As ANN reports, the Minwa-za Company of Tôkyô will be performing a magic lantern/phantasmagoria (called utsushi-e in Japanese) show at several locations in the United States. In case the article disappears, they also linked to an English language Web site on the history of the tradition in Japan.
And something else I read about on ANN: Akiba-chan. While they claim it to be stop-motion, watching the trailer suggests otherwise. Rather, it is the same combination of live-action puppets shot against blue-screen with CGI eyes added on top which you may recognise, as I did, from The Book of Pooh. The correct word for this technique seems to be Shadowmation, in at least as much as it is live-action puppetry filmed against a blue-screen (which may or, more likely, may not be actually blue).
Current music: CocoRosie – "Animals"
Once you've listened to this a couple of times, everything you think for days will be in the rhythm of this song (or at least, that's how it's been for me). As seems to be the case with CocoRosie, the self-concious feebleness of the studio version is mightily disappointing in comparison to the joyful abandonment and superior vocals of live performances (one of "Animals" can still be heard, at the time of typing, on the MySpace linked to above).
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Notes on Ocelot II: Heinous Acts
This began as a comment on this post by Wabi Sabi, but I may as well expand it for use as one of my ongoing "notes."
There are "blanks" of a few different kinds, or something like them, in Takahata's Taiyô no Ôji: Hols no Daibôken. Most could fall under the more standard categories of "dramatic irony" or "things we're led to think are one thing which turn out to be another" but one which really fascinated me was [spoiler]Hilda's wonder at how she can possibly be alive despite sacrificing her pendant. Unlike earlier in the film, she's now as bemused and in wonder at the situation as we are, though it can be understood as a metaphor which, though most likely the intention, I find brings it down somewhat.[/spoiler] Wong Kar-wai's 2046 has a similar moment when Chow Mo-wan meets Mimi/Lulu and finds that she has no memory of him. I find these moments supremely magical, though I'm not sure why. There may be something of the "slipstream" effect in them.
Michel Ocelot's animation again have something which probably isn't quite the same… They often contain acts of violence such as rape and beheading which would be unthinkable in something aimed at children, but he gets away with it due to the way they are presented, or obscured by the peculiarities of the medium. La Légende du pauvre bossu, for example, uses a very low frame rate a bit like that unfinished scene with the village chieftain in Hols. But in Ocelot's film, the gaps are just large enough to allow for the possibility of more extreme acts of violence having occurred in the gaps between those which we do see. On the other hand, this "gappy," low frame rate effect is present throughout the majority of the film – even when such violence is not occurring – so it could just as easily be perceived that this is simply the style of the film, chosen though lack of budget rather than some highbrow concept (indeed, his main point in making the film seems to have been as a trail run of a technique which might have allowed him to make a feature film). Thus, both the content and the filmmakers' intentions are left ambiguous… In other words, whether this ambiguity is intentional is ambiguous in itself.
Current music: Kirikú
Pretty stereotypical and generalised "world" music, but fun and funky enough despite, and likely even because of, that. n_n Oh, and do keep a look out for that new Natacha Atlas album, Ana Hina. I've yet to hear the whole of that, or indeed any others of hers, but what I've heard from it on the radio is very encouraging.
There are "blanks" of a few different kinds, or something like them, in Takahata's Taiyô no Ôji: Hols no Daibôken. Most could fall under the more standard categories of "dramatic irony" or "things we're led to think are one thing which turn out to be another" but one which really fascinated me was [spoiler]Hilda's wonder at how she can possibly be alive despite sacrificing her pendant. Unlike earlier in the film, she's now as bemused and in wonder at the situation as we are, though it can be understood as a metaphor which, though most likely the intention, I find brings it down somewhat.[/spoiler] Wong Kar-wai's 2046 has a similar moment when Chow Mo-wan meets Mimi/Lulu and finds that she has no memory of him. I find these moments supremely magical, though I'm not sure why. There may be something of the "slipstream" effect in them.
Michel Ocelot's animation again have something which probably isn't quite the same… They often contain acts of violence such as rape and beheading which would be unthinkable in something aimed at children, but he gets away with it due to the way they are presented, or obscured by the peculiarities of the medium. La Légende du pauvre bossu, for example, uses a very low frame rate a bit like that unfinished scene with the village chieftain in Hols. But in Ocelot's film, the gaps are just large enough to allow for the possibility of more extreme acts of violence having occurred in the gaps between those which we do see. On the other hand, this "gappy," low frame rate effect is present throughout the majority of the film – even when such violence is not occurring – so it could just as easily be perceived that this is simply the style of the film, chosen though lack of budget rather than some highbrow concept (indeed, his main point in making the film seems to have been as a trail run of a technique which might have allowed him to make a feature film). Thus, both the content and the filmmakers' intentions are left ambiguous… In other words, whether this ambiguity is intentional is ambiguous in itself.
Current music: Kirikú
Pretty stereotypical and generalised "world" music, but fun and funky enough despite, and likely even because of, that. n_n Oh, and do keep a look out for that new Natacha Atlas album, Ana Hina. I've yet to hear the whole of that, or indeed any others of hers, but what I've heard from it on the radio is very encouraging.
