The Savage Planet, also called The Fantastic Planet, is an allegorical science-fiction animated movie about morality and the established social order.
The story is set in the dystopian planet of Ygam, where the Draggs, a species of giant blue humans, rule. There is another human species, the Oms, tiny in size, whom the Draags consider a pest and exterminate regularly, keeping some some of them as pets. Terr, one of those pets, is found and kept in captivity by a girl called Tiva. He grows with her master, learns all the secrets of the Draags, and then...
The universe and atmosphere created by Laloux are superb. Mix Salvador Dalí surreal landscapes and imagery, Bosch architectural fanciness
and oniric creatures, add a hint of 19th century botanical
drawings, slowly pour some psychedelic music by Alain Goraguer, and whisk all
energetically with an allegorical story adapted from Stephan Wul's by Laloux and Roland Topor, and you get something unique. The 2-D animation has all the limitations that the genre had in the 1970s, but the creativity and artistry of the drawings and story will make you forget the deficiencies of the animation (especially clear in the poor mobility and reduced facial expression of the characters). Some of the scenes are memorable, and I especially liked the Draag's mating and meditation practices, and some of Tiva's learning trances.
The movie is not apt for children because it has violence, sex, nudity, and elements that are difficult to explain to children. The movie, indeed, touches many adult serious themes: slavery, class
domination, racial extermination, relationship between Theology and Science, relationship between Humans and Nature, cohabitation/conflict between different social systems, colonial and imperialistic attitudes. The movie is complex enough to offer many elements of reflection without being dogmatic, and the viewer will be surprised at finding oneself understanding the good and bad points in both societies and ways of acting and living.
The main problem with the movie is its slow pace, and the emotional frigidity of the characters that don't allow the viewer to empathize with them beyond a pure intellectual or visual level. Furthermore, there is not enough action or thrill, so one gets easily bored after the initial fanciness of the imagery sinks in.
The Fantastic Planet is weird, artistic, psychedelic (even hallucinogenic), naive and delightful, but not always engaging - one of those movies that you want to watch because it is like no other, and sounds too cool not to have in your watched-movies list. The movie wan Cannes Jury's award in 1974.
Irreversible is a very confronting raw and violent French movie that tells the story, in reverse chronological order, of a serious of violent events happened during the return home of the female protagonist Alex. The least you know, the more shocking and though-provoking the movie will be.
Three main themes are explored in this movie. 1/ The
movie is an exploration of Sexuality - Sex as mean of human
communication and love, versus love as a mean of hatred and subjugation.
Sex as pleasure versus sex as abuse. The intimate scenes of
Alex and Marcus are all sensuality, playfulness, joy and love. The
conversations about sex between Alex, Marcus and Pierre explore the
matter of pleasure and human connection, of what makes humans click
sexually. The rape scene is an antithesis to all of that.
2/ The movie reminds the viewer that there is nothing to forget or forgive about rape. The movie is a brutal depiction of the brutality that any rape against any woman is. One of the most
asked questions regarding this movie is, did the rape scene need to be so brutal and 9-minute long? Despite how hard was watching it, especially if
you are a woman, I think the answer is yes, for several reasons:
Because (too) many
people out there consider rape a second-rate crime and somewhat blame
the victim or excuse the perpetrator. There are judges around the world
saying that the victim somewhat provoked the rapist with her sexiness or behaviour.
Because the effects
of rape are very damaging, emotionally and mentally, and some people
cannot understand them unless they have been raped or seen a rape.
Because the erotic industry somewhat glamorises women being raped. Rape is
always a brutal act, even if the rapist does not beat you, but there are
rapists doing nasty brutal things to women, something worse than anything depicted in this or any other movie.
3/ The movie is a successful reflection on the double-side of human nature and of the two faces of violence. The messages embedded
in the story are important and offer a glimpse of what is having a
normal life full of hopes and joy, to found it completely turned over
and ruined by violence in a matter of hours. Telling the story backwards makes the story not only more interesting and intellectually engaging (or is it puzzling?!), but also a very successful way of exploring this theme as we feel an instant repulsion and disgust towards the characters that appear at the beginning of the film, and towards their language and behaviour. Some of the ethical questions posed by Noé are: Even if there is a good reason for such acts, is violence justified? Who is more ethically an morally reprehensible, the nasty person who does a nasty thing, or the good person who does a nasty thing? Does nastiness and violence have class or gender? Noé's message is that violence is always repulsive no matter the reasons (or lack of them) behind and that normal
people can be as violent as violent people in certain circumstances. If we had seen the events narrated in chronological order, we would have, perhaps, justified them.
