The Red Turtle (U.)
Directed by Michael Dudok de Wit. 81 mins.
Out on Blu-ray and DVD from Studiocanal.
The film opens with the familiar sight of Totoro on the Ghibli logo, but immediately after that comes the Mission Impossible-style fizzing dynamite trail that marks it out as Wild Bunch production, the German sales and distribution company, whose name appears on any number of top quality European and Asian films, and the traditional distributors of Studio Ghibli films in Europe. After that though, the credits list a number of le and la organisations that contributed a few Euros to the budget. Which makes you wonder if this dialogue-free animation about a castaway on a desert island, is truly a Ghibli film, or a French animation riding in on their coat tails.
Apart from Ghibli master No 2 Isao Takahata (Grave of The Fireflies) almost all the names in the end credits are French. The Japanese studio initiated the project and headhunted Dutch animator Dudok de Wit to make it, but most of the work was done in Europe. The finished product has elements of both traditions. The large cloudy skies are quintessential Ghibli, the character drawings are European. Nobody has the big expressive eyes that are Japanese animation trademarks; rather they have small black spots. Which is the root of the film's problem: even though we spend the whole 80 minutes with the unfortunate castaway, we never really get to know him. We observe his experiences, but we don't share them. I think audiences may feel that lack of connection in its second half when the film goes off on a surreal tangent, that I won't reveal here. You are trying to work out how to take these developments, but when you look in his eyes for some help, you are just met with dark slits.
Timeless is generally used as a positive in reviews, but there is something a little bit disconcerting about how detached from contemporary animation norms it is. On the film equivalent of Antiques Roadshow the experts would have a devil of a job trying to date it. Though the hand drawn animation is mostly immaculate it feels like something that could've been found on a shelf after four decades of lying there unclaimed and unnoticed. The animation in the opening storm scene, where our nameless shipwrecked protagonist is tossed about on the waves, feels too rudimentary to be 21st century. In other places though, the visuals are quite magical. It takes you back to a time when wordless animation from abroad was the thing broadcaster stuck on when they had some time to fill during the period set aside for children's programmes.
The second half has the feel of a tacky 70s mass market painting, (that naked couple on the wings of a giant swan) or a moderately deranged Tintin adventure. I have strong misgivings about the film, multiple frustrations, yet was mesmerized by it overall. It isn't real Ghibli, but its air of noble, high brow kitsch is pure Ghibli.
Extras.
A 15 minute piece watching Dudok painstakingly take us through the drawing, and then the redrawing, and the next redrawing of a single frame. Fascinating stuff, but it reminded me of the Anyone For A Pint sketch on the Fast Show where they are demonstrating stop motion animation and how you have to move the model a little, little bit then film it; move it a little, little bit then film it; move it a little, little bit then film it.
Directed by Michael Dudok de Wit. 81 mins.
Out on Blu-ray and DVD from Studiocanal.
The film opens with the familiar sight of Totoro on the Ghibli logo, but immediately after that comes the Mission Impossible-style fizzing dynamite trail that marks it out as Wild Bunch production, the German sales and distribution company, whose name appears on any number of top quality European and Asian films, and the traditional distributors of Studio Ghibli films in Europe. After that though, the credits list a number of le and la organisations that contributed a few Euros to the budget. Which makes you wonder if this dialogue-free animation about a castaway on a desert island, is truly a Ghibli film, or a French animation riding in on their coat tails.
Apart from Ghibli master No 2 Isao Takahata (Grave of The Fireflies) almost all the names in the end credits are French. The Japanese studio initiated the project and headhunted Dutch animator Dudok de Wit to make it, but most of the work was done in Europe. The finished product has elements of both traditions. The large cloudy skies are quintessential Ghibli, the character drawings are European. Nobody has the big expressive eyes that are Japanese animation trademarks; rather they have small black spots. Which is the root of the film's problem: even though we spend the whole 80 minutes with the unfortunate castaway, we never really get to know him. We observe his experiences, but we don't share them. I think audiences may feel that lack of connection in its second half when the film goes off on a surreal tangent, that I won't reveal here. You are trying to work out how to take these developments, but when you look in his eyes for some help, you are just met with dark slits.
Timeless is generally used as a positive in reviews, but there is something a little bit disconcerting about how detached from contemporary animation norms it is. On the film equivalent of Antiques Roadshow the experts would have a devil of a job trying to date it. Though the hand drawn animation is mostly immaculate it feels like something that could've been found on a shelf after four decades of lying there unclaimed and unnoticed. The animation in the opening storm scene, where our nameless shipwrecked protagonist is tossed about on the waves, feels too rudimentary to be 21st century. In other places though, the visuals are quite magical. It takes you back to a time when wordless animation from abroad was the thing broadcaster stuck on when they had some time to fill during the period set aside for children's programmes.
The second half has the feel of a tacky 70s mass market painting, (that naked couple on the wings of a giant swan) or a moderately deranged Tintin adventure. I have strong misgivings about the film, multiple frustrations, yet was mesmerized by it overall. It isn't real Ghibli, but its air of noble, high brow kitsch is pure Ghibli.
Extras.
A 15 minute piece watching Dudok painstakingly take us through the drawing, and then the redrawing, and the next redrawing of a single frame. Fascinating stuff, but it reminded me of the Anyone For A Pint sketch on the Fast Show where they are demonstrating stop motion animation and how you have to move the model a little, little bit then film it; move it a little, little bit then film it; move it a little, little bit then film it.
