Hayao Miyazaki’s CASTLES IN THE SKY is part of Studio Ghibli retrospective at IFC Center
LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY (Hayao Miyazaki, 1986)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
December 28 – January 12
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
www.nausicaa.net
The hunt is on for the mysterious land known as Laputa, an Atlantis-like civilization in the sky, in Hayao Miyazaki’s award-winning Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Pazu is looking for it to prove that his father wasn’t crazy; Mooska needs its power to rule the world; Dola and her sons want its jewels; and little Sheeta is searching for her past. Miyazaki’s gorgeous landscapes are at once Monet-like, then Constable-esque. The story, inspired by the town of Laputa in Gulliver’s Travels, will delight the child in everyone who lets themselves get spirited away by the magic. The first film released by Japan’s Studio Ghibli, Laputa is screening in a new 35mm print December 28 to January 12 as part of the series “Castles in the Sky: Miyazaki, Takahata & the Masters of Studio Ghibli,” a dual presentation of the IFC Center and GKIDS’ New York International Children’s Film Festival. As an added treat, the film is being shown in its original Japanese with English subtitles instead of dubbed, so you won’t get distracted by the voices of James Van Der Beek, Mark Hamill, Cloris Leachman, Mandy Patinkin, and Anna Paquin. The series also includes such other Miyazaki works as Howl’s Moving Castle, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Ponyo, My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, and his masterpiece, Spirited Away, in addition to such lesser-known Studio Ghibli films as Hiroyuki Morita’s The Cat Returns, Tomomi Mochizuki’s Ocean Waves, Isao Takahata’s Only Yesterday, and Yoshifumi Kondo’s Whisper of the Heart, all being screened in new 35mm prints.