The atmosphere of the movie is excellent, as well as its hues and music. The use of strobist images is sickening, but it helps to unsettle the viewer since the beginning. However, there wasn't any need to use so many strobist images and for so long as, by doing so, the movie becomes a little bit hallucinogen and the viewer loses focus; to be honest, I would used strobist images quite differently and with a different timing.
I found Monica Belluci great as Alex both in the sweet and playful scenes, and it the harsh ones; she demonstrates here that she is not just a pretty face. Jo Prestia is superb as the disturbing disgusting rapist Le Tenia. Vincent Cassel is just OK as Alex's boyfriend Marcus, while Albert Dupontel is good as Alex's best friend Pierre.
Among the downsides, beyond the overuse of strobist effects, I would mention two. The first is the opening scene, which is irrelevant and does not add anything to the story. Moreover, All the gay thing was really unnecessary as does not add anything to the story and is very negative bordering homophobic. There are heterosexuals who would have similar sort of clubs and behaviour. This is not an easy film to watch, and it really gets you upset. In that regard, it achieves what aimed, as it makes you think and react against the motto of "an eye for an eye", violence confronted by violence, and reminds you that rape is a brutal act of violence, not just an act of sexual abuse.
If you can stand the whole ordeal and reach the last minutes of the movie, you will get to the start of a relaxing bright day that was full of promises, which is how most of our days start before something bad happens. That is life in its full splendour and nastiness.
Fahrenheit 451 is a visionary movie based on Ray Bradbury's eponymous novel. It was Truffaut's only English speaking movie. The title is related to the degrees needed for paper to get on fire.
The movie is set in an imaginary aseptic future world, ruled by an oppressive system that has created an uber-clean society that thrives on TV plasma screens, forbids reading or having books and burns them, and promotes drug use for emotional control. Guy Montag, married to an emotionally frigid Linda, is one of the firemen in the anti-book brigade, very passionate about his job and purpose, until he meets his neighbour Clarisse and starts questioning himself and the system.
The movie is an allegory about what a world without books and culture would be, an ode against ignorance and simple minds, a reminder that burning books is a sign of human degradation and typical of tyrannical regimes. The movie is also an homage to Literature, in this case to Truffaut's favourite books, which are part of the burnt books shown in the film, and his film is, of course, based on Bradbury's novel.
The movie honours Bradbury's visionary novel. Think about our modern world, dominated by big plasma screens hanging from the walls in which reading and culture are each time less valued and appreciated. Think about those reality shows in which our opinion is asked to create a false sense of participation when our answers are, indeed, irrelevant and certainly unimportant. Think about a world in which the information is manipulated by the media to support the political regime in vogue... It sounds familiar, no?
All the actors are good in their roles. Cyril Cusak is truly convincing as the fire brigade captain, completely sure about his Mission and about the danger of books for Society. Oskar Werner is also great as fireman Montag, and does a great job at going from his initial hieratic self to his soulful more sensible and sensitive self when the character starts to change. Julie Christie, despite being accused in the past of not being able to act, is great in her double role as Montag's wife Linda and neighbour book-reader Clarisse. I loved the fact that Christie was able, through characterisation and performance, to offer a Linda who is very feminine and sensual on the exterior but emotionally frigid, and a boyish Clarisse who is very sensual and warm.
This was Truffaut's first film in colour, and the colours are not randomly chosen. The movie offers subdued grey and pastel tones that are constantly highlighted by two main colours: dark grey (the colour of the grey society it represents, even the school uniforms are grey!) and a beautiful intense deep red (associated to fire and passion). The end of the movie is magnificent - lyric and full of hope. The whole snow scene and
recitation of the old man with his grandson is gorgeous and very moving.
The OST by Bernard Herrmann is great, dramatically neurotic sometimes, lyric some others, while the tune that accompanies the fire squad's outings is very Ravel-ish and anticipative, also very catchy, and sets the pace of the movie. Most of the time the music is unsettling, but sometimes it is unnecessarily overwhelming and annoying.
I watched this movie for the first time on TV in my teens, in a special series showcasing Truffaut's films, and it had a huge impact on me. In fact, I forgot the title of the movie, but not the movie or its message. I saw the movie again last year, and, by re-watching it, I understood why it has a spot in my forgetful mind. It is the soul and the message, the power of the themes presented, its plea to Literature and the written word, and the power of knowledge and the Arts in creating a freer society. You see, it is Bradbury's merit that I did not forget the movie, not the other way around. I have forgotten most of the other movies that I watched in that very series, but not this, because of the story.
