And the first movie on my list is...
Spirited Away
Why?
"Spirited Away" was the first film I saw from Japanese mastermind Hayao Miyazaki ("Howl's Moving Castle", "Princess Mononoke", etc.). That was 14 years ago in 2001. I remember it quite simply blowing my mind with how strange it was. First of all, it was the first foreign film I ever saw, which was an experience in itself. Then there's the long list of ridiculous things that happen in the film, some of which I still roll my eyes at. With that outlandish edge to the side, however, I came to deeply appreciate the movie for how extremely imaginative it was. It was original in character design, in art style, and in storytelling. At that point in my life, its immense and bold creativity was unmatched by anything else I'd ever seen, and certainly not neared by any of the dozens of animated Disney films I'd enjoyed. In a way, it opened my mind to possibilities within the film industry that I didn't expect to ever experience or I didn't know were there.
And I'm not the only one who holds it in such high regard. Users of Metacritic put it at #1. That means that, according to at least one reliable account, "Spirited Away" is the best movie of all time.
The story follows young Chihiro, who's travelling with her parents to a new home at the film's start. They get lost on their journey, stumbling upon an abandoned, carnival-like establishment in the middle of a forest. Chihiro's parents are attracted to a wealthy amount of food at one of the abandoned stores and start chowing down despite Chihiro's warnings. She goes exploring and returns to find that the temptation turned them into pigs and they don't remember her.
Chihiro panics as night falls, bringing with it the frightening spirits who travel to this place, which, as she discovers, is a vacation spot for phantoms and other strange creatures. One of them, a young man named Haku, befriends and protects her. He introduces her to the spirit spa. The master of the spa, a creepy old woman named Yubaba, promises to return her parents to her in exchange for a period of service at the spa.
One of the other spirits she meets, No-Face, becomes her silent sidekick as she works to save her parents and learns more about her own identity and that of Haku.
The rest is for you to find.
Truth is, "Spirited Away" is definitely not my favorite movie or very close to it, but when I discovered it at a young age, it was stunning; I haven't experienced many entertainment shocks like that since. I still place high value on it as an important part of my uprising as an aspiring creator. Miyazaki's other films are also impressive and bold in other ways, but none of them come close to having the sort of emotional impact that Spirited Away has for me.
And there's my first Hall of Famer from the world of film.
"Nothing that happens is ever forgotten, even if you can't remember it"
