I've managed to catch a couple of movies at Carlton Cinema: Perfect Blue and Paprika. I'm not sure if TIFF was showing Perfect Blue, but they did show Paprika; however, it was "sold out." I'm learning that way more often than not, TIFF showings aren't sold out after all, which is super annoying as a non-member. Anyway, I've been aware of both of these movies forever, but never got around to watching them. There is one scene in Perfect Blue that I probably need to see again, since somehow I missed some critical info. Overall, I found this just a bit too violent for my tastes, though I did find the scenes of the early web pretty amusing. I liked Paprika quite a bit more, and it had some really weird dream scenes. I'd say that Fellini was at least one of the inspirations behind this movie. And apparently Nolan admitted that Paprika was an inspiration for Inception.
It looks like Carlton is definitely showing Ghost in the Shell in early Sept., and probably Grave of the Fireflies right around then as well. I'll see if I can make it to both. This would cover almost all the non-Ghibli films I want to see, though I do need to get around to watching Akira one of these days and possibly Tokyo Godfathers.* Also, I really do need to sit down and watch Cowboy Bebop in the proper order. I have this on DVD somewhere. Maybe I'll try to dig this out in the late fall.
I went ahead and watched Kiki's Delivery Service at home, since it wasn't showing anywhere near me on its official Ghibi Fest date. I hadn't realized that the cat's voice was dubbed by Phil Hartman. I was sort of torn between being glad he was part of something rather special and sad to be reminded of his tragic end. I also didn't realize that Kiki's Delivery Service was the first (domestic) smash that Ghibi had; apparently My Neighbor Totoro wasn't as big a deal at the time.
As I was poking around, debating whether to also watch Castle in the Sky at home, I found out that Imagine Elgin Mills (up in Richmond Hill) is going to be showing it, starting next Sunday. I asked Carlton if they were going to be showing it, and they said no, which seems like a damn shame. I started trying to work out if I could actually go. Then I got derailed by finding out that Line 1 is going to be replaced by shuttle buses, making the trip, which is normally already 90 minutes, extend longer than 2+ hours in each direction, which is just too much. This got me completely steamed up, until I realized that the shutdown was this past weekend, and, unless they stretch the repairs out another week, I should still be able to go. So I guess I'll do that, though I am not too happy about it.
Looking even further ahead, it looks like Howl's Moving Castle is going to be playing in Buffalo (and I could theoretically combine this with a visit to the Albright-Knox Museum) and probably also at Imagine Elgin Mills in late Sept. I have asked (practically begged) Carlton to show it at the same time, but I won't know if I convinced them for a while yet... I think that would really cover the movies I feel I need to see. I can live without Ponyo or Porco Rosso and some of the others. Now I do hope that TIFF manages to get a screening of Miyazaki's How Do You Live soon. I suppose I would even drop my boycott of the TIFF festival proper if that was the only way to see it, though I suspect I wouldn't be able to score tickets anyway.** I would imagine this has to make it over to North America eventually. In fact, I just read that it will be released in North America at some point this year but under the title The Boy and the Heron, so something to perhaps round out the year.
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