The Wind Rises
2013 · Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Original language: Japanese
- animation
- drama
- history
- romance
The story
A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.
What it’s like
Hand-drawn watercolour backdrops give this film a soft, sun-warmed look: pale skies, sepia-toned 1920s and 1930s Japanese towns, and wide, airy vistas of meadows and drifting clouds. Dream sequences of biplanes and rippling fabric wings float across the frame with a weightless, almost tactile quality. Hayao Miyazaki's camera lingers on drafting tables, rail carriages and quiet domestic rooms, and the score, gentle piano and strings, rises and falls like breath. The vibe is wistful and contemplative, a melancholy reverie that suits a rainy afternoon or a late-night watch alone with tea. Pacing is unhurried, and the emotional register is tender and elegiac: an obsessive engineer slowly learning that his dreams carry a cost, and a quiet romance tinged with illness and loss. Intensity is low to moderate: there is a sudden earthquake sequence with rubble and fire, and a few brief, muted images of war and its aftermath, but no gore and little graphic violence. It is for viewers who want beauty with a sober undertow, and for anyone drawn to craft, flight, and the ache of ambition.
More films like The Wind Rises
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved The Wind Risesand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
