When Jiro Horikoshi was a young boy, all he ever dreamed about was flying planes - at least he did until one night he came across Italian plane designer Caproni in one of his dreams, who subsequently told him that his poor vision means he'll never be a pilot. Jiro instead resolves to take up aeronautical engineering and design aircrafts himself . While at university, he meets a young woman named Naoko who he helps off a train during the Great Kanto Earthquake and the pair become close. His life begins to spiral, however, with his work projects becoming few and far between and Naoko's health deteriorating. But will Jiro finally realise his dream and build an aircraft of pure beauty? Or will his dream come crashing to the ground?
'The Wind Rises' is a Japanese animated adventure film directed and written by Oscar winning Hayao Miyazaki ('Spirited Away', 'Princess Mononoke', 'Howl's Moving Castle') and featuring the voices of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci. Miyazaki adapted the movie from his comic originally titled 'Kaze Tachinu' which, in itself, was loosely based on Tatsuo Hori's 1936 short story 'The Wind Has Risen'. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature having also received a nod for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes, and is set for UK release on May 9th 2014.
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Martin Short, Stanley Tucci, Mandy Patinkin, Mae Whitman, Werner Herzog, Jennifer Grey, William H. Macy, Zach Callison, Madeleine Rose Yen, Eva Bella, Edie Mirman, Darren Criss, Elijah Wood, Ronan Farrow, David Cowgill