Post by rhodoraonline on Feb 23, 2017 5:34:59 GMT
I loved this film the first time I watched it but some plot elements eluded me. A recent rewatch lead to the following analysis of the film. It's all FULL OF SPOILERS so don't read more if you haven't watched the film. The film is #140 in the IMDb Top 250:
_____________________________________SPOILERS AHEAD___________________________________________
Background: It is a world where magic, spells, and curses are a part of life. People go to magicians much like quacks seeking remedies in potions, powders and elixirs. Howl is a very powerful wizard with a notorious reputation. Young, heartbreakingly beautiful, and apparently heartless, he goes after women he likes and leaves them after robbing them of their hearts. He lives in a huge, steaming, mechanical contraption (the "castle") that moves around with legs shaped like a chicken's. Then there is impending war: A neighboring prince has mysteriously disappeared inciting two bordering nations to a stand-off.
The castle will form the background for half of the story but it's a character in and of itself. It's dynamic but laborious, grand but ugly, functional but noisy, magical but dingy.
Lead 1: Sophie, the young hatter's opinion about Howl changes when he saves her from two harassing soldiers on her way to her sister's place. The whole sequence where Howl takes Sophie up in the air with him and makes her walk through the air into her sister's balcony (thus escaping henchman of The Witch of the Waste) must be one of the most romantic sequences of all time in film. Sophie has certainly fallen in love with him but she won't be ready to admit that for some time to come.
Lead 2: As soon as Howl appears on the scene, we find him very intriguing with an irresistible charm produced by an endearing mix of masculine and feministic attributes. Bale's voiceovers are very smooth, tender, and full of mystique. Now that I think of it, the character recalls Bale's Laurie in terms of perfectly chiselled features, youth, delicacy of manner and soft-spokenness, except for the cool badass factor.
Act 1: The Witch of the Waste, whose own heart is set upon Howl, casts a spell on Sophie in her jealousy: a spell which she can't speak of to anyone and which turns her into a bent-back old wizen. Sophie escapes her house and sets upon the wasteland beyond her city, to avoid alarm in her family. On her way she rescues a bewitched Scarecrow (whom she calls Turnip-head) who seems to be taken with her and finally guides her to Howl's Moving Castle when she asks for shelter.
Inside, the castle is dingy, dusty, and dirty. It's door is a portal that opens four-ways upon switching a marker by the door. NOTE: When I saw Dr. Strange this year, I immediately thought I had seen that portal thing before and now I know. This is worth investigating... which portal pre-dates which?
Character 3: The flame in the hearth, Calcifer, talks and runs the castle. He only follows Howl's commands and knows his history.
Character 4: A little boy Markl considers Howl his master and conducts the day business of distributing magic remedies to customers at shops accessed by the portal.
Act 2: Old Sophie introduces himself to Howl as his new cleaning lady. She heckles Calcifer into cooking a proper breakfast and cleans the whole house. Meanwhile, war has started and Howl, in his magic black eagle form, takes part with the intention of assuaging the conflict. Sophie learns from Calcifer that Howl is also cursed. He lost his heart and the more powerful his magic the difficult it is for him to turn back into human form. Once, upon finding his bath shampoos mixed up on return, Howl throws a huge tantrum, mourning the loss of his beauty and almost calling up powers of darkness. NOTE: Wonder who that reminds us of? ;-) Sophie sees through Howl's antics, puts Calcifer in his place and bonds with Markl.
Madame Suliman, the King's aid, calls up both Howl and the Witch of the Waste to recruit their help in the war but Howl sends old Sophie feigning cowardice. Sophie watches the Witch forcefully deprived of her powers by Madame Suliman and turned into an ugly old grandma (her real age). She understands Madame's conceit and passionately denies Madame's accusations of Howl being a dangerous magician needing to be controlled. As soon as Madame Suliman sees through Sophie's curse that she's a young girl in love with Howl, Howl appears in person and instructs Sophie to escape with the help of one of his rings. The old Witch is tagged along in the hustle.
