Fantasy · Animation · Family
Japanese (となりのトトロ)
1988 · Directed by Hayao Miyazaki · 86 min
Two young sisters move with their father to an old house in the countryside, close to the hospital where their mother is recovering. Around the house and the nearby woods, the girls find strange, gentle presences that adults cannot easily see. A quiet, sunlit film about childhood, with almost no villains in sight.
Why it matters in cinema history
A defining work of Japanese hand-drawn animation and of Studio Ghibli, it showed that an animated feature for children could be built from atmosphere and observed behaviour rather than plot machinery.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a film about how children see: notice what the camera lingers on, and what the adults never seem to notice.
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