Howl's Moving Castle - w/ Establishing Shot Pod on Turmoil and Kindness

MOVIE DISCUSSION: 

Eli Price's The Establishing Shot Podcast, @establishingshotpod on Instagram, and @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)