Mahito’s life takes a turn when he encounters the mysterious bird in “The Boy and the Heron.” (photo courtesy of Studio Ghibli)

In 2022, the Academy Museum featured a special exhibit dedicated to Hayao Miyazaki, one of the most renowned animators in film history. This arrived nine years after he announced his retirement, following the release of “The Wind Rises.” But then he decided to go for one more, releasing “The Boy and the Heron” in July to Japanese audiences without any marketing or formal announcement of the voice cast.

That cryptic tactic matches the film quite well. Frankly, no amount of advertising can accurately represent something equally immersed in an actual historic moment and the fantasy aesthetic Miyazaki began more than 40 years ago. It might not be his best contribution, but it’s certainly the boldest, the most proudly bizarre.

It’s 1943. Mahito (Soma Santoki in Japanese, Luca Padovan in English) awakes during a bombing and runs toward a hospital on fire housing his mother. The animation style is at once familiar from popular flicks like “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle” before a shift. Imagine that same style on fire. As Mahito runs, his surroundings, people and buildings, sway like flames even before the fearful child reaches his fatal destination.

Rarely does Miyazaki mess with the mat, but he does so here as he presents the most horrifying moments he’s ever portrayed on screen. This is only his third PG-13 film, after all, so he takes seriously the more adult offerings at his disposal.

So mother dies in that hospital fire during the Pacific War. Some time later, his father (Takuya Kimura, Christian Bale) remarries and the two move into new mom Natsuko’s (Yoshino Kimura, Gemma Chan) estate. While dad oversees a factory that makes airplane parts, Mahito struggles to do or feed anything. He mostly stays silent around Natsuko, though always quite formal, and even gets into a school fight.

The only times he breaks free of his grief occur when he sees a peculiar gray heron flying about the grounds. He follows it and eventually tries to attack it. That fails, but the bird seems unfazed, instead speaking to him. “Your presence is requested,” it says (now voiced by Masaki Suda, Robert Pattinson). Soon after Natsuko goes missing inside a building, and when Mahito fallows, a whole new world, quite literally, unfolds around him.

Miyazaki’s films are steeped in Japanese culture and history. But he rarely fancies a straightforward story. Of course “The Boy and the Heron” presents a Word War II story with a fantasy twist, but to even explain it more seems like a spoiler. Think about how Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” combines fantasy and an actual historical setting. That matches the vide. But this one doesn’t decorate a historic moment with notes of fairytale ornaments. It Jackson Pollocks each scene with outlandish visuals, sequences that might make you laugh in confusion or whisper, “What?”

This is the kind of surrealist storytelling that jazzes up some movie lovers while others leave screenings infuriated. It’s OK to reside somewhere in the middle. This is ostracizing stuff, the kind most critics praise even if they don’t entirely get it. Who can understand this one the first time around? It’s designed to be consumed over and over again. And then researched some more.

No matter how “The Boy and the Heron” lands, Miyazaki remains one of the greatest, and those who know know enough to want in. That’s how he lands voice talent like Bale, Mark Hamill, Willem Dafoe, Florence Pugh and Dave Bautista as the Parakeet King (it’s exactly what it sounds like, well … kinda.)

It’s sad to see Miyazaki go, but he ends on a wild note, one worth debating for years to come.

Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” combines fantasy and an actual historical setting to tell a fascinating story. (photo courtesy of Studio Ghibli)