The only think that does not stand the pass of time are the fashion and, above all, the special effects, which are very outdated, even cheesy, and made me laugh when re-watching it. However, the movie has a lot of experimental things that are still daring. For example, the opening credits, all spoken, no word written until we see "The End", or the scenes in which half the screen goes black.
***
Fahrenheit 451 is a cult classic science-fiction film that should be in everybody's bucket list. It is not an easy movie to watch, especially being so out of fashion in style, effects, music and conception. One of those movies you love or hate. Still, it explores many themes that are still valid for our society and does a remarkable job at bringing Bradbury's novel to the big screen.
A spin off of the first movie, with four separated stories about the daily life in Kirikou’s village.
The movie is lovely, the stories very entertaining and original, our fav characters are still there, and, most importantly, the movie offers glimpses of the life in a West-African village, which are precious to show to a Western children audience. The stories will show kids that not everybody is the same, dresses the same, or lives the same, that Africa is an amazing beautiful varied continent, and that the world is richer because of that.
Ocelot's drawings and visuals are simple, very attentive to landscape and plant drawing, very ethnographic in a way. The stories, though, have a good dollop of magical reality.
However, overall, the movie does not have the energy and spark of the original story, is not as engaging, and the different stories are unrelated -except for the fact that Kirikou and his neighbours are in them- and plainer - more for children than for adults.
Kirikou et la Sorcière is a delightful French-Belgian traditional animation movie loosely based on a West-African folk tale.
The movie tells the story of newly born Kirikou, a special child who asks his mother to be born, and who, immediately after being born, starts talking, running, and offering a wise practical approach to life to his fellow villagers in their fight against Karaka, the beautiful wicked sorceress who has been impoverishing his village. The story is entertaining and full of magic, with great messages for children, but will enchant adults because is unique, it has soul and wit, it is clever and tells a West-African story that is respectful with that culture and philosophy of life. Even the approach to the wickedness of the sorceress is West-African, as Karikou tries to understand why Karaka is so evil to fix her, not to destroy her. Wining over and destroying are two different things, and the first gets better results is a great message for kids. Even the ending of the movie is unexpected, still in tune with this same approach: magical and very alien to Western Culture.
The character of Kirikou is just adorable, a sweet know-it-all boy, and very
naughty child at times. The rest of the characters are realistic, a mix of
the human types we could find in a small African rural village. The old-style flat animation is an artistic reinterpretation of the reality, in which landscapes, dresses, hairdos, architecture, and other elements directly mimic those of West Africa. That is, they are not a western modernised interpretation of them despite the movie being European. Ocelot used African Art as a direct and strong inspiration for the drawing of this film. Especially beautiful is the detailed and artistic drawing of the landscapes -this is one of Ocelot's signature marks- in a naïf precious style, as eye-catching as the bright earthy bold colours of the film.
The English dubbing is lovey, as it was personally supervised by Ocelot. Still, when the characters sing, the wonderful original music and chants get lost a bit. The French original version with English subtitles is truly delightful.
Senegalese Youssou N'Dour and Cameroonian Manu Dibango provide an very cool, catchy and African soundtrack.
The movie being respectful with and true to the West-African reality, it depicts most women with their breasts uncovered, while Kirikou is naked during the whole movie, moving his bum and "willy" cutely. Puritans and morons of the world, especially out of continental Europe, thought that this was an offence and inappropriate for children viewing, and the screening of the film was banned in some countries; even the release of the DVD in the USA and the UK was not exempt from controversy either. Shocking but true. If you cannot explain to your child that mummy has breasts, that they produce milk, that they are a natural part of the human body, and that in some parts of the world they do not cover them, I feel sorry for your child. Children should be protected from this sort of people who try to "protect" them, and not vice versa. Show Kirikou to your kids, and seat side by side with them, to explain them what they are watching instead of parking them in front of a TV, unsupervised.
Persepolis is a French animated movie that narrates the autobiographical story of Iranian artist Marjane Satrap; it is based on her own graphic novel. It is an honest movie, heart-warming, extremely funny and very engaging.
Persepolis tells Marjane's story from childhood to mid youth. We witness her family upbringing, her relationship (or lack of) with God, the political and social events that happened in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, her university years in Austria, her love stories, her emigration to France and her approach to life as a female artist.
There is a lot of humour in this movie. Some of Satrapi's love stories are hilariously narrated despite the impact they had on her. The black market of Western Music will put a big smile in your face (it is directly connected with the situation told in the Iranian movie Nobody Knows about Persian Cats). Also delightful it is the presence of little funny street cats, dogs, and worms in general scenes, which create an atmosphere of proximity and tenderness even during the saddest moments.
