According to Variety, Miyazaki Hayao’s final feature film, “How Do You Live?” will be distributed in the United States by distributor GKIDS. The film will be released as “The Boy and the Heron” in all international markets. It aims to release “later this year” and is expected to appear at multiple film festivals this fall.
The film, written and directed by Miyazaki, is semi-inspired by the Genzaburo Yoshino novel of the same name. The 1957 novel follows the journey of a young teenager going through internal and external tribulations as his uncle’s journal guides him. The film premiered today in Japan and has been receiving positive reactions from audience members.
Words cannot describe how intriguing this film is. Miyazaki’s (presumed) final film has unreal levels of anticipation. This project sounds like an incredibly poignant and moving tale. Not to mention the beautiful hand-drawn 2D animation and Joe Hisaishi’s score will be up to par with previous Miyazaki’s work. The intrigue for this project has been unusually massive as the film has shown little to no promotional material whatsoever. It’s honestly quite refreshing, yet concerning. Hopefully, this interesting strategy won’t get in the way of people being able to seek out the film.
Do you think this is really Miyazaki’s final film? Are you excited to see “The Boy and the Heron?” Which fall film festivals do you think it will show up at? Please let us know in the comments section below or our Twitter account.