This morning I treated myself to a Miyazaki film in bed, which is somewhat akin to sprinkling your sundae with sugar. The name of the film was Porco Rosso. It's an older work of his (having come out in 1992) and for some reason I've never seen it before (despite being a huge fan). Now I'm down to only not seeing one of his films (Kiki's Delivery Service). Other (non-Miyazaki) films I can't believe I haven't seen yet include: Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind, Grey Gardens, North By Northwest, The Holy Mountain, and It's a Wonderful Life (all the way through).
The plot goes something like this: Porco, an Italian WW1 flying ace turned chivalric bounty hunter, spends his days defending cruse liners from air pirates in the impossibly blue Adriatic Sea. His nights are spent at a sea-pilot's club and hotel run his old friend (and would-be romantic interest) Gina. While repairing his airplane he befriends a young engineer named Flo and eventually must defend her honor against a hotshot American pilot named Curtis. Porco has been cursed with the face of a pig for reasons never fully explained.
It was a fantastically entertaining film (of course) but what really got me was the last two minutes. I really don't know how much I want to say about it for a few reasons, chief of which is that I don't want to spoil it for any (all two) of you. Suffice to say that a voice over is involved, as well as a 30 year jump forward in time. And that can mean only one thing: the invoking of nostalgia.
I've always been a nostalgic person, but I've never understood what purpose it serves in my life. Perhaps I'll find out when I am an old man and the only currency I have left to spend are my memories of people and places that once were.
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