Act 3: The kind Sophie cares for both the old Witch and the increasingly tiring Howl who is finding it harder and harder to return to human form each day. Howl draws closer to Sophie and turns the castle into a beautiful European house that opens onto a field of beautiful pink flowers. He shows her a hut by a lake beyond the field which he used as a refuge in his childhood under an uncle's care. Madam Suliman manages to sneak in a "peeping bug" which Calcifer swallows and almost passes out. Howl saves him and vows to keep the castle safe for Sophie's sake. He is badly hurt in his next fight against the warring planes and disappears. Sophie, in order to force him out of his destructive cycle, forces everyone out of the castle including Calcifer. The castle collapses. Meanwhile, the Witch has correctly deduced that Calcifer swallowed Howl's heart. She grabs him and Sophie has to douse her to prevent a fire. As Calcifer is also doused, the whole castle falls apart and Sophie is thrown into a chasm.
Denouement:
Sophie emerges into the darkness of the refuge house by the lake. She is back in time and watches a young Howl swallow a shooting star who reemerges as Calcifer with Howl's heart swallowed, both forever bound to each other. Sophie seeks out present day Howl and tells him she can help her. Howl returns her to the rest of the castle's separated group where she entreats Calcifer to return Howl's heart to him. Calcifer floats away free, Howl is restored while the Scarecrow's curse is also lifted revealing him to be the missing prince. Madam Suliman watching from a crystal ball realizes it's time to end the war. Calcifer decides to return to Howl's family; the castle is reformed, this time a colorful, better looking structure with Howl and Sophie together on it's balcony gardens.
Themes:
There are two distinct themes in this film: identity and hea rt. Both the leads have a central conflict in that they tie too much significance to their outer appearance. We start the film with a young Sophie considering herself plain and in no risk of being seduced by a womanizer like Howl. Later, during Howl's rants on how the threat to his beauty is worth not living anymore, she loses it yelling "I've never been beautiful my whole life" and storms out of the house before returning to push Howl to his bath. Both protagonists are actually young (Howl in a permanent adolescence due to the loss of his heart) but dealing with maturity thrust upon them by external forces. We see Howl growing old in his black beastly eagle form. The major problem for both leads is how to strike a balance between their conflicting sides. Their attempts to switch from the scary old side to their natural young one is visualized really well, though it may be confusing for some in case of Sophie's.
Here we connect to the other theme: heart, the more literal of the themes. It might be the most mentioned word (girls in the hat shop discuss hearts, the Witch mentions hearts all the time). It is also an actual plot device as described above. Heart is also intimately connected to the resolution of the central conflict in both the leads.
For Sophie, she feels young whenever she owns up to her feelings for Howl, expressing them or simply feeling at one with him (such as in the pink field). We see youth returning to her, apparently the force of the curse weakening and her real physical self showing through. She looks middle-aged when she's happily engaged with her housemaking tasks at the castle, strolling about confidently like a fine dame.
For Howl, the literal loss of his heart has made his personality a haven of conflicting attitudes with a common arrogance: womanizing, self-love, and omnipotence (shown by his foolhardy attempts to dissipate the war by himself). That he's actually depressed is very obvious: the appearance of his castle, the general distance he seems to keep with his family, his ignorance of his well-being, are cases in point. Thus Sophie provides him with the perfect second half, she cleans up the place, she brings everybody closer, she takes care of him at multiple occasions.
The more they are able to act in close concert with their feelings for each other the more they are of help to each other by bringing each closer to the breaking of other's curse. Both are thus a direct means by which they ultimately break free of the chains. The chains, not just of the curses, but of their own either misguided or underdeveloped senses of worth. At the end both have struck that balance: Sophie retains grey hair signifying the maturity she has earned by now. Howl no longer looks like an adolescent but a man with a past who has won his girl.
