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For Hayao Miyazaki, flight is a metaphor for freedom

Discover the consoling imagination of a star Japanese animator

HAYAO MIYAZAKI has spent his career conjuring up fantastical worlds full of outlandish creatures. “Spirited Away” (2001), which won an Oscar for best animated film, is set in a magical realm ruled by a bejewelled witch and populated by talking frogs, gremlins made of soot and a vaporous creature who emits gold nuggets from his fingertips. Amid today’s pandemic, one feature of Mr Miyazaki’s escapist movies is particularly intoxicating: his obsession with flying.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Hayao Miyazaki’s flights”

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