The qualities of a masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (16 March 2019)

A masterpiece leaves you with a sense of being filled up and flowing over. A deep well for your spirit to drink and be sated. A masterpiece is ineffable, much more than the sum of its parts. It's not that every part of it is perfect, far from it inevitably, but the whole is transcendent, and as such it transcends even its own limitations and problems. The characters in Princess Mononoke are living and breathing, full of life and profundity. It is partly in the characters themselves, and partly in the way the movie gives us to understand them. Through voice acting (the English version is marvelous, I can't speak for the original), music, dialogue, facial expressions and body language, and more. The imaginary world's symbolism doesn't let us down either, as do most. It is wonderfully coherent and rich.