The Boy and The Heron (2023)

I feel like this whole movie could've taken place inside Mahitos head while he copes with the depression resulting from his mothers death. I understand that what happened in the film was real, but i feel like it is real to him. Its all representative of how he feels. 

    When you lose a loved one, you naturally try to convince yourself that they weren't in pain. In the other world, his mother can control fire and she literally says "Im not afraid of fire." he subconsciously is making what happened to his mother not seem as bad. I dont know if that makes sense but im gonna pretend it does.  The blocks falling over and needing to stack the blocks to keep the world together is representative of how little control He has over his life. Like him not being able to save his mom, his dad marrying his AUNT and IMMEDIATLEY getting her pregnant, moving away and everything, he has literally zero control over whats going on. I feel like the blocks being so unstable is representative of this because no matter what you do, the blocks are gonna be a little bit unstable. 

Then theres the depression aspect. Like the he hits himself in the head so that he wont have to go to school anymore. While self harm is the obvious tell of depression or some kind of mental instability, But the fact that he does it in order to completely isolate himself from everyone really shows the depression aspect of the film. In my experience, a depressive episode can feel like you're being suffocated, which is an image that comes up frequently in this film. For instance, Mahito gets covered in frogs and the same thing happens with the pelicans when he opens the gates. I overall think that everything in this film is intentional. Im sure i missed some stuff and some key details probably went over my head but still. 

The arc throughout the film shows Mahito coming to terms with his moms death and the fact that hes not coming back. He goes from having PTSD esc flashbacks of his mothers death to slowly building more confidence in himself, conquering his fears (birds) and eventually becoming secure enough in himself to leave his mom to go through her own door at the end. Like he went into this world with hopes of bringing his mom back and left without her and without putting up much of a fight when they go their own ways, Which i think shows major development. 

The only significant issue i had with the film was the pacing. It felt super slow paced when it shouldve been moving quickly and vice versa. The film was obviously beautiful but everyone knew that this movie was going to be. Like no one is surprised. Overall i liked the movie i just wish the pacing was more efficient and I was a little less confused.