The story is mostly presented in
a black-and-white flashback, with a superb use of chiaroscuro and cut-out bold colours for the narration in the present tense. The absence of colour gives the story
historical perspective and seriousness, and it is perfect to portray
Satrapis' past treasured moments: day-dreams, hopes, ideals, music,
culture, smells and happy family times. On the other hand, the black and
white gives the story a necessary emotional detachment to show many of
the hard themes presented in the film: oppression, depression, war,
censorship, torture, immigration and loneliness, among others.
The animation is
minimalist and schematic, flat, but attentive to the detail, very traditional comic-book, still very classy and
contemporary. Persepolis reminded me sometimes of the freshness and creativity of "Sita Sings the Blues" in the way different animation sub-styles are used within the movie. For example, the story of how the Shas of Persia got into power is very "puppetish", while the recreation of the different movies watched on TV (Terminator and Godzilla) have a chunky sort of drawing and are definitely modern pop comic book.
I would have liked that the movie went a little bit further on in time, as Satrapi is a fascinating character, and her story is wonderful. Still, this is one of my favourite animation movies ever, because it touches me in ways that most animation movies cannot. Satrapi's story
succeeds because it goes beyond herself, and we understand -even if it is superficially- what does mean and feel like being an Iranian and Middle
Eastern person in Europe, being a woman -and a special type of woman- in
Iran, being and
artist out of place, and being a foreigner both in your native land and
abroad. Satrapi's story serves to highlight the process of alienation that most immigrants suffer, but also a reflection on what is what makes us who we are, which is something intangible and indescribable, but powerful and unique that
escapes categorisation, national borders or gender, no matter these are part of your cultural background.
This is the sort of movie
that will captivate animation and art lovers, and people
who are into Arts, comics, graphic novels and illustration. It is intellectually
elating and emotionally absorbing, and will feed those viewers who are hungry for
an animation that is different, daring, and meaningful.
Go and grab it
right now (in French with English subtitles, please!).
Dreams and love are the subject of the Science of Sleep, a wondrous film by French Director Michel Gondry. This is a very playful humorous movie, quirky and wonderfully weird, easier to follow than Eternal Sunshine, but more difficult to understand, if that makes any sense! It revolves around the relationship between next-door neighbours Stephan and Stephanie, two young creative people living in Paris, and around Stephan's oniric world.
The Science shares some elements with Eternal Sunshine: 1/ The mixing of three different interlinked chronological moments and tempos, in this case the time of reality, the time of dream, and the time of almost sleep but not yet awake. 2/ The depiction of the complexities of the human heart and how difficult personal relationships can be. 3/ An oniric approach to reality, the importance of dreams in real life, and vice versa.
The dream world of Stephan is, like him, childish but delightful; the animators of the movie really succeed in projecting on the screen the personality of Stephen's dreams by using children-style animation made of animals, houses, and other elements made of cardboard, felt and papier-mache, put together like classical puppetry animation does. I loved the 70s feeling
of the movie in tones and style. The visual transcription of the dreams
is really funny and stylishly done using minimal special effects and
using mostly old-school craftsmanship animation. The cast is reduced, as the movie focus mainly on three characters. I found Gael Garcia Bernal great and natural in his portray of Stephan, a childish young weird artist, emotionally insecure, creative but very destructive, and a little bit insane. The fact that the actor is baby-faced and short really helps to support the childishness of his character. Charlotte Gainsbourg is OK -a little bit hieratic perhaps- as Stephanie, an introverted insecure "artsy" person who shares many things with Stephan's world. Alain Chabat, very well known by French movies lovers, is great as Guy, Stephan's sound, cheeky and matter-of-fact friend.
A few downs in the movie. The analysis of the dreams being the purpose of Gondry's exploration, this fact somewhat dilutes the strength of a wonderful unconventional love story, which is, however, the core of the story. This won't engage many viewers. On the other hand, the end has no emotional closure, but is not open either - unresolved. It is logical as, after all, dreams end abruptly most times; however, I would have liked the movie to have some sort of closure. The scene related to the date at the Café, almost at the end of the movie, is perhaps the most abstract and difficult to understand.
The movie has a mix of reviews, mostly because it is difficult to understand at times and is really unconventional, which is what I love about it.
Eternal Sunshine is a philosophical analysis of the nature of love and relationships. It reflects very well the changing emotions associated with falling in love and the ups and downs of personal relationships, and how unnecessary it is to erase our emotional past to survive. None of this is said or discussed in the movie, as this is a metaphorical film that uses the visual narrative to approach these points.
