STORY BONES

Spirited Away: Do Japanese Movies Have Three Acts Too?

Meet Kishōtenketsu, the four-act structure

Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi — Spirited Away (2001) Source: Toho

Japanese movies make me scratch my head. They are always beautiful, so I can’t dismiss them by saying “weird!” but sometimes I find them hard to follow and connect with. Like art-house films, they speak to a certain type of intelligence or taste, which…