Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro is the first
feature film of Miyazaki’s career. Miyazaki's first directed feature provides
an interesting bookend with his purported last film, THE WIND RISES. Both are
stripped of his (literal) magic and outright fantasy, yet what remains may
offer the clearest glimpse into the idiosyncrasies that make Miyazaki one of
the best filmmakers of the 20th century. His vision of the European backdrop of
Lupin's caper is a brilliant reversal of Western orientalism, in this case
filtering the West through an Eastern premise.
Castle of Cagliostro follows master thief Lupin the Third as
he attempts to recover from mistakenly stealing a load of counterfeit bills
from a casino. Synopsis of this film from IMBD says it is a flamboyant thief
and his gang struggle to free a princess from an evil count's clutches and to
learn the hidden secret to a fabulous treasure that she holds part of a key to.
What follows is what Steven Spielberg called the greatest adventure film ever
made.
