TIFF 2023: The Boy and the Heron Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

The Boy and the Heron is the newest film from the notorious Hayao Miyazaki. Originally titled How Do You Live?, based on a book one of his favorite books and one that he read growing up. However, over the development of the film, the story became a branching point to create a whole new story. The story is centered around a teenage boy named Mahito (Santoki) reeling from the loss of his mother. He soon discovers a heron (Suda) who leads him into a magical world where he believes she could still be all while trying to accept a new mother figure that has come into his life.

The film is a much slower burn than many past Miyazaki films while there is also less gloss this time around. However, it still grounds itself in a certain realm of reality. Meanwhile, the elements one has come to expect to be great from his films are still great here. The animation is just immaculate. Every single shot is so well composed and realized. It is genuinely awe inspiring. Joe Hisaishi, the composer of Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, comes back to score this film and it is as sweeping and majestic as his past works. All of these elements result in a visual fantasia filled to the brim with imagination.

Easily the most metaphysical film Miyazaki has made in his career, The Boy and the Heron incredibly dense and layered in terms of its themes and story which only builds as the film goes on. It becomes incredibly surreal and cerebral in a way his films don’t usually operate. While it is easy to describe to audiences what happens in his other films, even if they can get a bit odd, this one is one that has to be seen to be believed.

A refreshing watch, it reminds audiences how films are at their best when they challenge audiences. Rather than catering to audiences, Miyazaki is merely catering to himself. Elements of Miyazaki’s personal life creep into a lot of moments in the film in a way that feels like a therapy session for him to vent out his own frustrations. However, as cynical as the man appears to be, he also makes the film about hope. It is about finding peace and coming to accept the world for the way it is, flawed and all, in what made for a truly powerful sentiment.

Overall, The Boy and the Heron is a beautiful film that simply needs to be experienced on the biggest screen possible. It is yet another triumph in the perfect filmography of Hayao Miyazaki.

*still courtesy of GKIDS*

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Brett Schutt

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