Miyazaki’s film ‘How do you live?’ Trailerless opening/info
by Alex Billington
June 5, 2023
Fountain: THR
Some very intriguing news this week for those eagerly awaiting the new Hayao Miyazaki-directed animated film titled How do you live? Although Miyazaki-san “officially” retired after finishing his “final” movie The wind increases in 2013, he came out of retirement to do another feature. He’s one of those artists that he just can’t stop creating, that he just can’t stop telling stories, no matter how old he is (Miyazaki is currently 82 years old). How do you live? it’s finished and finally ready to debut, but they won’t be promoting it in the usual way. Studio Ghibli has confirmed that the film will open first in Japan on July 14, 2023 this summer; however, it will be released without any trailer, any images or official synopsis, just a vague poster. Yes really. This is a remarkably bold and unprecedented marketing move for any study worldwide. Of course, Ghibli can (and will) pull this off because they’re already loved. More than anything, this excites me more to see what he’s been cooking (quietly) these past few years.
This is all we know: How do you live? is an animated film made by Studio Ghibli, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki (his 12th feature film). It is inspired by Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 novel of the same name, but has an original story that is not a direct adaptation of the novel. The project has been described as a “great fantastic movie“. Late last year, Ghibli released an official poster with a hand drawn bird on it. In 2014, Ghibli announced that he would stop making new movies. However, in 2017, when Miyazaki came out of retirement to start working on this, they brought in many of the original animators for one last film. Earlier, producer Toshio Suzuki stated that Miyazaki is working on the film for his grandson as his way of saying “Grandpa will move to the other world soon, but he will leave this film behind.” It took them six years to complete this film, not only due to pandemic delays, but also because Miyazaki-san can’t work as fast now and the animation team is much smaller. Suzuki also stated that “it takes us longer to complete a movie because we’re drawing more frames.” He’s finally ready after all these years, but they won’t make fun of anything.
In a new 2023 interview, Toshio Suzuki revealed some more details about his release plans for How do you live? – translated by THR. The film did not open in Cannes, and it is rumored that it will not open in Venice either, instead opting for the “local” Japanese presentation in that country before eventually expanding abroad. Suzuki says they have decided not to tease or show anything from the film before July 14. They won’t even announce the voice cast, setting, or any other plot information. “As part of the company’s operations, over the years, Ghibli has wanted people to come see the movies that we’ve made… So we thought about that and did a lot of different things for that purpose, but this We once said, ‘Hey, we don’t need to do that. Suzuki adds this fact: “Deep down, I think this is what moviegoers latent desire,” while also criticizing American marketing that shows so much of the film that you’ve seen it all before you even went to see it. “We wanted to do something different.” I totally agree. Of course, it helps that Miyazaki is a animation legend and most of us will go see whatever he does no matter what.
That’s all we know for now… There won’t be a Japanese trailer, at least not before July 14. We will not know what it is or what it looks like. I’m sure there will be tons of reports coming out of Japan in July telling it all, and they may release pictures (or a trailer) eventually. Until then, this is a remarkably ambitious and courageous decision. I love watching Ghibli respond to American marketing strategies of showing too much by trying the exact opposite. And I’m sure we’re all going to see this movie anyway. especially if How do you live? It really is Miyazaki’s last film after The wind increases. We will remain attentive to any further updates.
