Few filmmakers can claim the same heights of whimsy, artistry and storytelling as writer-director Hayao Miyazaki, whose modern-day fables seem to prove that having one¡¯s head in the clouds isn¡¯t a fault, but a virtue ¡ª in more ways than one. From his 1988 breakthrough ¡°My Neighbor Totoro¡± to his 2001 Oscar-winning animated feature, ¡°Spirited Away,¡± the sky is one of Miyazaki¡¯s favorite playgrounds, where flight is about more than just elevation; it¡¯s about transcendence.
Characters in flight often traverse physical and spiritual realms. They move between worlds and states of being. And in the case of Miyazaki¡¯s latest, ¡±The Boy and the Heron,¡± flight even serves as a gateway between life and death.
Miyazaki¡¯s protagonists are often children or young adults forced to confront the realities of a flawed world. These characters¡¯ moments of awakening often arrive at the tail end of some grand, perhaps even perilous, adventure ¡ª and typically while they¡¯re suspended in midair.
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