Magic Boy (1961) NYICFF 2020

The first big screen anime brought to the US is the tale of young boy who decides that in order to save his friends he will learn what he has to so he can take on an evil witch who wants to bring pain and misery to everyone in Japan.

Looking nothing like what we think of as anime today and being closer to the films of Disney, which inspired it, MAGIC BOY was a film that even confused those of us old enough to have seen the film when it ran on TV in the 1960's and 70's. The film was not like what we knew as animation, which was Saturday morning Cartoons and Disney.  This was something else from somewhere else. For me I was confused by it to some degree since despite being huge fans of Kimba and Gigantor I had no idea what Japanese animation really was.

Seeing MAGIC BOY today is a head trip. It is so not like what we are used to. To me it seems more like the classic European films  of Paul Grimault or Jean-François Laguionie except with ninja and cute animals. It also reaches forward to the early work of the Ghibli master Isao Takahata whose HORUS PRINCE F THE SUN (aka THE LITTLE NORSE PRINCE)  followed less than decade later. It is a weird blending  of Japan and European and Disney like ideas. As a student of animation history I can see how the film pulled together everything that went before and at the same time influenced everything that went after.

Watching the film for the first time in probably a decade if not more I found I  was all over the place about it. However before you think that's a bad thing understand that I was watching it and noticing things I haven't seen before. I was pulling it apart because I was watching the bits and pieces come together and fly apart. I was also watching it with the eyes of on old fart animation junkie. I was looking at it as a snot nosed critic and not regular guy in a seat.

My all over the place about the film aside I really like the film. I love that the film isn't the same as every other film. I love that it puts us in another time and place. And I really love the adventure tale that is the film at it's heart.

Assuming you are not going to poopoo the fact that it isn't today's anime, this film is a blast. Yea it's not perfect, it is simply trying to juggle too much, but it is compelling and a lot of fun. IN all seriousness there is a reason that I have been revisiting this film time and again for the last fifty years when other films I saw as a kid were tossed on the trash heap.

If you love good adventure films or simply want to know the history of animation than MAGIC BOY is very recommended- so much so that I am hoping to get a ticket to see it on a big screen when it plays Saturday or on March 8th. (Films like this truly sing when seen big)

For tickets and more information go here.

Random thoughts on Moominvalley (2019) NYICFF 2019

The MOOMINVALLEY that played the New York International Children's Film Festival was not a film as such but to unconnected episodes of the new TV series played back to back. The stories were unconnected to each other.

Episode One was SECRET OF THE HATTIFATTNERS. Which had Moomintrol, Snork Maiden and Little My setting off to a legendary island that Moominpapa always talks about . Once there they encounter the Hattifatteners and have to deduce why they are so interested in a "mirror".

Episode Two was NIGHT OF THE GROKE and it has Moomintroll spending a night alone in the house when his parents go off to spend a life of wild abandon on the beach. Through circumstances he and his friend Sniff end up thinking a giant forest troll is lurking, however things get serious when they encounter the dark shadow that is the Groke, a beast which ill freeze you blood.

To be honest I don't know what I think of the show. My exposure to the Moomins has been through some random stories and long form features where the stories were allowed to go as long as they had to and not fill a time slot. While beautifully animated and expert and lovingly voiced (Warwick Davis, Taron Edgerton, Rosamund Pike, Matt Davis aong others) the shows seemed to strain in the required 20 or so minute time slot. Things will go for a certain amount of time before ending. Everything is there for a great tale, they just rush to a conclusion. Because I am not a Moomin scholar I don't know if the tales are rushed or not. I do know that the writing, other than pacing, is sharp with some great one liners and lessons for everyone.

For what its worth the audience around me, especially the kids ate it up since they all seemed to be big Moomins fans.

MOOMINVALLEY plays March 9th and 16th at the NYICFF. Both screenings are currently sold out but more tickets may appear- the screening I attended was sold out but still had a lot of empty seats, so if you're interested try showing up. For more information on the  film and the screenings go here.

NYICFF 2019: Boys Beyond Boundaries

Brief word on the shorts that make up this collection of films playing at the NYICFF. More than the festival's Girl's POV the collection focuses on who we are really and the paths we take that our own,

Building a Prosthetic Arm With Legos
Absolutely awesome film about a young man born with one arm who built himself an arm of Legos.

Grandbad
Okay film about a boy who is pressured to paint graffiti and his grandfather

Juni
Boys bond over a meal of iguana. Good little film about how relationships change and how people come together.

Stardust
A young man who helps his dad a s garbage collector dreams of the stars. While possibly slightly long, it is still a sweet little film about the need to reach for more.

Xavier
Young drummer Xavier keeps his own beat much to the annoyance of everyone except his father. A nice film about a young man on his own course and a support parent who understands he has his own way to go.

Slow Dance
At a middle school dance a young man looks for courage. A well done film about trying to find the nerve.

Beauty
Portrait of five transgender kids is a lovely little film about people finding themselves.

BOYS BEYOND BOUNDARIES plays every remaining day of NYICFF except the 17th. For tickets and more information go here

RAOUL TABURIN (2018) NYICFF 2019

Utterly charming and often very funny film about the man who maintains a small village’s bicycles. He is so good at what he does that no one them bikes but Taburins. Unfortunately he has a big secret, he is incapable of balancing on a bicycle. Actually it’s not a secret but truth no one believes, not even the man who has come to write a book on his skill.

