Film: Spirited Away (2001) Spirited away is considered by many to be Studio Ghibli's crowning achievement, and with good reason. Everything that made the company so successful is on top form here, from dreamy animation and direction to complex characters and a plot that keeps the audience guessing right until the final scene. One of the film's most striking moments arrives in its opening act. Chihiro, reeling with the anxieties of moving to a new home, unwittingly follows her parents through a tunnel to an area that's inspired by the traditional Taiwanese town of Jiufen. There, her parents are overcome by their hunger as they tuck into some food at a market stall without much care for the eeriness of the town's empty streets, their greed summed up by the father's crude reassurance that he has "credit cards and cash." What follows is one of the most iconic images in the studio's history, as the town reveals its true nature by erupting into a sea of ghostly citizens that silently sweep along the ground. Chihiro returns to her parents only to find that, appropriately, they have been transformed into massive pigs as a consequence of their gluttony. With Chihiro lost, confused, and angered by her parents' thoughtlessness, the scene is a turning point whose effects linger throughout the rest of the film, setting the tone for the mystical aura of the bathhouse and the protagonist's growth from timid pessimist to confident heroine. Spirited Away is one of those films that shines after repeated viewings, and the introduction of its otherworldly setting serves as a reminder of why it is so often used as a benchmark against which to measure not only the rest of Studio Ghibli's work, but animated films as a whole.
History graduate, writer, and long-suffering Spurs fan interested in all things music and sports-related. Once briefly held the title of world's youngest person.
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