1318 Bay St
Bellingham, WA 98225
USA
MASTERS OF ASIAN CINEMA
Introduced by Dawn Dietrich
Pom Poko is directed by one of the two founders of Studio Ghibli, Takahata Isao, who has also directed Only Yesterday, Grave of the Fireflies and The Tale of Princess Kaguya, among other films. Pom Poko concerns a group of tanuki, often translated as “raccoon dogs.” These are animals native to Japan who have appeared in folklore and children’s songs for hundreds of years, in which they are reputed to have shape-shifting powers similar to fox spirits. In this film, a group of tanuki near Tokyo decide to combat the encroaching suburbanization of their habitat in some very direct – and fanciful – ways. The result is highly entertaining while also being one of the strongest environmental parables from an animation studio that has always been concerned with the natural world and our place in it.
