Miyazaki’s Films

One special feature of Miyazaki's best films is that they operate not only on a visual level but also on a psychological and spiritual level. The visual is there only to guide you to the invisible spiritual journey and evolution of the main characters. Each scene is pregnant with very subtle emotional vibrations which take you to a different plane altogether. He has used the art of anime powerfully and effectively to express the poetry of life.
Generally, I am inordinately critical of romantic movies, but The Wind Rises made me grasp a tentative feeling - if not a substantial understanding- of love which is probably too nuanced for the intellectual critical mind but touches you subconsciously (you get a feeling of becoming submerged) and enriches you spiritually. Titanic and other popular romantic movies are too chaotic and sex-oriented to catch those subtle moods of love that transcend birth and death and even the characters themselves; but Miyazaki is a true genius, who has a spiritual understanding of life coupled with his rich aesthetic sensibility.

Howl's Moving Castle felt a bit directionless and hurried; it tries to do so many things at the same time. When Miyazaki is simple and lets the shots and graphics talk for themselves, he is at his best.

Have a look at the first scene I have posted. The smoke of the cigarettes rises upwards and forms a question mark reflecting the protagonist's perplexed state of mind: he has just heard someone say Nazis are a bunch of hoodlums and both Japan and Germany are going to "blow up" in the imminent Second World War; this statement also marks the shattering of his innocent romantic view of life.

In another scene, you see a cycle-driven cart, a tram and a motorcar side by side which, at first glance, might seem random, but actually hint at the clash between the modern and the traditional in Japan in the 1930s.