Hayao Miyazaki’s films have always been bathwater cinema; warm and comforting and so enchantingly illustrated that we never truly want to leave them. The grief of being hoisted out of The Wind Rises, therefore, is all the more pronounced, knowing this is the final entry into a master’s magical filmography.

Although it proves to be a more grown-up piece than Miyazaki’s other films, The Wind Rises remains a wonderful vessel with which the director can hold our hands for the final time.

Like its protagonist, and its auteur, these are tender and gentle brushes of exquisite genius.

“The wind is rising!… We must try to live!” A line from Paul Valéry’s ‘The Graveyard By The Sea’ beats through this masterpiece like a heart. Emotion rises as the film marches towards its conclusion. With its end, and Miyazaki’s retirement, we must try to live.

RATING: 5/5

INFORMATION

CAST:  Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masahiko Nishimura, Steve Alpert, Morio Kazama, Keiko Takeshita, Mirai Shida, Jun Kunimura, Shinobu Otake, Nomura Mansai

DIRECTOR: Hayao Miyazaki

WRITER: Hayao Miyazaki

SYNOPSIS: A look at the life of Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed Japanese fighter planes during World War II.