"Tales of the Street Corner" could also be called the secret life of a back street's wall posters. We see how the characters in them communicate through music, and how they reflect their time and the events happening in the outside world. I thought the idea was original an the music good, but the short is a bit too long and monotonous, while the kid-teddy bear relationship is underdeveloped.
"Male" is a very short piece, very schematic, with an indirect narrative, as the face of a man and of his cats looking at him, tell the story of the drama -not seen by the viewer- of the killing of his wife. An experiment in visual narrative.
"Memory" is a philosophical short, which uses collage techniques, that reflects on the nature of memory and what is left behind what memory is not there. What would happen if our planet and humans disappeared and there was no memory left about their existence?
"Mermaid" uses traditional storytelling and simple animation techniques, to show how our perception and feelings of reality construct our emotional reality. A boy rescues a fish from the seashore, but when left in a pool, the fish transforms into a mermaid and the boy falls in love with her. However, his family just see his strange behaviour and try to force him to leave his fantasy and return the fish into the sea. Is all a dream?
"The Drop" is a funny absurd story with very schematic draft animation. A sea-cast tries to quench his thirst with the only three drops of drinkable water in the boat, which are located on the raft's mast. One of those stories that might have inspired all the big animation producers in the world, Pixar's short included.
"Pictures at an Exhibition" uses the eponymous musical composition piece by Mussorgsky. The camera scrolls in front of a series of paintings on a wall, in a museum, and stops in some of them to give life and put a story to some of the images, with different styles of animation. Although I thought the idea was excellent, the piece was not engaging.
"The Genesis", it is a parody of the Biblical story of Adam and Eve in which Eve has something to say to the world! The short is very funny and shot in very schematic animation.
"Jumping" is truly an experimental film both in concept and realisation. The camera's positioning and angling serve as the eyes of something or somebody that/who starts jumping along a suburbian street. The script tells us that it is a girl, but I see it more like an insect or a bird that jumps wider and higher each time, so much so that we see the city, other cities, the forest, the sea, a volcano, a country in war... the whole world, as small, varied and complicated as it is. It is very meditative in a way, as goes from the perception of the self to the wholeness and perspective of the self within the Universe. The film was shot in one cut with 4,000 motion pictures.
"Broken Down Film" is a masterpiece of a short. It is shot in B&W and looks like an old scratched stained film reel. We see a cowboy and his horse trying to rescue a girl in the American West. At first sight, really looks like one of those prehistoric Disney's Micky Mouse silent shorts, but then, the fun starts, and the characters keep going out of the frame and struggling with the damages of the film. The hero has to fight the villain but also the broken down film. An amazing concept and realisation, and so charming!
"Push" is an environmental friendly short that reflects Tezuka's worries about the state of the planet. I would say is the more Japanese short in the lot, as vending machines are everywhere and sell everything - one of the things that defines Japanese way of life. It is a depopulated world where our hero gets everything he wants and needs from a machine. He is on a trip to see God and rescue the planet by replacing the existing one with a new one, but there is no machine that does so.
"Muramasa" is an anti-violent cryptic message presented in traditional Japanese folk fight animation. Muramasa is a magic sword that is stuck in a straw man, but when a Samurai tries to get it and use it to cut the straw man, the piece of straw becomes a human who bleeds from the cut.
"Legend of the Forest" is an impressive piece of animation that could remind you of Fantasia, with Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony (1st and 4th movements) used as inspiration for the story and as musical background. It shows the life of animals and fairies in the forest and the negative influence of human settlement and exploitation of the same. Although the message or the script are not new, the animation is remarkable, as we see the characters evolve from drawing sketches, pass through different stages of drawing and animation - from Disney's to the animation in vogue in the 1980s.
"Self Portrait" it is tiny piece - an animated portrait of Tezuka, in which his drawn face turns, as in a slot machine, into another face.
This collection of shorts shows the versatility in visual style and narrative of master Tezuka, as well as his very personal approach to animation, which not always can be categorised as Manga or even as Japanese. The collection also shows his philosophical worries and views on the world, and offers pieces that, despite being very personal, are very open to interpretation. This is not a film for everybody, but for lovers of experimental animated films.
