The first of film of 2023. Why not start with something fundamentally comforting like My Neighbor Totoro? This is a rewatch in advance of going to see the stage adaptation of the film at the Barbican in a couple of weeks, as its been quite some time since I’ve watched it. It’s Miyazaki’s first and one of his finest. Over 86 minutes, very little happens. The stakes are generally pretty low. There’s a classic “Mum’s got some unspecified illness that we don’t talk about” move, which only really spurs some level of plot in the last act, but other than that, it’s watching two delightful girls meet various magical creatures and generally having a good time. I had forgotten, watching Spirited Away a few days earlier, that the soot spirits first appear here, which is a touching little shared thing to have across films. The score is beautiful, as is the animation, in both its grounded and fantastical elements. I find it fascinating that kids will go for this, or more, I suppose, encouraging. Not everything needs to be flash bang action sequence after action sequence. There’s magic to be mined here, deep in the forest where a lying down Totoro can be found.