This week on New Release (episode #156) … soot balls Ashley, Derrick, and Drew plunge into the beautiful and frightening spirit world. Splish-splash. Spirited Away might be the most well known of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s incredibly deep film catalog, and deservingly so. The level of emotional and visual immersion you feel following young Chihiro on her journey to find herself and save her parents is everything you could ask for in a movie. Really. Sometimes animation does a better job than live action of capturing the complexity and poetry of existence. We take our time with this one, seeing as it’s the first anime movie we’ve discussed for the podcast. But I promise it’s worth it. Join us on one-way train to movie magic by searching ‘New Release’ on Spotify or Apple, where you can always subscribe. Next week, it’s back in 2023 for John Wick: Chapter 4. Fight!

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