Animation – The Film Ramble

Review: Away (2019)

September 6, 2020Posted in ReviewTagged Animation, AwayLeave a comment

In a week’s time I will be 24. As a twenty four year old, what have I achieved? What special talents to I have? Why am I having such a terribly existential crisis? Well, that’s because this week’s film Away was written, animated, cinematographed and had a score composed for it by one man, Gints Zibalodis who was 25 when he released Away, a film which has been released across UK Cinemas this week.

Away is a rather unique animated film. Much like The Red Turtle, there is no dialogue at all. The film starts with a boy stuck in a parachute in a tree. We have no context of how he got there. Quickly he is found by this translucent king-kong esque mysterious figure. Sensing the danger, boy runs away and finds himself in a cave where he befriends a small yellow bird who cant fly. Together they will attempt to survive on this island and find civilisation, while the creature ominously follows the boy slowly.

Despite the creeping spectre of death, the film feels really calm. It goes at a slow pace and the moments of mild threat are intermittent compared to the moments of vivid beauty the film offers. The art style is tonally different to other films on the market, playing more like an independent video game. There are few details, which makes the most wonderful moments stand out even more. The limited details almost allow for extra grandeur. The different polygonal shades give a real sense of light and a vivid spectrum of colour.

The animated movie “Away” will be screened at the 10th edition of Anibar - Anibar

The lack of expression on the characters faces mean you only gain context and emotion from action and body language. It’s the epitome of look don’t say film making and it works well. You know how to feel and you do feel that way. This is only helped by a fantastically mysterious soundtrack, again produced by Mr Zibalodis, creating an atmospheric world to explore.

Summary

A film for an acquired taste, but if you let Away take you on a journey, you will be transported on a wonderful meditative journey. One of the most unique, stylistic films of the year, it’s well worth a watch. [Grade: B+]

Review: I Lost My Body

December 8, 2019December 8, 2019Posted in Film, ReviewTagged Alia Shawkat, Animation, Dev Patel, French Film, Hakim Faris, Netflix, Victoire Du Bois1 Comment

Unlike most reviews I do, I watched this film on a TV. I also watched this film in its original language (with subtitles), however, Netflix does have an English option with Dev Patel as its lead. I would recommend sticking to the French as the voices match the aesthetic and music better.

One of the great film betrayals is the idea that animation is only for kids films. The idea is that it’s obviously make belief and therefore, no self respecting adult could consider an animated film a masterpiece. Well, this is wrong. Spider-man into the Spider-verse is one of the most creative superhero films around. WALL-E is a gorgeous emotional tale for everyone with mature themes to think about. Then you have true the great animated film Spirited Away. In fact, it’s not a great animated film, it’s just a great film, full stop. Animation creates a contract between writer and viewer in which the latter suspends their disbelief, leading to more abnormal and creative ways to write. This is when animation is done right. Anyway, now we have removed any inhibitions around the genre, lets move on…

At the time of writing, it’s been 6 days since I watched I Lost My Body (or J’ai perdu mon corps), yet I still remember most of it. It’s a film with a sense of familiarity yet difference at the same time. We start with a hand escaping from the fridge. What we can tell about it straight away is that it is looking for its body, so it scuttles away like an insect using its fingers for legs. At the same time, we are introduced to Naofel (Hakim Faris/(Dev Patel)), who we see as a young boy growing up. There is a lot of focus on his hand as you see him use it in a variety of places and each texture he feels or interacts with is done in a way which shows said hand as sentient. It’s pretty obvious from early on, that he’s going to lose said hand at some point. So we end up with time jumps between the story of how he loses his hand and the story of his hand trying to find him.

Read Handy Review

Twenty Eight Films of Summer

September 6, 2019Posted in Film, Look BackTagged Animation, Anime, Batman, Beyonce, Bollywood, Bradley Cooper, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pratt, Christian Bale, Christopher Nolan, Citizen Kane, Coen Brothers, Cold War, Cuba Gooding Jr., Danny Boyle, Di Caprio, Donald Glover, Fargo, Foreign Film, Frances McDormand, Green Book, Guardians, Guillemo Del Toro, Inception, Jack Nicholson, John Oliver, John Travolta, Liam Neeson, Lion King, Mahershala Ali, Marvel, Masaan, Matrix, Michael Shannon, Moon, Octavia Spencer, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Orson Wells, Pavel Pawolski, Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino, Regina King, Sally Hawkins, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Shape of Water, Space Movie, Spiderman into the Spiderverse, Spirited Away, Studio Ghibli, Superhero, The Guilty, Tsotsi, Uma Thurman, Viggo Mortensen, William Macy, YesterdayLeave a comment

While the summer months should be spent outside enjoying the sun and getting a tan, others like watching movies. Anyhow, here is a brief review and ranking of all of the films I have watched this summer. It’s worth noting that such a variety of films are difficult to compare, so this is a blunt instrument. On a different day, they would’ve been ranked differently. Also, most of the films I watched were of high calibre and I’d have no trouble recommending at least the top 20 of them. If your favourite film isn’t near the top of the list, that’s more to the testament of the other films that anything against yours. There are some early summer films that I didn’t add to the list as I only started it in Mid June/ Early July (Sorry Toy Story 4) and some Summer Films I haven’t yet seen (Sorry OUATIH).

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Review: Toy Story 4

July 13, 2019August 5, 2019Posted in Film, ReviewTagged Ally Maki, Animation, Annie Potts, Film, Jordan Peele, Keanu Reeves, Kids Films, Michael Key, Pixar, Tom Hanks, Tony Hale1 Comment

As this is a new release, there will not be any spoilers

When a precious film gets a sequel, your first feeling is that of dread. By the end of the forth Shrek, I felt let down. Therefore, after the end of an almost perfect trilogy of toy story, one could be forgiven for considering this film nothing more than a potential stumbling block. However, the good news is that this film doesn’t dampen the legacy left by Tom Hanks and co and brings about a new age for Toy Story.