Studio Ghibli has taken a rather unorthodox route in marketing Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, “How Do You Live?.” There is no trailer, a minimal plot summary, and only one cryptic poster to advertise the film, until now…
The movie has already hit theaters all over Japan, and the releasing booklets/pamphlets given to theater-goers, contain film stills. So thanks to those, audiences outside of Japan now have a sense of what “How Do You Live?” looks like.
These stills show off Ghibli’s patented animation style, that has been developed through decades of critically acclaimed animation. Acclaim that has garnered them the clout to even be able to pull off a feature film with virtually no traditional promotion. Though, Miyazaki’s stellar reputation and it being his final film probably didn’t hurt the buzz either.
But, these stills do still leave the overall plot of “How Do You Live?” shrouded in mystery. Ghibli remains tight-lipped on that, only describing the movie as “a grand fantasy.” The studio has also confirmed it is loosely inspired by Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 novel of the same name. The novel is a coming-of-age story about the development of a young boy after the death of his father, from an emotional and philosophical standpoint. Even though, Ghibli also admits they took several liberties with the book itself. So loosely is a very subjective term that doesn’t really tell us a wholelot.
Luckily, for fans of Ghibli and Miyazaki in North America, “How Do You Live?” will be hitting theaters in the West. This release will come courtesy of GKIDS, but no theatrical release date has been set just yet.
We’ll keep you posted about updates on “How Do You Live?” as they become available.
