The Wind Rises (2013)

Finally, I've seen every Best Animated Feature nominee from that year and, more importantly for myself, every feature ever directed by Hayao Miyazaki! Funny thing, tho: I kept swinging between eagerness to see it and trepidation. It seemed odd that his farewell piece would be his only non-fantasy (not counting The Castle of Cagliostro, which is fantasy only in the typical James Bond sense). In fact, it's based loosely on the life of real WWII plane engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose vision prevented him from flying but whose "vision" let him excel at what he considered the next best thing.

Nevertheless, I detect enough commonalities to accept it as somewhat representative of Miyazaki's work. He showed a penchant for flight in Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Porco Rosso. He expressed interest in serious illness within families in My Neighbor Totoro. Several of his stories take place a while back. His penultimate co-writing, From Up on Poppy Hill, presents a similar level of realism and Japanese identity. The occasional desolate landscape does not detract from Studio Ghibli's signature background beauty, with that odd anime combination of modern crispness and old-fashioned low frame rates. And if you really demand a touch of whimsy, the protagonist does have quite a few dreams and daydreams, albeit less bizarre than mine.

TWR may be the most grown-up Miyazaki film ever, in the sense that kids wouldn't get much out of it. It feels longer than usual, partly, I suppose, because it spans years, even if they can pass abruptly. Despite a little humor in the form of Jiro's feisty boss, it may be the most tragic Ghibli tale since the vaguely similar Grave of the Fireflies, tho at least the characters don't starve most of the time. Jiro's sardonic friend tends to make it sound more sour than sad.

I always find it a little awkward to watch movies sympathetic to my homeland's enemies in wartime. Jiro tries to help bomb America, working some of the time in Germany, for crying out loud. (BTW, I've never seen an animation with snippets of more languages than this, among them French and Italian.) That said, the Germans make poor hosts to their Japanese guests, so he does more or less regret that part. Besides, it's not like we can root for a side we already know to have lost.

Apart from the engineering efforts, the biggest plot point concerns a definite love interest -- something possibly even rarer among Miyazaki fare than realism. It is through this young woman that the real tragic aspects shine. Yet she also allows Jiro his biggest joys outside his minor career successes. The double-whammy downer in the end does not shatter him as you might expect, making for a bittersweet sendoff.

And that may be the best thing for the bittersweet sendoff of Miyazaki. It's not a crowd favorite among his consistently lauded repertoire, nor would I put it in my top five of his, but it sends the appropriate final message: Even when your glory days are over, you can revel in memories and, better still, dreams.