Tempting. Well, let me specific: the subtitled version is tempting. The dubbed version is setting my teeth on edge, and putting me into full Snooty Geek Mode.
I’ve always been a fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s work. Also, when I’ve watched this movie before I’ve always been struck on how it feels like an alternate timeline where World War I simply didn’t… happen. I’m giving serious thought to seeing this properly. Which, again, means subtitled. Because I’m a horrible snob that way, sorry.
For an interesting reason. Hayao Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service is itself an excellent animated film — but I am not fascinated by it. I am fascinated by the world that it’s set in. It’s clearly set in a Trieste (yes, I KNOW where Miyazaki drew his visual inspiration from: now hush) that’s still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which means that this world never had a World War I, let alone a World War II. That last link suggests a time period of the 1950s, which is confusing, because Kiki’s transistor radio (which looks like the first one mass-produced in 1954) odd: it’s picking up American radio broadcasts. If there are no American troops in Europe — which seems likely, given that it took the Cold War to put them there — then what’s letting Kiki pick up their transmissions*?
What is going on in that world? — Even putting aside all the stuff with witches and so forth. That’s interesting, sure, but I want to know why there hasn’t been more jet propulsion work done.
Continue reading Movie of the Week: ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service.’
