I know it's short notice, but Auckland handmaidens (every MUSE needs one or two right?) at a loose end tonight should catch Miyazaki Hayo's Oscar-winning Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) at a very special Auckland Film Society screening. 6.30pm, Academy Cinema, 44 Lorne Street, Auckland.
Thanks to the generosity of Madman Entertainment, we've received permission to open the screening to non-members. Entry is by donation with all proceeds to the Red Cross 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Appeal.
Please to reserve seats, and members this might be one screening where you don't want to show up at 6.29. :)
The print is the excellent English dub, which may offend anime purists -- but whatever else you say against the House of Mouse, Miyazaki and the rest of Studio Ghibli's output has shown large American corporations can do right by "foreign" films. They just have to make an effort.
And you may ask this question: "I've got the DVD, why should I bother?" Because if you haven't seen Miyazki's lush, lovingly detailed masterpiece -- whose vision of female empowerment is more complex and satisfying than Sucker Punch's fetishwear wank fantasy -- on the big screen, just once, you haven't really seen it at all.
Great film, great cause. I'll even buy an ice cream for the first person who comes up and introduces themself. What do you want -- blood?