"Humanity dreams of flight, but the dream is cursed. Aircraft are destined to become tools for slaughter and destruction."

I'm not a Miyazai expert. I still haven't seen several of his early films, and I've been pretty mixed on most of his recent stuff. But I thought this was an absolute masterpiece about how the perfection we seek to achieve in life is only really attainable in dreams -- or, on rare occasions, in art.

(or "Jiro Dreams of Mitsubishi")... unspeakably beautiful & bittersweet. Miyazaki may have saved the best for last.

major looooolz to any critic who thinks the film brushes over the destructive ends to which the planes Jiro created are used.

full review tk.

89/100

Like Kubrick, Welles, Ford, Malick, and many other capital-G Great directors, you'd be hard pressed to come to an agreement on Miyazaki's finest film. They're all so aching with feeling - a universal past laced with eventual adulthood and the unbearable beauty of fantasy - but each singular in voice and tone. Everyone has a favorite, and in the case of The Wind Rises, the highest compliment that I could give it is that, one day, it could be MY Miyazaki; a film swept up by elemental pleasures and a haunting depiction of the passage of time that borders on the ethereal. It dances with the wind, building an evocative and gentle romance, which is almost Sirkian, around a complex study of the dreams we have and where they lead. Its lyrical pleasures climb towards a final scene, a piece engrained in the panethon of whispered love, to which we should bow to.

wait fuck this might be my film of the decade

"Planes are dreams. Cursed dreams, waiting for the sky to swallow them up."

very serious, heavy themes going on that i wasn’t expecting. the wig rises.

hayao miyazaki. that's my emotional support director right there

I’ve been trying to form thoughts around this for the past 2 days. Needless to say, I didn’t expect it to be Miyazaki’s best film - but it might be just that. Certainly, it’s the one that has dwelled in my mind and affected me the most. I’ll have to rewatch before writing anything.

Miyazaki’s last film before retirement (or what meant to be) is a bittersweet dreamy tale directed like a pillowy cloud in the distance stretched carefully by a paperweight plane. While his personality is usually shown by imaginative creatures and fantastical adventures in his other films, The Wind Rises appears to be more grounded in reality.

The impressive amount of restraint and subdued storytelling can be a challenge to appreciate, yet this uncommon perspective from Miyazaki completely fits the tone and accompanies his tribute in a timeless journey. Although it’s probably his least accessible film to date, the sophisticated score and breathtaking animation are great rewards to take out of it, let alone the emotional beauty of corruption.

This is one of the most gorgeous films I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen an animated film have this good of visuals, soundtrack, editing, or sound design. It felt like a masterpiece, at least technically.

Story wise, idk man. It felt like Doctor Zhivago. Very beautiful visuals as you follow a vaguely likable man through his life as history swirls around him and he falls in love randomly and then it ends tragically. I didn’t really know what was happening for most of this movie and then it ended. And almost fell asleep.

So while it was very beautiful and technically incredible, it kind of felt empty for me. Which is kind of a shame.

definitely an under-rated studio ghibli film

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Aeronautical Engineer. 

In a lot of ways it’s a very traditional biopic, with a painfully human romance at its core. The film has a lot of other elements in balance: an exploration of the artist/designer’s creative process and a dissection of the complicated nature of Japanese identity under western hegemony. I was wondering how the film would address the problem of Japan’s role in World War II, given Miyazaki’s well-known leftist politics. The answer is: with adult nuance greater than most live-action films about the subject. It’s indirect but clear in its morality, with idealistic characters heartbreakingly making self-justifications for building weapons of war. A really remarkable picture.

I’ve had a deep deep love of aviation my entire life and it’s so beautiful to see such a loving depiction of flying and aircraft. Obviously it’s a Ghibli movie so it’s going to look fantastic, but Miyazaki paints such beautiful dream sequences and realistic test flights with equal care and attention that i was instantly hooked. And I love love love the use of vocals and natural sounds for all the airplane sound effects. It gives the impression that for Jiro these aircraft are his own flesh and blood brought into this world. 

Thematically the idea of achieving your dreams while they’re being bastardized by mankind’s own selfish and destructive interests is such a hard pill to swallow but is dealt with in such a way that I felt equally heartbroken for Jiro but also proud of his achievements. 

Overall this was a fantastic movie and instantly became a favorite of mine.

when miyazaki found out there was an airplane guy who didn't like war he must have freaking cummed his pants

i usually find films about planes uninteresting. i don’t think i would’ve liked this if it wasn’t for miyazaki and his amazing style. ig that’s just the power he has over me

the artist/scientist relationship trope is SO underrated and i want to see more of it

this is so inspiring and beautiful, people probably only see the bitter side of this movie, but i love it so much. top 10 movie for me.

jesus christ

et aller ca rechiale ........

Still really great but not quite as good as I remember. The dub is honestly really cheesy and I would've switched to sub if I wasn't watching it with my family. Way better than Frozen and definitely deserved Best Animated Feature that year.

just going to cry for the next 100 years thank you