Oscar-nominated Japanese anime director Isao Takahata, who co-founded Studio Ghibli and was best known for his work "Grave of the Fireflies", has died aged 82, the studio said on Friday. The winner of many awards domestically and internationally, Takahata was considered one of the greats of Japanese animated film and is often linked with long-term Studio Ghibli collaborator Hayao Miyazaki.
He enjoyed a career spanning several decades, producing both films and work for the small screen and his latest production, "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya", earned him an Academy nomination for best animated feature. An adaptation of a popular tale from the 10th century - considered one of the founding texts of Japanese literature - the film was also selected for a slot in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar to the main Cannes film competition in 2014.
It also won rave reviews, with the New York Times in 2014 describing it as "exquisitely drawn with both watercolour delicacy and a brisk sense of line." However, most consider Takahata's 1988 film "Grave of the Fireflies", a moving tale of two orphans during World War II, to be his best work.
In 2000, famed reviewer Roger Ebert wrote that the movie "belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made." Born in 1935 in Mie prefecture in central Japan, his early life was marked with violence when US forces bombed his hometown in June 1945 as World War II was coming to a close.
In an interview with the Japan Times, he described fleeing with his sister barefoot and still in his pyjamas. On his way back to the family house, he recalled seeing piles of bodies in the street. "We were lucky to get out alive," he told the newspaper.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.