Cinema Atlas Connection

Spirited Away is Studio Ghibli — which is itself a world cinema institution. Miyazaki's films draw from Japanese folklore, Shinto spirituality, and a specifically Japanese relationship with nature and the supernatural that has no Western equivalent. The entire Ghibli catalogue is streaming on Max, but Miyazaki's deeper influences — the Japanese animation tradition, the folk tales that Totoro and Spirited Away draw from — are worth exploring. Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä are the gateway to understanding what Miyazaki is actually doing.