Spirited Away

Andrew Osmond (Writer and journalist, Berkshire, UK)

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English

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
03 September 2020

Film theory & criticism; Animated movies & films

Series: BFI Film Classics

Spirited Away, directed by the veteran anime film-maker Hayao Miyazaki, is Japan's most successful film, and one of the top-grossing 'foreign language' films ever released. Set in modern Japan, the film is a wildly imaginative fantasy, at once personal and universal. It tells the story of a listless little girl, Chihiro, who stumbles into a magical world where gods relax in a palatial bathhouse, where there are giant babies and hard-working soot sprites, and where a train runs across the sea.

Andrew Osmond's insightful study describes how Miyazaki directed Spirited Away with a degree of creative control undreamt of in most popular cinema, using the film's delightful, freewheeling visual ideas to explore issues ranging from personal agency and responsibility to what Miyazaki sees as the lamentable state of modern Japan. Osmond unpacks the film's visual language, which many Western (and some Japanese) audiences find both beautiful and bewildering. He traces connections between Spirited Away and Miyazaki's prior body of work, arguing that Spirited Away uses the cartoon medium to create a compellingly immersive drawn world. This edition includes a new foreword by the author in which he considers the world of animated cinema post-Spirited Away, considering its influence on films ranging from del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth to Pixar's Inside Out.

By: Andrew Osmond (Writer and journalist Berkshire UK)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: 2nd edition
Dimensions: Height: 190mm, Width: 135mm,
Weight: 204g
ISBN: 9781838719524
ISBN 10: 1838719520
Series: BFI Film Classics
Pages: 128
Publication Date: 03 September 2020
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgements Foreword to the 2020 edition 1. Being Spirited Away 2. On the Train 3. Background 4. The Origins of Spirited Away 5. Into the Woods: The Journey Begins 6. In the Bathhouse 7. Adventures in Wonderland 8. Conclusion Notes Credits

Andrew Osmond is a journalist and critic based in Berkshire, UK. He is the author of Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist (2009); 100 Animated Feature Films (BFI Publishing, 2010) and Ghost in the Shell (2017).

Reviews for Spirited Away

The kind of poetic, insightful examination that Spirited Away deserves. Osmond has done a fine job of conveying the sometimes complex traits of the film that have confused many Western (and Japanese) audiences since the film debuted in 2001 ... overall, the book is a definite must-read companion to the film. It does an excellent job of stripping away some of the layers and, at least for myself, has lead to a clearer understanding of the film. Persuasively and fluidly written.