The Boy and the Heron landed in Japanese theaters on July 14 and is set to begin screening in the US on December 8. Prior to its Japanese release, the Studio Ghibli film, which had its US premiere at the 61st New York Film Festival, received very little in the way of promotion. 

Watch the breathtaking trailer, which introduces protagonist Mahito and his surrealistic, fantastical journey to find his late mother, below:

The Boy and the Heron currently holds the 73rd position in Japan’s top-grossing movie ranking. Its Japanese title, How Do You Live?/Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka, shares its name with the 1937 novel by Genzaburou Yoshino, which Goodreads calls “Miyazaki’s favorite childhood book.” The film is Miyazaki’s first since 2013’s The Wind Rises and will supposedly be his last. 

American distributor GKIDS describes the plot as:

A young boy named Mahito
yearning for his mother
ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead.
There, death comes to an end,
and life finds a new beginning.

A semi-autobiographical fantasy
about life, death, and creation,
 in tribute to friendship,
from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.

Hayao Miyazaki as the director and scriptwriter. Takeshi Honda (Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy) is the animation director. And Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro)  is the music composer.

The cast for The Boy and the Heron includes:

• Cast (English)
  • Luca Padovan as Mahito Maki
  • Christian Bale as Shoichi Maki
  • Dave Bautista as The Parakeet King
  • Gemma Chan as Natsuko
  • Willem Dafoe as Noble Pelican
  • Karen Fukuhara as Lady Himi
  • Mark Hamill as Granduncle
  • Robert Pattinson as Gray Heron
  • Florence Pugh as Kiriko
  • Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolori, and Dan Stevens as the Parakeets
• Cast (Japanese)
  • Souma Santoki as Mahito
  • Yoshino Kimura as Natsuko
  • Jun Kunimura as The Parakeet King
  • Kaoru Kobayashi as the Noble Pelican
  • Kou Shibasaki as Kiriko
  • Aimyon as Lady Himi
  • Masaki Suda as Gray Heron