River Oaks Theatre Weekend Midnight Movies: Princess Mononoke

Every Friday and Saturday night at 11:55pm, it’s another Midnight Movie Classic at the Landmark River Oaks Theatre.

Friday-Saturday, September 30 & October 1: Princess Mononoke.

Based on Japanese folklore, Princess Mononoke is a landmark of animation and a film of unsurpassed power and beauty.  An epic story of conflict between humans, gods, and nature by Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle), the film has been universally acclaimed by critics and broke the box office record on its original release in Japan.

While defending his remote mountain village from a demonic boar-god, the young warrior Ashitaka (voice of Yôji Matsuda) becomes afflicted with a curse that grants him superhuman power in battle but will eventually take his life.

Traveling west to find a cure or meet his destiny, he journeys deep into sacred depths of the Great Forest where he meets San, the Princess Mononoke (Yuriko Ishida), a girl raised by wolf-gods who is waging battle against the human outpost of Iron Town, on the edge of the forest.

The Princess is a force of nature, with blood-smeared lips, riding bareback on a great white wolf. She draws young Ashitaka into the struggle between man and nature, forcing him to try to find another way—one that will halt the endless circle of killing and create a middle ground where forest creatures and humans can live in the world in peace together. (Fully subtitled)

PRINCESS MONONOKE (PG13)
2 hrs, 13 mins
RELEASE: 01/01/1997
CAST: Yuriko Ishida, Yôji Matsuda, Tsunehiko Kamijô, Kaoru Kobayashi, Takako Fuji, Akihiro Miwa, Mitsuko Mori, Hisaya Morishige
DIRECTOR: Hayao Miyazaki