All I Want is Utopia Now!

Trying to find my legs in an unstable time.

Here’s last week’s Top 40.

Life has been chaos. Not in a bad way, just in a way I had grown unaccustomed to. My mother bought a house. In large part so that we would have space for people to stay when they visit. Our house filled up quick with four people.

As is the case, every visitor has stayed in our house since we bought it. Funny how those things play out. We are currently emptying out what my mother kept from her house in Staunton. It should be arriving tomorrow. We also have new furniture on the way. I suspect attendance will rise with the new additions.

That said, if you need a place to stay in Richmond, let me know.

One of the routines of my new life has stayed largely intact. Tuesday night movie nights. Tickets at Bowtie are $7 and any size popcorn is $5. I’d love for them to add a drink special, but beggars, you know. Our little movie club started with me and my friend Lamont seeing I Saw The TV Glow and has continued every Tuesday since.

We’ve seen an exceptional run of new releases - Thelma, Midas, Kinds of Kindness, Longlegs, Didi, Kneecap, Blink Twice, Deadpool & Wolverine, Twisters, Strange Darling, Cuckoo, The 4:30 Movie, My Old Ass. We missed out on Oddity but that is being rectified this Friday with a double feature at our house (Kneecap being the other feature).

I could write a novel about most of these films. Thelma - with it’s ruminations on aging contrasted with an excellent homage to Mission Impossible. Strange Darling - a clever inversion of the final girl trope with some troubling ideological undercurrents. Didi, My Old Ass and The 4:30 Movie all bring a new vision to the timeworn coming of age tale.

Our movie group has taken two field trips, one to see Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice and another to the historic Byrd Theater to see Dirty Dancing. I was struck by how well that movie aged. The humanity and class consciousness of the film. I think if Roger Ebert were to rewatch that film today, he would find his original one star review far too harsh. The film gets a lot of attention for how well it handles abortion, but it does so much more than that. It attacks the foundations of patriarchy without falling into self-righteous parody.

We saw another movie last night that I think Ebert would be less inclined to critically re-evaluate. Let me start by saying one of the best things Siskel and Ebert did for me was teach me that even mighty critics disagree in their evaluation of art and that’s okay. When I saw Howl’s Moving Castle for the first time, nearly two decades ago, I loved it. I found it far more engaging than the much lauded Spirited Away. On par with Princess Mononoke, my introduction to the legendary film maker.

A tale of Sophie (Emily Mortimer), a woman doomed to a life of being a spinster, and a vainglorious wizard named Howl (Christian Bale). Howl is heartless and his castle is powered by a demon named Calcifer (Billy Crystal) after the two made an infernal deal.

Sophie has a chance encounter with Howl before knowing his identity. A jealous Witch of the Wastes (Lauren Bacall) curses Sophie for the crime of touching Howl, making her an old woman unable to speak of her own curse. As she wanders into the wastes to seek a cure for her curse, a fellow cursed turnip-headed scarecrow guides her to Howl’s Moving Castle. There, another bargain is struck. Sophie will help break the curse that binds Calcifer if he will break her curse.

She is awoken the next morning by Markl (Josh Hutcherson), Howl’s apprentice. Markl introduces both Sophie and the viewer to Howl’s magical castle, able to move instantly with the turn of a dial. Howl serves both the king and the population under various names. He is beautiful but tortured by demons. He can also see through the curse. All of this while a war is being waged by two neighboring kingdoms.

This was the first time I’d seen the film in a theater. What an elevated experience. The sound editing alone made it worth the trip, footsteps falling behind you and vehicles whooshing across the speakers. Beyond that, I was surprised at the nuanced storytelling. The use of visual metaphors to let you see the story inside the story.

Howl is wrestling with his literal demons, including the one who stole his heart. Sophie pulls down the walls that Howl has built around himself. Soldiers called to war turn into literal animals, including Howl. He fights against both sides of the conflict, but it still consumes him.

At one point Howl is talking about the wizards called to war - “After the war, they won’t recall they ever were human.” At its core, Howl’s Moving Castle is a romance about two people who need a push. Sophie has been wasting away, living out her father’s dream. Howl is a mess, both mentally and literally. Sophie has to help him learn to take care of himself, but still finds time to chastise his childish meltdown. Howl shows Sophie that the world is full of wonder and beauty and that she is as well.

The movie uses the curse to make a statement about older women, reinforced once the Witch of the Waste true self is shown. They are centered and made real, with flaws and strengths all their own. The curse was something so simple, the Witch merely made Sophie’s self-image real. She was old. Ugly. Tired. She sought cures from other sources, but as the Witch of the Wastes said it, she casts spells she doesn’t break them.

Ultimately, Sophie held the power to break the curse all along. Howl saw the real her all along, much like Sophie was able to see the true Howl inside the monster he was becoming. Quite literally, as she’s sleeping the curse is gone and Howl sees her as she is. We also see the power of the curse wane as Sophie starts to see her own value. Miyazaki also manages to make quick commentary on unrequited love and the appropriate response.

The anti-war sentiment is pervasive. With the toll it takes on Howl and his negative reaction calling both sides murders. With how foolish the impetus of the war was, ended by the whims of a woman who sought to use Howl until he was drained and discard the husk and a prince who pined for an old woman who didn’t even know who he was. The wanton destruction cast for no good reason other than the desires of the powerful.

I’m glad I got the chance to see this movie in theaters. And I’m glad I saw it again with a new perspective. While I was a fan on my initial viewing, I might love it even more now. Especially with the parallels I can draw to my own relationships, with my wife and with myself.

I know Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron is likely his last, but I am glad he has been able to share his unique vision and voice for so long. In a world filled with chaos, both personally and at large, it’s good to have someone to lean on.