While both Grave Of The Firelies and My Neighbour Totoro attempt to explore the ways in which children deal with tragedy, or the possibility of it, Totoro is amazingly subtle.
While both Grave Of The Firelies and My Neighbour Totoro attempt to explore the ways in which children deal with tragedy, or the possibility of it, Totoro is amazingly subtle. Moulding Ghibli’s tell-tale pseudo-surrealism around the imagination of a child experiencing the divorce of their parents, the darker elements never override the sense of child like wonder achieving a stunning balance all aspiring film maker should study.