyer playing comedy. It’s odd to imagine a society so proper that a plumber disturbs it, and a lady plumber—well, that just doesn’t fit at all. But this is precisely why the film is uplifting. It’s a social comedy: it brings stuffy social conventions into the light to laugh at them, shakes them to air them out. Charming, but not without the serious undertone Lubitsch always includes, here regarding World War II. You expect to hear Robert Young say “Let me stay angry” in A Journey for Margaret (1942) when he sees the bombing of London in 1942. But in 1946, when the war is over, it is odd to hear our protagonist say the same thing. It means something different. Isn’t the war over? Yes, but there are still things to care about. Still people to lift up.
Silly me, I nearly forgot to link the quirky video I made involving this quirky movie!
Parents guide: A man enters a woman’s room at night confessing his “love.” She comedically and intelligently drives him out. Other such dialogue occasionally. Protagonists drink alcohol and one gets intoxicated easily.
Closing out the month
Next week we will have our last blog on Miyazaki (for now). I will be sharing my favorite! Ghibli fans, feel free to guess in the comments below.
Then, in May, we will explore another series of animated movies, this one from the USA. These will be movies you’ve heard of, watched, loved. I’m making a video essay about these movies, which I hope to finish by the end of May. I can’t wait to share it, and I think you’ll like it!