[Dr Kain]

The Wind Rises - Miyazaki has always been an oddball for me. His movies tend to be great, but at the same time, they have a habit of being to convoluted for my taste. Even my favorite movie, Princess Mononoke can get way to complicated for its own good in the long run. Sometimes it might just be that the movies do not translate well into English, or the lack of knowing everything in Japanese to culture to truly understand them. Either way, I sometimes find it hard to sit through his works if I am not in the right mood for them. Nevertheless, The Wind Rises is probably the finest work I have ever seen from Miyazaki. The movie sounds simple, as it is about a man who wants to create the greatest airplane Japan has ever seen, but its execution is done with finesse and radiant brilliance. There are so many complications to be found here as it shows the struggles of how difficult it was to make a plane that actually works well along with the suspense of knowing what is bound to become of these planes. The movie tells an incredible tale of a man who seems very serious on the outside, but the imaginations of a genius on the inside. One of the best things about this movie is that Miyazaki does not hold back and creates a serious realistic movie that not only feels different because it is set in the modern world, but also because there are moments where it seems to relate to Miyazaki's own career and his newly announced retirement. The only piece I can fault the movie for is in its pacing, as there are some moments when the movie did drag, but other than that, this gorgeous story is a fantastic send-off for the man that also showcases a side of Japan rarely seen before in cinema, if at all. Overall, I give this movie a 9/10 stars.