After retiring for the umpteenth time, Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki returns to direct his first CGI-animated film.
Miyazaki’s departs from the industry as often as middle-aged adults claim that THIS Thanksgiving’s family reunion is the last they will ever attend. It happens every four years or so and is made with serious intent, but as someone once said at some point in time, “They’ll be back. They always come back.” Likewise, following his last retirement in 2013, Miyazaki has announced that he is coming back. This marks the seventh time he has retired and then come back. At this point, Miyazaki is Jack Reacher’s worst nightmare.
While Miyazaki’s frequent retirements are often seen as a running gag or a marketing ploy, Mami Sunada’s The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness illustrates the torment behind the boy who cries wolf. Although seen as a grandfather of animation, Miyazaki is hindered by his self-deprecation. He questions happiness as the penultimate goal of life and doubts the worth of his films, remarking that filmmaking only brings suffering. This may explain why every retirement of his typically occurs after completing a major production. Yet despite his cynicism and self-doubt, Miyazaki continues to come back from retirement and create again.
There’s no clear-cut answer for why Miyazaki keeps coming back. Unlike the Rolling Stones, Miyazaki’s comeback tours aren’t an attempt to relive the glory days or make money. And while the banal answer would be to say that filmmaking, despite his comments, truly makes Miyazaki happy, his description of animation, and humanity’s dreams in general, as a beautiful yet cursed dream indicates there’s a more nuanced explanation to Miyazaki’s rhythmic cycle of retirement and retraction.
However, even if Miyazaki’s chaotic retirement plan is never explained, it’s more important to celebrate his return than to condemn his departure. No parent ever complains when a child returns to a Thanksgiving family reunion after years of absence, and likewise, no one should criticize the return of a boy who cries wolf, especially when that boy is a groundbreaking filmmaker who, even at 75 years young, continues to surprise and delight with every new film.
Miyazaki’s next film is an adaptation of his 12-minute short Boro the Caterpillar into a full feature-length film. Tackling his first fully CGI-animated film, Miyazaki projects he can complete the project by 2020, if not earlier. And if he decides to retire again after Boro, whether or not for good, I hope everyone revisits his work and thanks him for not giving up on his dreams after Castle in the Sky, for not giving up on animation after losing his faith in dreams and for not giving up on himself when the weight of depression and self-deprecation seemed insufferable. Thank you Miyazaki, and I look forward to the beautiful yet cursed future that awaits us.
