MOVIES

Movie data

Original title: 千と千尋の神隠し Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
English Title: Spirited Away
Publication: 2001
Length: 125 Minuten

Staff
Director Hayao Miyazaki
Script Hayao Miyazaki
Production Toshio Suzuki
Music Joe Hisaishi
Camera Atsushi Okui
Cut Takeshi Seyama

Plot

Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents are traveling to their new home when her father decides to take a shortcut. The family's car stops in front of a tunnel leading to what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. They find a seemingly empty restaurant still stocked with food, which Chihiro's parents immediately begin to eat. Chihiro reaches an enormous bathhouse and meets a boy named Haku, who warns her to return across the riverbed before sunset. However, Chihiro discovers that her parents have been transformed into pigs, and she is unable to cross the now-flooded river.
Haku finds Chihiro and instructs her to ask for a job from the bathhouse's boiler-man, Kamaji. Kamaji refuses to hire her and asks worker Lin to send Chihiro to Yubaba, the witch who runs the bathhouse. Yubaba tries to frighten Chihiro away, but she persists, and is eventually given a working contract. Yubaba takes away the second kanji of her name, renaming her Sen (千).
While working, Sen invites a silent creature named No-Face (Kaonashi 顔無し) inside, believing him to be a customer. A "stink spirit" arrives as Sen's first customer, and she discovers he is the spirit of a polluted river.
Sen sees paper Shikigami attacking a dragon and recognizes the dragon as Haku metamorphosed. When a grievously injured Haku crashes into Yubaba's penthouse, Sen follows him upstairs. A shikigami that stowed away on her back shapeshifts into Zeniba, Yubaba's twin sister. Zeniba tells Sen that Haku has stolen a magic golden seal from her and warns Sen that it carries a deadly curse.
Sen resolves to return the seal and apologize to Zeniba. Meanwhile, Yubaba orders that Sen's parents be slaughtered, but Haku reveals that Boh is missing and offers to retrieve him if Yubaba releases Sen and her parents. Yubaba agrees, but only if Sen can pass a final test.
Sen meets with Zeniba. Haku appears at Zeniba's home in his dragon form and offers to fly them home. No-Face decides to stay behind with Zeniba. In mid-flight, Sen recalls falling years ago into the Kohaku River and being washed safely ashore, correctly guessing Haku's real identity as the spirit of the Kohaku River (ニギハヤミ コハクヌシ, Nigihayami Kohakunushi). When they arrive at the bathhouse, Yubaba forces Sen to identify her parents from among a group of pigs in order to leave. After she answers correctly that none of the pigs are her parents, her contract disappears and she is given back her real name. Haku takes her to the now-dry riverbed and vows to meet her again. Chihiro crosses the riverbed to her restored parents, who do not remember anything after eating at the restaurant stall. They walk back through the tunnel until they reach their car, now covered in dust and leaves.

More Infos in Wikipedia: Chihiro