I'm sure you know the feeling.

You're in a rut. You're not inspired. You feel like there's no point to any of it. You're just sick and tired of the whole merry-go-round. There's absolutely no hope. Oh God, life is just awful, please...someone, anyone, put a bullet in my head.

And then it happens.

You see something or hear something or feel something that reawakens your soul. It could be a piece of music, a phone-call, a billboard you pass by in your car on your way to work. Or it could be a movie.

In my case, it was a movie. It often is. Movies -- films -- have the ability to touch me in a special way, and I'm not talking about the special way of touching that gets people thrown in jail: I'm talking about a deeply emotional kick in the groin, an eye-opener, a visit from a celluloid muse.

My ennui was affecting my work. I wasn't creating anything to be particularly proud of. I lacked focus. And while this particular movie wasn't what you'd call a miracle-cure -- a final analysis of its impact is still forthcoming -- it certainly allowed me to better understand what I was doing and where I was going with my current project.

The movie in question is called Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke in English), and it's a Japanese anime -- an animated film -- written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Mononoke is a mythical parable about man and nature, and it is stunningly beautiful in so many ways; the animation and art design is, naturally, fantastic, but it was the story and the characters that caused such a strong emotional response in me. This is not a review, so I won't go into the specifics of the plot, but it does touch on a lot of the themes that I try to explore in my own work...but so much better, of course, and with such deceptive simplicity that I was left simply awestruck at the end.

I can heartily recommend this movie to anyone: kids, adult, men, and women. It's definitely nothing like a Disney-movie -- don't get me wrong, I love Disney, but Mononoke is a grown-up story...one that kids will enjoy, but they'll miss out on a lot of the subtext and themes that make this movie a true work of art. Mononoke Hime is based in part on Japanese folklore, and it should be watched in Japanese with English subtitles -- the English-dubbed soundtrack is decent enough, but do yourself a favour and listen to the original actors...the way the director intended.

And maybe, just maybe, you'll find some inspiration from an unlikely source.

Good night.  ¶ 23:22