_______________________________________END OF SPOLERS_____________________________________
How about you guys? Have you seen it? Thoughts? Also, I could post this here, right?
_____________________________________SPOILERS AHEAD___________________________________________
Background: It is a world where magic, spells, and curses are a part of life. People go to magicians much like quacks seeking remedies in potions, powders and elixirs. Howl is a very powerful wizard with a notorious reputation. Young, heartbreakingly beautiful, and apparently heartless, he goes after women he likes and leaves them after robbing them of their hearts. He lives in a huge, steaming, mechanical contraption (the "castle") that moves around with legs shaped like a chicken's. Then there is impending war: A neighboring prince has mysteriously disappeared inciting two bordering nations to a stand-off.
The castle will form the background for half of the story but it's a character in and of itself. It's dynamic but laborious, grand but ugly, functional but noisy, magical but dingy.
Lead 1: Sophie, the young hatter's opinion about Howl changes when he saves her from two harassing soldiers on her way to her sister's place. The whole sequence where Howl takes Sophie up in the air with him and makes her walk through the air into her sister's balcony (thus escaping henchman of The Witch of the Waste) must be one of the most romantic sequences of all time in film. Sophie has certainly fallen in love with him but she won't be ready to admit that for some time to come.
Lead 2: As soon as Howl appears on the scene, we find him very intriguing with an irresistible charm produced by an endearing mix of masculine and feministic attributes. Bale's voiceovers are very smooth, tender, and full of mystique. Now that I think of it, the character recalls Bale's Laurie in terms of perfectly chiselled features, youth, delicacy of manner and soft-spokenness, except for the cool badass factor.
Act 1: The Witch of the Waste, whose own heart is set upon Howl, casts a spell on Sophie in her jealousy: a spell which she can't speak of to anyone and which turns her into a bent-back old wizen. Sophie escapes her house and sets upon the wasteland beyond her city, to avoid alarm in her family. On her way she rescues a bewitched Scarecrow (whom she calls Turnip-head) who seems to be taken with her and finally guides her to Howl's Moving Castle when she asks for shelter.
Inside, the castle is dingy, dusty, and dirty. It's door is a portal that opens four-ways upon switching a marker by the door. NOTE: When I saw Dr. Strange this year, I immediately thought I had seen that portal thing before and now I know. This is worth investigating... which portal pre-dates which?
Character 3: The flame in the hearth, Calcifer, talks and runs the castle. He only follows Howl's commands and knows his history.
Character 4: A little boy Markl considers Howl his master and conducts the day business of distributing magic remedies to customers at shops accessed by the portal.
Act 2: Old Sophie introduces himself to Howl as his new cleaning lady. She heckles Calcifer into cooking a proper breakfast and cleans the whole house. Meanwhile, war has started and Howl, in his magic black eagle form, takes part with the intention of assuaging the conflict. Sophie learns from Calcifer that Howl is also cursed. He lost his heart and the more powerful his magic the difficult it is for him to turn back into human form. Once, upon finding his bath shampoos mixed up on return, Howl throws a huge tantrum, mourning the loss of his beauty and almost calling up powers of darkness. NOTE: Wonder who that reminds us of? ;-) Sophie sees through Howl's antics, puts Calcifer in his place and bonds with Markl.
Madame Suliman, the King's aid, calls up both Howl and the Witch of the Waste to recruit their help in the war but Howl sends old Sophie feigning cowardice. Sophie watches the Witch forcefully deprived of her powers by Madame Suliman and turned into an ugly old grandma (her real age). She understands Madame's conceit and passionately denies Madame's accusations of Howl being a dangerous magician needing to be controlled. As soon as Madame Suliman sees through Sophie's curse that she's a young girl in love with Howl, Howl appears in person and instructs Sophie to escape with the help of one of his rings. The old Witch is tagged along in the hustle.