Eternal Sunshine is one of those movies that many people would see twice to fully catch all the details, because the editing and what happens in the film is complex. There are three different narrative time moments, narrated in non-chronological order, sometimes overlapping each other. It is not a film for simple minded people or those who have to have everything simply explained and presented to them. The film needs of an attentive attention and mental involvement, but the poetry of the images, the oddity of the story will captivate you very soon and you won't even notice that you are making any effort to understand the whole thing.
Jim Carrey surprises everybody with a role that shows the great actor he can be, and how versatile he is, too. He's superb as Joel, a lonely insecure and depressed guy who tends to get involved with women who are his opposite, who faces love, abandonment, rejection, loneliness, and companionship. Also excellent (and outside of their usual roles) is Kate Winslet in her role as Clementine, a cheeky cheerful girl addicted to flashy hair dyes who is attracted to boring men.
The lyricism of the music, the surreal scenes, the poetic cinematography, the part of the movie showing Joel efforts to preserve the memories of the past he initially wanted to destroy, the fact that the special effects are no such a thing but camera tricks and the result of a meticulous preparation and tampering of the movie sets, adds even more artistic value to this unique piece. The director and the editor of the film really deserve a big praise, as the movie is indebted to them beyond belief.
The only flaws I saw in the movie are the little romance mini-stories related to the technicians and doctor of the Lacuna Clinic (which do not contribute much to a film that, otherwise, would have been perfect), and the outcome linked to those actions could have been presented in a different way.
I would not call this movie a comedy, but a light drama.
Eternal Sunshine is a magical, unique and unforgettable movie. A piece of art, really, and of the best movies by Gondry.
Renaissance is a French-UK-Luxembourg motion-capture animation movie whose story revolves about Detective Karas' investigation to find a kidnapped young scientist working for the Avalon Corporation. It is Paris, year 2054.
Renaissance is a detective sci-fi thriller, with a visual style strongly based on classic detective comics, film-noir and German expressionist movies. The film is very artistic, with great dynamic action scenes, and superb lighting, shadowing and texturing. The atmosphere is great, as well as the music. The recreation of Paris in the future is completely believable, as the city still looks like modern Paris, but projected and transformed according to urban development and organization of the space that have futuristic verisimilitude. The emotional drawing of the characters is good, and it has depth, and the story is intriguing enough. What is more, it poses some interesting questions to the viewer: Is life meaningless without death? Is murder excusable if, by murdering someone, you save humanity from an uncertain future? If the answer is yes, who decides that the future is already written and a person is responsible for it?
Despite everything, the movie never lifts up and, despite being a thriller, it is never thrilling enough. All the characters seem lot lack human warmth, despite the story having warmth in it, and that's the result of the poor performances of the actors lending their voices to the characters, especially Daniel Craig, who destroys Karas's character with his dull lazy dubbing. On the other hand, there are too many clichés in the story, from the cigarettes to the femme-fatale/cop affair, to the evil-good approach, while the interesting philosophical questions are never truly explored with seriousness or the challenges of the near future either. Being so, the viewer finds difficult connecting with the characters, despite enjoying the animation or being intrigued about the fate of the kidnapped girl.
Renaissance is marvellous from the animation point of view, but the story struggles to grab the viewer's attention. Still has wonderful elements, and is worth watching, even if it is only for its visuals.
Éclosion is a French Animated film directed, written and animated by French conceptual artist Jérôme Boulbès, that transports us to an indefinite place in time and space where there is a matting gathering of stone "beings".
This is one of the most incredible short animated films I have seen lately. It is difficult to explain why such an abstract clip is so engaging and thought-provoking, so full of energy and mystery. It's not only well drawn and spectacularly animated, but it has a very enigmatic atmosphere and energy. At watching it, I thought of those energies that create and keep together different elements in a conglomerated rock, the way some geological elements bond and conglomerate forming almost unbreakable rocks. However, this is not a lesson in Geology, it is a minimalist piece in which cubical animated stones gather and mate following indescribable energies that attract or reject a stone cube to each other. It is a courtship dance, in a way. It doesn't matter if the events happen in a sci-fi planet or in a fantasy world, in the present or the past. One wonders, why this is happening and what brings the different elements together. What are those energies that we see in the story and what is coming. One wants more!
On the other hand, the story not having a main character, cute or hate-able, to which pin the viewer's attention, this has to have a specific visual narrative, sound, music and magic to keep us watching. I found amazing that Boulbès was able to create so much with so little elements.
The film is elegantly minimalist, energetic and powerful and the interpretation options are wide. Therefore, it will satisfy any inquisitive mind and animation lover looking for something new.
A mesmerising conceptual short film from the point of view of conception, realisation and cinematic narrative. Not for everybody, as it is very abstract.
