Althouse: Movie consumed.

July 6, 2007

Movie consumed.

This one. Trippy. Phantasmagoric. Psychedelic. Let's see, there was this DC Mini... and a whole lotta dreams.

9 comments:

XWL said...: You saw an animated film?

I saw it awhile back, liked it a lot, Satoshi Kon is one of my favorite filmmakers.

In the realm of dreamlogic, everything in that film made perfect (non)sense.

Didn't bother writing a review, a hard film to discuss with someone who hasn't seen it, or encapsulate in a manner to entice others to seek it out.

Kon has had 4 features and one limited run TV series since 1998, themes of identity, perceptions of reality, paranoia, and consumerism run through all his works.

Mainly though, he just has a fantastic art style. He renders forms and composes frames better than anyone.; 7/6/07, 8:15 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "You saw an animated film?"

Is that so surprising? I can't tolerate 3D computer animation, but I like drawn animation. A year ago, I blogged about seeing "A Scanner Darkly." And "Grave of the Fireflies" is on my short favorites list in my profile.; 7/6/07, 8:22 PM
Balfegor said...: Mainly though, he just has a fantastic art style.

Strictly speaking, the art "style" is more under the control of the character designer and the art director, I think, although I'm sure Kon exerts substantial control over the art and character design process. He did the character design for most of his earlier works, after all. I haven't heard that he's like Miyazaki Hayao, who goes through and checks every frame of animation individually himself, and keyframes half the film, but he may well be, in which case he deserves more credit. But I think it's a team effort by Madhouse here.

The character designer and animation director for Paprika -- Ando Masashi -- worked with Kon earlier on Tokyo Godfathers and Paranoia Agent (the TV series), although not always in the same roles. The art director -- Ike Nobutaka -- was also the art director for Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and most of Paranoia Agent.; 7/6/07, 9:02 PM
Peter Hoh said...: I'd love to see it in a theater. A quick search shows that it's not playing in the Twin Cities, and that I missed it when it played during a spring film festival. Damn. Will have to keep an eye on the movie listings to see if it comes through again.; 7/6/07, 9:30 PM
mystickeeper said...: Awesome! I love stuff that Satoshi Kon is involved in, and I think that I have yet to see an anime film on the big screen (I was living in Green Bay the summer when Howl's Moving Castle played in Madison).; 7/6/07, 10:56 PM
blake said...: I thought it was so-so.

I often find animé alienating. (And computer animation, for that matter, unless it's Pixar.); 7/7/07, 1:53 AM
Anonymous said...: blake said..."I often find animé alienating."

what in the wide world of film making do you mean by THAT?

what a hoot...; 7/7/07, 1:15 PM
blake said...: Alienation: Emotional isolation or dissociation.

Something about the aesthetics and/or traditions of animé make it hard for me to connect emotionally with it.

It's true to an extent of Miyazaki, though I've found I can overcome that with time (and that it's worth it to do so).

It was particularly true of Paprika, where I found it hard to care what was going on.; 7/7/07, 6:04 PM
mystickeeper said...: :/ That's sad, Blake!
For some reason, I find it pretty easy to connect with anime films.

Paprika was fun! I want someone to psycho-analyze me with a DC-Mini. The Sundance Theatre is kinda weird.; 7/8/07, 11:21 PM