The Cinematheque

“A piece of undiluted euphoria … Suffused with humour and suspense and a belief in youth as a time for taking risks, the movie soars with adventure and leaves room for rib-tickling pranks.”

Michael Sragow, Film Comment

We’re starting a new year of Film Club by marking the 40th anniversary of the first-ever Studio Ghibli production, Castle in the Sky! Miyazaki Hayao’s early films were based on pre-existing characters (The Castle of Cagliostro) and his own manga (Nausicaä). For Castle, he devised the project with producer Takahata Isao as a studio-defining film of extravagant craft, one to set the tone for all the Ghibli work to come by ​“never compromising on quality,” in the words of co-founder Suzuki Toshio. Pazu and Sheeta are orphans. Pazu has been raised among an old industry—coal mining—while Sheeta’s crystal necklace is said to hold the key to communicate with an even older, mythical world named Laputa. Here begins Miyazaki’s career-long interest in pairing young everyday heroes with the mystical pull of the natural world. Like Nausicaä​’s sci-fi world of airships, Laputa’s pirates and ancient tech have influenced decades of animation and video-game design.

English dub version