Howl’s Moving Castle: w/ Establishing Shot Pod on Turmoil and Kindness

Eli Price: The Establishing Shot Podcast // @establishingshotpod on Instagram // @EliPrice on Letterboxd.

Happy Ani-May! Eli Price, host of The Establishing Shot Podcast, joins Melvin in discussing one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most beloved films, Howl’s Moving Castle! From its fairytale atmosphere to child-like wonder, the two get into what makes the film so meaningful to many, as well as what their biggest takeaways were regarding the material.

Topics:

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 30-minutes discussing Joker: Folie à Deux’s trailer, whether or not these two film-fans are itching to watch a DC-villain themed juke-box musical, and if the inclusion of brief full nudity in the film will be a deterrent. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)
• Eli shares about his podcast The Establishing Shot, a show where he takes deep-dives into a director’s filmography and discusses them with a variety of guests, picking apart the nuances and history of a specific film each episode.
• Eli has seen Howl’s Moving Castle several times. This is Melvin’s first time seeing the film.
• Eli observes in Miyazaki a child-like way of storytelling where it seems he often “blindly” watches where his characters are headed and explores their reactions to a myriad of situations.
• In the film there’s a thread about the idolization of beauty and youth, and even the unique joys found in cross-generational relationships.
• Howl has main character syndrome… but he’s not the main character; Sophie is.
• Discussing the use of curses in the story, and how they manifest within the film.
• The two discuss the tension between imbued desires and the fear of self-indulgence.
• Melvin talks about how much he likes the Witch of the Waste “face reveal” and what the rest of the movie does with that.
• Talking about the controversial, bizarre ending.

Recommendations:

• My Neighbor Totoro (1988) (Movie)
• Ikiru (1952) (Movie)
• Tokyo Story (1953) (Movie)
• Ring 2 (1999) (Movie)

Howl’s Moving Castle is Rated PG for frightening images and brief mild language. It features Chieko Baishô, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya Gashûin, Akihiro Miwa, Ryunosuke Kamika, Mitsunori Isaki, Yô Ôizumi, Akio Ôtsuka, Daijirô Harada, and Haruko Katô. English Cast includes Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, Lauren Becall, Blythe Danner, Emily Mortimer, Josh Hutcherson, Billy Crystal, and Jena Malone. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Howl’s Moving Castle is available here.

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Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. Whether it’s a movie, show, game, comic, or novel, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s rich, he’s ready and willing to give it a try! His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!

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