1 minute read
Ooooh,
Witchy Woman
Love, evolution, isolation and talking cats in Kiki’s Delivery Service
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Though most anime fans will likely cite the flashier Spirited Away or the bucolic My Neighbor Totoro as pinnacle moments in famed Studio Ghibli auteur Hayao Miyazaki’s illustrious career, 1989’s Kiki’s Delivery Service feels like a cheat sheet primer for the European aesthetic meets Japanese culture thing for which the filmmaker has become so well-known.
The tale of a young witch who, like all other witches in her universe, must strike out on her own upon turning 13, Kiki’s Delivery Service cuts deep into concepts of loneliness, coming of age, community and growth. Like most Miyazaki films, a young heroine must adapt to new environs when she is perhaps too young. But whereas the Disney filmic model often boils down to its leads waiting for some dude to come along and become the answer to literally everything, Miyazaki here showcases a young woman’s resolute trudge toward capability through the lens of isolation. Like his other films, the principal character is allowed to summon strength from within, grappling with various stakes and situations and working them out at her own pace. It’s the sort of thing that might read as slow for those more accustomed to flashing lights and endless peril, but which becomes endlessly satisfying for anyone who can recall being 13—when most everything felt like life and death, small though the issues may have been.
Studio Ghibli films often wend their way back to theaters these days, though Kiki’s perhaps not as often. Kudos to Violet Crown, too, for offering both subbed and dubbed versions of the film this week; not everyone loves subtitles, sure, but casting the late, great comic Phil Hartman as Kiki’s talking cat Jiji in the English language version still feels bizarre. In other words? Try to catch it in the original Japanese if your kids can hang. (Alex De Vore)
KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE
4 pm Sunday, June 11 (dubbed) 7 pm Monday, June 12 (subtitled) $15. Violet Crown Cinema 1606 Alcaldesa St., (505) 216-5678
