Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio that works on many feature films and short films. Hayao Miyazaki works hard with a team of other artists to make their movies with a very distinct animation style. The films were only available on DVD until HBO Max launched on May 27, 2020, and announced that Studio Ghibli movies would be available for anyone with an HBO max subscription. 

The most known movie from Studio Ghibli is “My neighbor Totoro,” which was released in 1988. The movie is very family-friendly and doesn’t have a “bad guy” character. The movie follows sisters Satsuke, who is 10 years old, and Mei, who is 4 years old. Their father moves them to a countryside home to be near the hospital where their mother is recovering from an illness. When they first arrive at the new house, the neighbor comes over to greet them all. She told them all to call her Nanny and that she wanted to help the family in any way they needed. The girls went to explore the house and to find the attic. When they got to the attic, they found a black little ball running across the floors and walls. Satsuke gets scared and runs down the stairs while Mei tries to catch one of the creatures. Nanny sees that the girls have black dust on their feet and that they created a trail of it through the house. She explains that there are spirits living inside the house called “Soot Spirits,” and they turn into dust when they are caught. This explains why Mei has black dust on her hands. The Soot Spirits are the first of many different spirits the girls meet. One hot afternoon, the dad takes the girls on a little trip to go see the big tree that is in the center of the forest. He explains the tree is called the Camphor tree and is the mother of the forest. It’s rumored to have great spiritual energy. 

One day, Mei’s father was doing work at home while she was playing in the backyard. She found acorns and followed the trail to find a small spirit, but the spirit ran away. Mei decided to follow. They ended up in the center of the roots of the tree, where only spirits can enter. After entering the roots, she fell down a hole and landed on a big spirit who was sleeping. He woke up, and when Mei asked his name, he said “To-to-ro!” Totoro helps lead Mei back home.

Throughout the movie, you see how Mei and Satsuke both get help from the spirits and become friends with them. You also get to follow along with what happens with their mother. Studio Ghibli did a great job making a movie that is interesting, and the art is beautiful. All movies by Studio Ghibli are always making you sit on the edge of your seat. The movies are available in subtitles and dubbed. Subtitles are when the voice acting is in Japanese but there are English subtitles. Dubbed is when the voice acting is in English. Whichever you pick, the movie is phenomenal and is a must-watch for anyone. 

This movie contains drug use, swearing, triggering mental health issues, and mentions of abuse. Viewer discretion is advised.

Psychology is one of the many interesting topics that I can find myself being caught up in. I want to understand why people can be so inexplicably terrible with no remorse. This film more than fulfilled my desire to study the why. 

In the DC world, Joker himself has no backstory. He is a villain whose only goal is to make Batman’s job harder. With no rhyme or reason, he is the Clown Prince of Crime. So, watching this movie only made me enjoy Joker more. Not only was the film was so intricately made, but what it showed wasn’t the rise of a single Joker. It was the rise of a movement. 

Joker follows a man who goes by the name of Arthur. He shows signs of sociopathy such as lack of empathy, risky behavior, and having difficult relationships with his co-workers as well as others around him. He’s treated almost equivalent to a child by his friends and family, and it hits harder when people use Arthur’s shutting down method to beat him up physically and mentally. Arthur knows something must be wrong with him, especially since he has a condition that makes him laugh uncontrollably during stressful moments of his life. It’s safe to say he has it rough, and it definitely takes a toll on him.

The creators of the film execute mental illness perfectly without romanticizing it. What he has isn’t fun or easy to live with, and Arthur has tried his hardest to live with it. It’s only when Arthur snaps that you realize how much he truly is being pushed past his breaking point. 

The score for this film goes beyond words. My personal favorite of the entire film was definitely “Bathroom Dance” by Icelandic musician Hildur Guðnadóttir. The cello and choral backup really fit the anguish and slow burn of hatred building up inside Arthur as the movie progressed. I also really enjoyed the upbeat, contrasting song “That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra that would continuously play with slow-motion imagery on the screen. Oldies music with dark imagery is very common, but instead of just carrying the sinister vibe that comes with this style, it carried the insanity of Arthur that pulled him closer and closer to becoming the Joker.

This film was more than a heavy, dark type of film. This was a cruel and quite realistic view of Joker. This Joker contrasted greatly with the modern Joker from Suicide Squad, which, in my opinion, was a sad excuse for a Joker. Suicide Squad Joker was the more materialistic, flashy kind of Joker that favored money. Arthur in Joker stood as the insane, extremely unstable side of Joker, which is much more like the Joker I grew up knowing.

Joker was, to say the least, a masterpiece that shines above most films I’ve watched. I love dark, depressing, scarily real films, and this film blew me away with all three parts. I, without hesitation, give this movie a 5/5 star rating. If you enjoy very heavy topics and theories of Joker’s past, this most definitely deserves a view from you.