Savages (2024) NYICFF 2025

SAVAGES is a scathing animated adventure film with a dark side and a biting social commentary. It’s a film that shows that some filmmakers trust the children in the audience to deal with weighty subjects.

The film follows a a young girl who lives on a planation in Borneo. Her father works for the company that is logging the jungle bare. When they witness the members of a crew kill an ape, they rescue the baby and take it home. Things become complicated when the girls cousin arrives from the jungle to go to school. When he flees civilization she gives chase. Eventually she ends up in conflict with the loggers.

This is a very adult film from the director of MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI. It’s a film with death and real world consequences for actions. While it tones things down a bit, there is real danger of things going badly. Things are not sugar coated to nonexistence.

That said, while it’s a good film and one I admire, I’m still not sure what I think of it. The tone is a bit uneven and the ending seems like unearned wishful thinking. The film should have hit me harder.

Still its good enough on its own terms and far enough removed from Hollywood crap that the film is highly recommended.

Legends of Paris aka L’Armée des Romantiques (2024) Animation First 2025

Animation First screened the first episode of the animated series LEGENDS OF PARIS. The series is a four part history of the romantics of the 19th century. We see the lives of Hugo, Dumas, Balzac, Sand and others. We watch as they create, and influence each other and the world.

Playing as a kind of animated Ken Burns film, it's a look at how some like minded men and a woman changed the world. It takes a couple of minutes to get going, but once it does you will be disappointed if you don't have another episode. 

The series works because the film perfectly mixes the subject and the art style. The film's art picks up the the story and drives it forward giving us a better understanding of the lives of the artists and their headspaces.

After the screening there was a Q&A with the minds behind the film. It was an interesting, if lightly dry, exploration of how the series came together and how they made the choices of what stories to highlight.

I enjoyed the show and I am looking forward to seeing the remaining episodes.

The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976) Animation First 2025

The film was a screening of  the second film based on the Asterix The Gaul comic series by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. It is the only film that they actually had anything to do with.

The film has the Romans pondering if the Gauls are actually gods and  making a deal that if they can complete 12 tasks they will not only be left alone but be put in charge of Rome.

The film is essentially a few minutes of set up and then a series of 12 blackout sketches as Asterix and Obelix attempt to complete the tasks. This results in a in an amusing film that's full of laughs and smiles.

While there are laughs there is a point where the film begins to feel long. Blame the constuction of the story which is simply a series of sketches.

That said I had a good time.

Recommended

Sort of thoughts on Harmony (2024) Animation First 2025

Jesus Perez, who is 33, travels through space in order to bring a greeting from earth. On the planet he encounters strange creatures that were formed because different species can into breed.

I have no idea. This is an alternately amusing and deeply disturbing surrealistic journey to another world where creatures can only say yes and no, and the main character is a rambling Christ clone with a frozen face and weird movements.  

It's both terrible and weirdly compelling. I couldn't look away despite wanting to stop watching. This is a head trip without taking drugs.

I honestly don't know what I think, but I do know that if you love off the beaten path films, this one is a must see.

The write up on the film for Animation first says that director Bertrand Dezoteux created a website: harmonie.center/en. that is a companion piece to this film "The platform engages audiences to delves into Jesus Perez’ larger mission and enterprise, “Harmonie Center.” I am frightened of going there.

Yuku and the Himalayan Flowers (2024) Animation First 2025

 

Yuku is a mouse from a large family. She lives with her family in a big house where there is a cat. She sings songs while playing the ukulele. As her grandmother's health fails she decides to try and find the Himalayan Flowers which always give light.

Oddly paced animated film is one part musical, one part adventure and one part meditation on death. (Grandma need the flowers so that when the mole comes to take her underground she has light and doesn't spend eternity in darkness.) Its a film that is frequently amusing, occasionally dark and completely unexpected.

I'm not sure what I think of this film, but I am amazed that it packs so much into it's mere 65 minutes.  To be honest I wish that the film ran a bit longer so that the film didn't seem rushed. There are a lot of musical numbers and set pieces which sometimes push the plot aside.

Still this film moves, has great characters and some solid songs.

Worth a look, if you can score one of the free tickets at Animation First.

Eden on MASTERS OF TIME which is playing Animation First Sunday

With Les Maîtres du temps playing this years Animation First Festival, here is a look at the film from Eden Miller who reviewed it as part of her look at the cinematic work of Moebius

This is a repost Les Maîtres du temps (also known as Masters of Time) seems like it should be great. It was directed by René Laloux and designed by Moebius. The two of them should have been able to create a visionary masterpiece of animation.

And the truth is, they did, if you adjust your expectations a little.

Although based on the 1958 novel The Orphan of Perdide by Stefan Wul, the plot is secondary to the visuals. It's mostly about a boy named Piel who is stranded on a planet and space pirate Jaffar is sent to go save him.

Or something. As much danger Piel seems to be in, Jaffar and evil exiled prince Matton, his sister Belle, and old friend Silbad spend a lot of time talking and more or less just kind of hanging out. There's little urgency in terms rescuing Piel. And weird stuff that has nothing to do with anything happens -- like a planet where everyone turns into faceless angels and Piel encounters strange creatures on the planet he's on. It goes absolutely nowhere fast, until a resolution comes out of nowhere.

But to want a plot from this movie is maybe asking a bit too much. It is, rightfully so, all about the trippy -- and usually beautiful -- visuals. Much time in spent deliberating over the freaky angel-like creatures and alien landscapes. Two childlike creatures named Yula and Jad have their share of screen time, discussing various philosophical concepts about living. The film's not about the ultimate goal of saving Piel -- it's about everything that leads us to there.

