I really need to watch this.
Same, this review sold me
I told Takahata how Ujiie-san told me he wanted to see one more of his works at all cost before his death. . . . As the preparations for “Kaguya” progressed, Ujiie-san invited Takahata-san, Miya-san and me on a trip to visit art museums in Europe. Beginning in 2008, we would visit [museums in] France, Italia and Spain for the next three years, but I think Miya-san and I were just extras – Ujiie-san really wanted to go with Takahata-san. At that point I tried to ask him why he was so fixated on Takahata-san. “Takahata’s movies have a poetic side. I fell in love with that. That man still has the scent of a Marxist.” That was Ujiie-san’s answer. In the end, the movie could not be completed in Ujiie-sans lifetime.
I really recommend watching all of Takahata’s stuff you can. He definitely has residue of marxism on him. I don’t think he ever became as disillusioned as Miyazaki did since the aftermath of the disillusion of Yugoslavia, which seemed to really shake Miyazaki’s belief in socialism (for some reason). Horus: Prince of the Sun (which also has some really strong indigenous/ainu representation), Pom Poko, and Grave Of The Fireflies probably being his most political work. Kaguya definitely has some marxist tendencies showing the vivaciousness of the working class life Kaguya has (and wishes to return to) vs. her royal/aristocratic life in the capital later on. My Neighbors the Yamadas is borderline social realism though without any sort of real economic critique.
Grave of the Fireflies is a devastating masterpiece, and Kaguya is absolute fire.
