sent from: London, UK. destination: San Francisco, California, USA

Watched ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ for the first time. I am late to the Miyazaki canon. What I loved about it was that it was utterly compelling without any major conflict – it broke every supposed rule of story, defining what your characters want, putting obstacles in their way. I know as much about Totoro and what he wants, his relationship to his surroundings, as I did before I saw the film – i.e. nothing. And what’s more, I don’t need to. In this way the film felt more like a tone poem; ambiguous, abstract.
It also gave me hope that writing stories on these cards is possible – I don’t have space here to fully develop characters, present conflict, resolve. But I do have the space to create an impression, an idea, possibilities. As long as I’m not trying to condense a normal story into 300 words, there are other ways to engage and explore.
Gear in hand, I wade into the jungle.