Blogkeeping
Am in the process of converting my blogroll to one of those newfangled Blog List things. Not quite finished yet, as of writing. I've decided to weed out those which have gone unupdated for a matter of years, while adding in any in any new addictions which I haven't already done so. What I'm not so sure about is those which I no longer check regularly, but used to. At the moment I'm erring on side of retaining them for old time's sake. I'm also including not only actual blogs, but also a few interesting news feeds on animation and art in general.
Monday, 9 June 2008
Persepolis on Subtitled Home Video & Other Animation on Blu-ray Disc
The animated feature film of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis (co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud, a.k.a. Winshluss) will be released on both DVD-Video and Blu-ray Disc in both North America and the British Isles in the next few months: 24 June 2008 in the USA and 18 August 2008 in the UK.
I also thought it worth mentioning that Blue Underground in North America are planning to release Ralph Bakshi's 1983 feature Fire and Ice onto Blu-ray – though there's no release date set, this would make it one of the very first high-definition releases of pre-digital animation and, discounting the Don Bluth-directed interactive animation Dragon's Lair, certainly the first to be neither Disney nor anime. The only other such releases so far in anywhere other than Japan are Disney's Clyde Geronimi-directed Sleeping Beauty (1959, making it by far the oldest of these) and several of the Dragon Ball Z theatrical features and TV specials. Meanwhile, the sole work of stop-motion – the medium which I find benefits most of all from high-definition – on either home format is Corpse Bride. This makes me want to cry, just a little, as Corpse Bride is not a great example of the art form – if there is only going to be one, it should at least be Shisha no Sho or Staré povesti ceské; even The Nightmare Before Christmas would have given me some hope.
Anyway, thanks to Blu-ray.com and Twitch for alerting me to these. On vaguely related note, have a look at the cute artwork of the Blu-ray/DVD bundle release of Rintaro's 2001 Metropolis film – much better in my opinion than the film itself and, judging by the comments, than the new transfer. The original DVD release also had something more in this vein.
And one last word of advice – Park Chan-Wook's Saibogujiman Kwenchana (I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK, 2006) has been slowing moving around cinemas in the British Isles since 4 April 2008, and is the funniest (or perhaps more accurately, funest) film since Tôkyô Godfathers. I'll warn you, as I wish others had, that there is one genuinely icky shot near the end of the opening titles and one revealing scene of Rain which makes it definitely not one to see with one's parents – but other than that it's pure, genuine and exhilaratingly surreal enjoyment, with just enough emotional "fibre" to make it satisfying (and thus avoid the "hollow" feeling of something like CLAMP's Seiden). Though it certainly builds on some elements first seen in his earlier films, the different focus makes whether or not you liked those little indicator or whether you'll like this. The best reference points would be Tôkyô Godfathers and the Urusei Yatsura movies as I found those similarly enjoyable – perhaps even Princes et princesses. The titles it's most similar to are actually Michel Gondry's La Science des rêves and Jeunet's Amélie, but the "cult" element which Park introduces makes Saibogujiman Kwenchana appeal to a different audience and sense of humour, the sensitive mixing of romance and robots making it the perfect otaku date movie.
I also thought it worth mentioning that Blue Underground in North America are planning to release Ralph Bakshi's 1983 feature Fire and Ice onto Blu-ray – though there's no release date set, this would make it one of the very first high-definition releases of pre-digital animation and, discounting the Don Bluth-directed interactive animation Dragon's Lair, certainly the first to be neither Disney nor anime. The only other such releases so far in anywhere other than Japan are Disney's Clyde Geronimi-directed Sleeping Beauty (1959, making it by far the oldest of these) and several of the Dragon Ball Z theatrical features and TV specials. Meanwhile, the sole work of stop-motion – the medium which I find benefits most of all from high-definition – on either home format is Corpse Bride. This makes me want to cry, just a little, as Corpse Bride is not a great example of the art form – if there is only going to be one, it should at least be Shisha no Sho or Staré povesti ceské; even The Nightmare Before Christmas would have given me some hope.
Anyway, thanks to Blu-ray.com and Twitch for alerting me to these. On vaguely related note, have a look at the cute artwork of the Blu-ray/DVD bundle release of Rintaro's 2001 Metropolis film – much better in my opinion than the film itself and, judging by the comments, than the new transfer. The original DVD release also had something more in this vein.
And one last word of advice – Park Chan-Wook's Saibogujiman Kwenchana (I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK, 2006) has been slowing moving around cinemas in the British Isles since 4 April 2008, and is the funniest (or perhaps more accurately, funest) film since Tôkyô Godfathers. I'll warn you, as I wish others had, that there is one genuinely icky shot near the end of the opening titles and one revealing scene of Rain which makes it definitely not one to see with one's parents – but other than that it's pure, genuine and exhilaratingly surreal enjoyment, with just enough emotional "fibre" to make it satisfying (and thus avoid the "hollow" feeling of something like CLAMP's Seiden). Though it certainly builds on some elements first seen in his earlier films, the different focus makes whether or not you liked those little indicator or whether you'll like this. The best reference points would be Tôkyô Godfathers and the Urusei Yatsura movies as I found those similarly enjoyable – perhaps even Princes et princesses. The titles it's most similar to are actually Michel Gondry's La Science des rêves and Jeunet's Amélie, but the "cult" element which Park introduces makes Saibogujiman Kwenchana appeal to a different audience and sense of humour, the sensitive mixing of romance and robots making it the perfect otaku date movie.
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