No one likes a gatecrasher. Who cheers when the folks from the bar downstairs decide they're gonna burst into your wedding reception and hog the dancefloor and have everyone in a bad mood on account of there being no room for the legitimate guests to line dance? No one, is who. Gates, as a rule, should not be crashed, as far as I'm concerned. In the west, we crash cars, and we open gates politely, and then we ask if we can enter.
So imagine The Duke's disdain when this uppity motherfucker by the name of Hayao Miyazaki decides he can just waltz on into The Duke's Favourite Ever Directors List, and just sit down and stretch himself out all over the sofa. What gives, Miyazaki, what in Hell gives?
To make The Duke's Favourite Ever Directors List, you need to put in the effort. You need to have a back catalogue fit for intense scrutiny by mine eyes. You need to make very witty statements about the sexing. You possibly need to be called Woody Allen.
This Miyazaki character, this unannounced presence on The List, he has a back catalogue of gargantuan proportions, but The Duke has only seen two of his works, so as far as I'm concerned, he may as well have started pointing cameras last week after a lifetime spent on the heroin or some shit. Also, I haven't once heard him refer to the sexing in any context, and I bet he doesn't even have glasses.
So what the hell is he doing on the list, then?
Here's why.
The Duke picked up the Oscar-Winning animated film, or cartoon as they're known to some folks, by the name of Spirited Away. Many critics of Filmic Affairs got themselves all in a state over this here little film, and next thing you know it’s the best thing what ever happened to Japan or the greatest movie ever made by anyone with the name of Hayao. To The Duke, whose cynicism is sharp enough to puncture the head of a mule positioned forty feet away, this all seemed like so much gumpf. A load of the old hyperbole, thought The Duke. God knows why I bought the damn thing, but he's too busy with Mel Gibson to explain it to me, so I'll have to assume I liked the pretty cover.
Then there's a big twist, and the twist is that the film turned out to be utterly stunning. Who the hell gave it permission to be so beautiful? Not I, says The Duke, so who?
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