The Boy and the Heron (2023)

Telling a story about how a boy becomes a man is always tricky. A writer must imagine a boy’s complex thoughts and emotions regarding his level of responsibility and that sudden change. The latest effort from master animator Hayao Miyazaki, the boy and the heron, tackles such a topic. Mahito Maki is our main character, and we follow him as he works to get past his mother’s death and his stepmother’s arrival. When his stepmother goes missing in the forest towards a castle-like structure, Mahito Takes it upon himself to venture in that direction to try and locate and save her from whatever danger he thinks she is in.

As I said, navigating a boy’s journey into manhood is a challenging narrative task. This film guides Mahito toward understanding his life and who he wants to be empathetically and honestly. Most of that compassion is down to the writing of Hayao Miyazaki, who has been in the animation business for over three decades. Many people in his circle said that Hayao Miyazaki was telling the world this was his last film, and he backtracked that statement. I am glad that we will be able to see more from him. Any effort from this point won’t eclipse the story he has written here. The film has beautiful animation and engaging characters, but it would mean nothing without the story at its heart.

The animation of this film is jaw-dropping. The fluidity of the movement as we move around every scene is unparalleled. The audience that attended the screening acted like they were on a roller coaster with the main character. I can’t blame them for feeling this way because we moved with every emotional beat this story took. Movies like these remind me why every great movie deserves an audience willing to engage with it. This movie house, the Music Box Theater, is a legendary venue that deserves praise. This story wouldn’t have been as emotionally moving if I hadn’t watched it in a legendary old theater. Still, thanks to the Chicago International Film Festival, I had that opportunity, and it made what was already a great film a grand watch.

My only major complaint with the film is its ending. Without spoiling too much, everything falls apart for the main hero, and that same hero is responsible for putting things back together again. My problem is that we need to see him take the opportunity to fix everything broken.

We have to hope that everything will be OK and that someone came along and either cleaned up the mess or left things as it was. This film is as close to a perfect movie theater experience as anything I’ve seen in the last five years. People go to the movies in the first place because they want a story that allows them to escape, and this animator made sure every member of his audience did that, watching this story unfold. I can’t give The Boy and the Heron a stronger recommendation. See it with an audience and feel it for yourself.