Hayao Miyazaki fans should have by now seen the 4-parter 10 YEARS WITH HAYAO MIYAZAKI NHK docu which is still accessible on the NHK World website. The NHK docu was enjoyable and informative, warts and all, and the ten year period included the time Ghibli produced Ponyo and The Wind Rises.

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness on the other hand, written, edited and directed by Sunada Mami, covered a shorter period during the production of The Wind Rises – in my opinion, a more relaxed view of Miyazaki’s world, not that Sunada was trying to show everything through a rose-tinted lens but we do see a less grumpy Miyazaki-kantoku with his staff, including the times when he’d retreat to his private atelier near the main studio.

The docu film has a very poignant feel throughout – the visuals, especially the long shots of Miyazaki walking to the studio cigarette in hand, the calming breeze rustling the leaves in the Kajino-cho neighbourhood, and Takagi Masakatsu’s (he had done scores for a few Hosoda Mamoru’s films including Mirai and The Wolf Children) music, which only comes on sparingly in this in depth docu film.

And this is the film that has the better (IMHO) documentation of Anno Hideaki getting a voice acting role for The Wind Rises.

Kingdom premiered at the Hawaii International Film Festival in 2014, and was subsequently streamed on NETFLIX and lately Amazon Prime (but not at the moment).

THE KINGDOM OF DREAMS AND MADNESS (2014)
夢と狂気の王国 Yume to kyōki no ōkoku
Dwango, in association with Studio GHIBLI
Director: Sunada Mami