mentorship and legacy

His films frequently explore the transmission of skills, values, and moral ambiguity between mentors and protégés, most notably in Raging Bull and The Irishman.

His animated works consistently depict young characters learning from wise elders while inheriting both wisdom and responsibility for the world around them, as in Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.

His contemplative cinema explores how individuals are shaped by historical and cultural legacies, and how personal relationships transmit lived experience across generations, particularly in The Assassin and A City of Sadness.