Hiyao Miyazaki / Japan 2023 / 124 min / Cert 12A / Subtitles

Hayao Miyazaki’s first film in 10 years The Boy and the Heron is set in 1940’s wartime Japan and follows the story of Mahito a twelve-year-old boy who has lost his mother and moves with his father to a new rural town, following his father’s re-marriage.

There Mahito struggles to fit in, then meets a talking heron who leads him into a forbidden tower and then on into a fantastical world full of strange animals and magical characters that echo the world he has left.

A coming-of-age story, the Boy and the Heron explores grief, acceptance, and redemption.