Film: Porco Rosso

[liv]

We are stalled on Bangladeshi films for our world film project, because whenever we try to search we find films actually from Bangladesh completely swamped by Indian films in the Bengali language. So we fell back to watching Porco Rosso, which jack is fond of and I hadn't seen.

It was a very sweet date night movie, and I don't have a whole lot to say about it. I loved the landscapes, and I really enjoyed the characterization, particularly of Porco Rosso and Fio. The film is interestingly aware that hinting at romance between a middle-aged man and a 17yo girl is creepy, but it's also not not a romance.

The plot doesn't make a great deal of sense; like, the purported flashback to explain why Porco Rosso is under a curse to turn into a pig doesn't really explain what his experience as a fighter pilot has to do with the curse. There is a dramatic showdown between PR and his arch-rival, except that it ends with a weird anti-climax where they both run out of ammo and end up standing the sea punching each other. And there are evil fascists being evil in the background, but it's not a war movie about defeating the Fascists, nor a fatalistic film about how Italy is about to succumb to evil. And even the central romance doesn't really go anywhere; the ending is deliberately ambiguous about whether PR actually gets together with the beautiful woman who is in love with him.

That sounds a bit negative, which it isn't meant to be. It's enjoyable, it has a lot of cute and funny moments, the animation is really lovely. I was very happy to just go with the flow and accept that it didn't follow what I expected from the structure.

Comments

[oracne]

When I was showing all the Miyazaki movies to the Adorable Tots, I was dubious about this one, but they loooooooooooooved it despite not getting all the nuances. They loved Fio and the battles.

[antisoppist]

Thank you to both of you. It is one we haven't seen and the 12 year-old and I are catching up now they are all on Netflix but I was a bit "not more people being pigs" about it. I feel slightly more encouraged now.

[oracne]

You know, I'd never thought about the parents being pigs in connection. Huh.

Porco is just...a pig who otherwise acts like a human. It is very random.

[nou]

According to Flixable there are only two Bangladeshi films on Netflix. I’m planning to watch Sincerely Yours, Dhaka.