Review by Jeremy_Urquhart

Feeling a little like a sequel to 2013's The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki is another behind-the-scenes look at Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, effectively taking the view that Ghibli is Miyazaki, and vice-versa. It sees the legendary filmmaker coming out of retirement - kind of - to make a short film that incorporates CGI animation, and how he struggles with that and occasionally finds it interesting... still, he probably complains about it more often than not, and that can also be entertaining in its own way.

Miyazaki comes across as even more of a doomer in this than usual, but I guess it's interesting to watch in the wake of The Boy and the Heron being released; it feels a little less downbeat, knowing Miyazaki found the drive post-2016 to work on another feature film. The personal nature of this documentary really gets to the core of how creatively driven this man is, even while he constantly battles feelings of self-doubt and even self-hatred.

Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki can never go too in-depth, given its 70-minute runtime, and I think it's also a little repetitive in parts. I still found it largely engaging throughout, and it's easy to recommend to fans of Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki; any behind-the-scenes documentaries about such subjects feel vital and interesting by default.