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A teenage boy haunted by his mother's death is tormented by a mysterious heron in a rural setting during World War II.
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While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother’s tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy’s mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the “long-awaited one.”
"A decade after "The Wind Rises," animation maestro Hayao Miyazaki is back with another ambitious work from Studio Ghibli, also one of his most personal. Set during World War II, "The Boy and the Heron" is the story of Mahito, a boy who, shortly after losing his mother in a fire, moves with his father to the Japanese countryside, where he must adapt to a new life with his new stepmother, Natsuko, his mother's sister. Leading a solitary life, Mahito explores the surroundings of his new home, where he is soon drawn into a magical world by the presence of a mysterious heron. What follows is a tale even more rooted in surrealism than "Spirited Away" (which is saying a lot), in which Miyazaki explores so many ideas and opens so many doors that, at times, it may seem challenging to follow (or understand what he means by saying the film has autobiographical tones). It's the director's extravagance in its most radical and pure state, so perhaps not the best film to approach him with. However, for his fans, it will be another authentic delight to see the level of detail, ambition, and care in his animation, so tangible that it allows you to feel the consistency of a bed or the realistic movement of a liquid, all in service of a story that, despite its most hallucinatory elements, never loses sight of emotion."