An Oscar- and Golden-Bear-winning Studio Ghibli film about a ten-year-old girl’s journey to the world of spirits.
Chihiro and her family pass by an abandoned theme park on the way to their new home. Tempted by free food and overcome by greed, Chihiro’s parents turn into pigs, and Chihiro enters the world of witches, spirits, and magical creatures to save them.
The supernatural creatures of Spirited Away are among the most recognizable in Hayao Miyazaki’s filmography. The witch Yubaba, the white dragon Haku, the small round soot sprites, the spider-grandpa Kamaji, the River Stink Spirit, and, of course, the lonely semi-transparent No Face were all inspired by yōkai, demons and spirits of Japanese folklore, and brought back to life on screen to remind us that humans are not the only inhabitants of the Earth.
The spirits of nature are a recurrent theme in Miyazaki’s work and his personal response to the ecological crisis. Among his characters are the dragon guardian of the river who has forgotten his name after humans dug up the riverbed, and the River spirit who has turned into a mud monster because of the junk in the river.
The central theme in Spirited Away, however, is coming of age, the search for one’s true calling and independence. A quiet and apathetic girl in the backseat, Chihiro grows into a heroine able to free herself, her parents, and the magic spirits captured by Yubaba.
The film will be screened in Japanese with Russian subtitles.
Spirited Away
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Japan, 2001. 125 min. 12+