The Boy and the Heron, which will probably be called El niño y la garza in Spainhas been a highly anticipated film practically all over the world since last July, but also another example of how Studio Ghibli is quite Rare avis in an industry like cinema, where the standard practice for premieres is simply the opposite of what the oddball Hayao Miyazaki’s studio has done so far.

It’s likely (and even logical) that although you like Miyazaki’s work, if you’re not a loyal follower of his, you wouldn’t know about his latest creation 君たちますみ生きか (Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka) and that you’re therefore surprised to know It was released on July 14.. There are mainly two reasons. The first is that it was only released in Japan, and the second is that Studio Ghibli chose a very unique strategy: not releasing information or images about the film. Only recently have some images started showing up, except that in the United States it has revealed its title, The Boy and the Heron, which is in no way similar, by the way, to the original title, which we can translate from Japanese to English as “How Do You Live?” .

This policy of minimizing what was shown is even more surprising when we consider two aspects that make El niño y la garza an even more interesting title. On the one hand, we find that the plot takes elements from the novel of the same name (Japanese title, I mean), on which Miyazaki builds a semi-autobiographical storyin which his own story intertwines with the fantasy that Studio Ghibli has held us for decades.

The second aspect that makes The Boy and the Heron particularly interesting is something that is perfectly understandable and something to be regretted because this was the last time Hayao Miyazaki directed a film, as he returns, surprisingly, to his more than well-deserved retirement. Now let’s recall that after the premiere of The Wind Rises, he already retired for the first time, although he announced his return in 2017, precisely to sign Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka, which sounds like he wants to say goodbye to a balanced longer story. personnel.

Be that as it may, with the release of the first trailer for The Boy and the Heron confirms that the film will go beyond Japan, with the United States being the first international market to land on December 8. At the moment, there is no information about its arrival in other markets, although we have evidence that it will be exposed in Spain at least once, since it was selected at least opens the 71st San Sebastian Film Festival, September 22, additionally part of the Official section of the event. And it’s not his only festival, because tomorrow, Friday the 8th, he will have his international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

As for its plot, the first teaser that was released a few days ago told us the following: «Longing for his mother, a young man named Mahito ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There death ends and life finds a new beginning.«, the assumption that if it has Miyazaki’s signature, it is tremendously attractive. We know that too The story begins during World War II. (a particularly recurring space in his filmography) and in which we find touches of his own childhood, which is also precisely the period of his life in which he read the novel from which he takes the basis for this film.

So it seems that after The Wind Rises, Miyazaki, now retired, decided he wanted to say what the most personal story of how many people were captivated by the small and big screen. And given that he turned 82 in January, it is more than likely that this will be the final conclusion of his professional career, and hopefully the start of a long and more than peaceful golden retirement after a professional career of no less than five decades.