Never-Ending Man is a documentary about Hayao Miyazaki that I’ve been anticipating. I’m not an anime superfan by any means. However, I can always make time to enjoy a Miyazaki or Ghibli film. What killed me about the documentary is I didn’t know how short it played. But, I guess that’s because our local arthouse doesn’t play anime anymore.
But, this is a serious documentary about an anime master before his retirement. Sure, but you can’t divorce the man from his work. A lot of the film is about the old master being impressed by CG technique. However, it’s just technique. The supreme animator never lets tech fetishism overpower his art.
So, what does it all mean? It means that you shouldn’t watch the shorter English language cut. The cuts made between both versions highlights something true about Miyazaki. The master would be doing this level of work regardless of where he ended up in life.
He’s not behold to the nature of anime. He is there to define it. If I had seen this last year, it would’ve made my Top 25 of 2018. I just adore any film that lets an artist explain his or her craft.
Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki is available on April 30th