Still, this is the kind of movie you're either going to connect with or you're not. I don't think there's too much middle ground. If the odd and often complexly dazzling look of the movie and its purposeful pacing doesn't appeal to you, Les Maîtres du temps will probably just confuse you at best or bore you at worst.

I know both Moebius and Laloux were disappointed with the final product, but that actually makes me a little sad. The movie is far from perfect, but in many ways, its imperfections is its strength. A more straightforward film would not have been as interesting, even if it would've been more satisfying.

My Life As A Zucchini (2016) is playing Animation First 2024 this weekend

Short (it runs just over an hour) animated film was the Swiss entry in the Foreign Language Oscar race in201. It was also one of the best reviewed animated films of 2016, and one of those films that is GKids brought to US audiences because its a great film that would confound any other studio and they are the only ones who will have any clue how to market it.

Based on a well loved novel by Gilles Paris, ZUCCHINI, or COURGETTE in the original, is a very bittersweet look at childhood, ts a film that is going to play differently depending upon where you are age wise since the older you are the more you are going to connect with many of the notions because you'll have actually lived though more of what happens. While the film has a certain amount of darkness, the film is ultimately a hopeful look at how one gets a family. I'm told the film is toned down from the source novel which could be rather bleak, just like childhood.

The plot of the film has a boy who is called Zucchini by his mother moving to an orphanage. It seems that Zucchini has accidentally killed his mother and his father is nowhere around. As he adjusts to life and makes friends he ends up smitten with a Camille, a rebellious young woman who is dumped there by her aunt.

Told in a series of expanding vignettes that show the passage of time ZUCCHINI is a magical film that really will remind adults what its like to be a child. Granted we were not all orphans but but we all had to interact with other kids and adults and this film manages to reveal that perfectly. We have been here before or at least been there in some form or another. It is beautifully modulated so that there is laughter with the tears.

Everything about the film is near perfect from the voice cast to the visuals it all comes together to make a film that is going to sing in the hearts of many people who see it. Watching it I couldn't help but think how many people I knew who were going to absolutely fall in love with the film. This is a film that is going to go into that warm place that that many people keep reserved for their most cherished films such as the work of Studio Ghibli, not because it shows us an idealized version of childhood, rather because it shows us childhood as lived that makes it okay to remember it all.

I love the film a great deal.

If I had to be pick on the film for anything it is it's incredibly brief running time. Shorn of it's end credits and it's brief mid credit "actor interview" the film only runs about 61 minutes. The film feels much too short. The film has barely grabbed you by the heart strings when it's ending. Its a rare film that you can argue should be longer.

The Most Precious of Cargoes (2024) Animation First 2025

In Poland during the Second World War  the wife of a woodcutter  takes in a baby that  was thrown from a train going to the concentration camps. She and her husband struggle to raise the child, while the man who threw the baby struggles to survive the camp.

Michel Hazanavicius shifts gears yet again with an animated film about the miracle of survival and the things we will do for the ones we love. It's an odd move for a man who is best known for his comedies and the results are extremely mixed.

There are some great sequences in this film as well as some head scratching moments. Feeling less like an organic tale and more like a very serious, very important novel, the film never quite comes together because the film never fully connects the two halves. The result is a film that feels a bit like sermon.  

I was intrigued for a while but the film began to lose me as the film started to tell us about the man who threw the baby from the train. It's not that these sequences,  having to do with surviving in the camps, are bad, indeed they include some of the most crushing sequences I've ever seen  about the Holocaust, but rather they never fully mesh with the sequences about the baby and the woodcutters wife. a big part of the problem is the style of the images are too dissimilar.  The woodcutter sequences are more lyric and realistic where the images of the man are closer to some of the surrealist art that sprang up around the war.

While a wasn't connected from start to finish the film still threw up some staggering pieces such as the post war sequence where the man stumbles on the woman and the child selling cheese on the street.  The whole sequence of recognition of finding the now grown child, while also seeing his horrific physical persona is one of the most crushing moments I've ever seen in any film.

Perhaps I would have liked the film more had the ending amounted to something but the film never ties up all the threats ans the 20 year jump ahead didn't amount to much.

Worth a look for those interested in stunning uses of animation or atypical Holocaust stories.

Nightcap 1/19/25 Animation First and Sundance start this week

My good friend Hubert’s birthday tomorrow and I want to start with a quick HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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The always wonderful Animation first starts Tuesday at New York L'Alliance and runs through the weekend. A glorious collection of animated films and live events it is always a delight. As this posts I will be reposting reviews of MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI and MASTERS OF TIME. I also have tickets to a couple of films on Saturday the 25th when I will be joining the ever wonderful Eden who will be coming into New York  for the festival.  I will have reports from the road, but you should just buy tickets to anything you can- especially the shorts which are always excellent.

For more information and tickets go here.

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Sundance starts this week and as always it will be laying out the films that will be big deals later on in the year.

Because it’s too much of a pain in the ass to try and get one of the limited remote viewing slots, and because I don’t view an on line pass as financially worth it for me I will be covering the festival based on the screeners that I’ve been able to round up through other means.

To be completely honest, Sundance is the one festival I don’t feel the need to cover officially. The reason is not because the films are bad but more that almost every film seems to get a release. While I would love to cover the smaller films that need a push I can’t sell my soul to do a few films. (That said if you have a small film playing the fest email me and I will get you coverage)

Reviews when embargoes drop

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For the few of you who haven’t noticed Sundance’s sister festival Slamdance has moved into February. I will have a lot of coverage of that festival. Additionally I’ve seen a number of the features and I can say the festival rocks and is worth your time and money.

And if you aren’t in LA know the festival has a virtual component.

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I know David Lynch passed away this week.  I  still don't have words. I will post something when I do.

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I will not discuss the regime change that is to occur tomorrow in the United States. I will only say, good luck and God bless and may we all survive to fight another day.