Act 3: The kind Sophie cares for both the old Witch and the increasingly tiring Howl who is finding it harder and harder to return to human form each day. Howl draws closer to Sophie and turns the castle into a beautiful European house that opens onto a field of beautiful pink flowers. He shows her a hut by a lake beyond the field which he used as a refuge in his childhood under an uncle's care. Madam Suliman manages to sneak in a "peeping bug" which Calcifer swallows and almost passes out. Howl saves him and vows to keep the castle safe for Sophie's sake. He is badly hurt in his next fight against the warring planes and disappears. Sophie, in order to force him out of his destructive cycle, forces everyone out of the castle including Calcifer. The castle collapses. Meanwhile, the Witch has correctly deduced that Calcifer swallowed Howl's heart. She grabs him and Sophie has to douse her to prevent a fire. As Calcifer is also doused, the whole castle falls apart and Sophie is thrown into a chasm.
Denouement:
Sophie emerges into the darkness of the refuge house by the lake. She is back in time and watches a young Howl swallow a shooting star who reemerges as Calcifer with Howl's heart swallowed, both forever bound to each other. Sophie seeks out present day Howl and tells him she can help her. Howl returns her to the rest of the castle's separated group where she entreats Calcifer to return Howl's heart to him. Calcifer floats away free, Howl is restored while the Scarecrow's curse is also lifted revealing him to be the missing prince. Madam Suliman watching from a crystal ball realizes it's time to end the war. Calcifer decides to return to Howl's family; the castle is reformed, this time a colorful, better looking structure with Howl and Sophie together on it's balcony gardens.
Themes:
There are two distinct themes in this film: identity and hea rt. Both the leads have a central conflict in that they tie too much significance to their outer appearance. We start the film with a young Sophie considering herself plain and in no risk of being seduced by a womanizer like Howl. Later, during Howl's rants on how the threat to his beauty is worth not living anymore, she loses it yelling "I've never been beautiful my whole life" and storms out of the house before returning to push Howl to his bath. Both protagonists are actually young (Howl in a permanent adolescence due to the loss of his heart) but dealing with maturity thrust upon them by external forces. We see Howl growing old in his black beastly eagle form. The major problem for both leads is how to strike a balance between their conflicting sides. Their attempts to switch from the scary old side to their natural young one is visualized really well, though it may be confusing for some in case of Sophie's.
Here we connect to the other theme: heart, the more literal of the themes. It might be the most mentioned word (girls in the hat shop discuss hearts, the Witch mentions hearts all the time). It is also an actual plot device as described above. Heart is also intimately connected to the resolution of the central conflict in both the leads.
For Sophie, she feels young whenever she owns up to her feelings for Howl, expressing them or simply feeling at one with him (such as in the pink field). We see youth returning to her, apparently the force of the curse weakening and her real physical self showing through. She looks middle-aged when she's happily engaged with her housemaking tasks at the castle, strolling about confidently like a fine dame.
For Howl, the literal loss of his heart has made his personality a haven of conflicting attitudes with a common arrogance: womanizing, self-love, and omnipotence (shown by his foolhardy attempts to dissipate the war by himself). That he's actually depressed is very obvious: the appearance of his castle, the general distance he seems to keep with his family, his ignorance of his well-being, are cases in point. Thus Sophie provides him with the perfect second half, she cleans up the place, she brings everybody closer, she takes care of him at multiple occasions.
The more they are able to act in close concert with their feelings for each other the more they are of help to each other by bringing each closer to the breaking of other's curse. Both are thus a direct means by which they ultimately break free of the chains. The chains, not just of the curses, but of their own either misguided or underdeveloped senses of worth. At the end both have struck that balance: Sophie retains grey hair signifying the maturity she has earned by now. Howl no longer looks like an adolescent but a man with a past who has won his girl.
_______________________________________END OF SPOLERS_____________________________________
How about you guys? Have you seen it? Thoughts? Also, I could post this here, right?