Thursday, November 14, 2024

We watched My Neighbor Totoro a couple of nights ago with one of our grandsons. It was the third or fourth time that I have seen the film. I love this Ghibli movie. I find it beautiful to watch. There are pauses throughout the film, sometimes with some sounds playing, sometimes just silence. The audience is left waiting for what will happen next. It is not suspense, but a pause and unless you know what is going to happen next, one is left not knowing when the pause will end. In this day and age pauses can often be filled with noise. In My Neighbor Totoro we simply have to wait in silence. What will happen next will happen in its own time.

There is not only the lovely Ghibli scenes, but in this animation I love the magic associated with those scenes. While the animistic element might appeal especially to Japanese culture, I believe that it taps into a part of all of us that sees beyond the world that we can see and touch, whether it is something that we chose to name and acknowledge or not.

I look forward to the next time that I watch it.