#72 My Neighbor Totoro (Miyazaki) at Santa Cruz Cinema
"Keep it simple, stupid" was Weesner's first rule of film making. And this movie works largely because of how simple it is. There is very little in the way of traditional plot, and the film does not seem interested in building toward anything in particular. Instead, it moves through small, quiet moments and lets its world take shape gradually. It's a warm bath.
In addition to being simple, My Neighbor Totoro (1988) is strange, funny, and surreal. If the film is about anything, it's about the kind of imaginative space siblings create together, where the boundary between reality and fantasy doesn't exist. Having grown up with a younger sister, that dynamic felt immediately recognizable, and it grounds everything else the film does.
Seeing it as part of a Family Film Series (something I’d typically avoid, given my aversion to children) ended up being surprisingly perfect. I expected a theater full of children to be distracting, but instead, their reactions mirrored the film’s own sense of wonder. It felt like the ideal environment for something this loose and experiential.
I watched the English dub which is a something else I typically would avoid. Here though it works. The performances from Dakota and Elle Fanning feel natural and never pull focus from the visuals, which remain the priority. Miyazaki has said he prefers audiences to watch his films in their native language so nothing distracts from the overall experience, which, conveniently, makes me feel a lot better about enjoying it dubbed in English like a dumb American.
Also, the Catbus? 10/10