“The Boy and the Bird”: flying in dreams and in reality

2023-12-07 22:54:26

World War II, during an air raid on Tokyo, the mother of twelve-year-old Mahito dies in a fire. After some time, the boy and his father move to the countryside, to the house of his father’s new wife, who is very similar to his late mother. A little later, and as if casually, it is reported that this is her sister. Mahito reproaches himself for not being able to save his mother, and in disturbing dreams she calls out to him, engulfed in flames, like a Phoenix. The director finds the embodiment of the boy’s troubled conscience in a strange heron with teeth, which begins to chase the hero, tease him and offer to take him to his mother.