Wonderful small scale gem is an absolute delight. Witty warm and full of great people, it’s like hanging out with your best friends. This film is a small gem of the highest quality and an absolute delight for everyone.

Highly recommended.

One of the best films playing at this year’s NYICFF- do yourself a favor and buy tickets because this film is really that good.

RAOUL TABURIN plays this Saturday and March 17. For more information and tickets go here.

Minuscule: Mandibles From Far Away (2018) NYICFF 2019

Sequel to  the 2013 feature film which was based on a long running TV series is the further adventures of the ladybug and his friends. Impossible to describe simply the plot goes something like this : When the ladybug's son accidentally gets boxed up and sent to a tropical island, he follows hoping to make a rescue but he can't do it alone and some of his friends have to make the trip to rescue him....

Amusing follow up full of great characters and set pieces delights the eyes and keeps us on the edge of our seats with some wild turns of events, for example a flying model ship held aloft by balloons that ends up inside a shark (You'll have to see the film to know what happens). You'll never guess how this is going to play out no matter how you try. Normally I don't like people talking around me but the row of kids who sat next to me at the NYICFF screening were providing some amusing commentary as they all tried to work out what was going to happen next.

As funny and clever the film is the pacing can be a little slack. Some bits, especially some of the connecting sections, run on a bit too long. While its never kills the the film, it does keep it from topping the first film.

Regardless of the pacing, MINUSCULE is recommended, especially if you can see it on the big screen where the difference in sizes can be appreciated.

For tickets and more information on next weekends final screening go here.

A Town Called Panic: The Agricultural Fair (2019) NYICFF 2019

Cowboy, Indian and Horse are back once more and we are better for it. This time out Cowboy and Indian bomb a big test so Horse won't let them go to the agricultural fair (in the English dub it's called a county fair). Desperate to go they study hard and ace the test, but horse slips on a skateboard and can't remember where the tickets are....and at this point things get even more surreal than before.

Wickedly funny short is stretches our good will to the limits but never loses it as the looping gag of the second half sees to go on a bit too long...thankfully though just as we are certain it can't go any father things go left and the laughs continue.

I'm a huge fan of the films and I have to see each new short as it come out so I'm always schleping to the New York International Children's Film Festival to see the newest in the series. I'm never disappointed. If you can get to one of the two remaining screening on March 9 and 10 I recommend you do so. (Tickets here)

This year NYICFF is running three other shorts to fill out a whole program

COWBOY HULK which has Cowboy eating something from space and turning into a red beast when angry. Its twisted fun

RETURN TO SCHOOL about Cowboy and Indian trying to win a trip to the moon. totally bizarre and very funny.

And one whose title I didn't catch which is less about the Panic characters than two campers who keep annoying everyone. While good, this is probably the weakest of any Panic film  largely because all the characters are only in it fleetingly

an incredibly short review of Queen of Niendorf (2018) NYICFF 2019

Ten year old Lea finds the girls in her town boring. She would rather hang out with the boys.

Good looking film is a moody coming of age film that feels like a long lazy summer afternoon. This is a sweet and lovely tale that will delight young ladies of Lea‘s age or ever were and can appreciate the shifting nature of growing up.

QUEEN OF NEINDORF plays this weekend and next at NYICFF. For tickets and more information go here

Gordon and Paddy (2017) NYICFF 2019

Gordon is a toad who acts as the police for the forest. Ideally he'd like to retire. When a rabbit comes in claiming his nuts had been stolen Gordon goes to investigate. He discovers a lone mouse, named Paddy, stealing a single acorn. realizing the mouse is not the real thief, Gordon makes her his assistant and the pair begin to look in the theft.

Nice little police procedural for the younger set, GORDON AND PADDY is a charmer. Filled with great characters and a couple of intriguing mysteries, the film delights as it keeps you in suspense. Its the sort of film that is going to make you want to track down the source books so that you can see what other adventures the duo has together.

If  I have to quibble about the film its that the film is being screened at the NYICFF in a subtitled print. While that is fine for older kids, it will cut out a bunch of the younger ones who can't read the subtitles. Forgive me, this is, ultimately an all ages film and I hate that whole bunch of kids who will love it won't get to enjoy it.

GORDON AND PADDY is recommended for mystery lovers of all ages. It plays again at NYICFF this weekend and next. For more information and details go here.

Double Trouble (2017) NYICFF 2019

Julka is at boarding school while her parents work in France. When her parents forget she is to join them for summer vacation she is forced to stay with her aunt who barely acknowledges her existence. When Julka leaves a door open and thieves steal everything off the walls including some valuable plans, Julka and the son of one of her aunt's neighbors must spring into action and try to track down the stolen items.

DOUBLE TROUBLE is an amusing film that is going to play better for older children than adults. The reason is that there is a lightness of the touch in regard to the happenings and while there is suspense as to what is going on (things are not quite as they seem)  there never really is any doubt that things will be okay. Part of it is the tone of the film and part of it is the narration pretty much says as much right at the start.

For kids who haven't seen a lot of caper films this is going to be a blast since it is both funny and tense. For the adults it will be a amusing but nothing special since the caper isn't a solvable mystery as one that is revealed in left hand turns. It's never bad but this is one for the kids more than the parents.

Worth a look if you're taking the kids.

DOUBLE TROUBLE PLAYS March 2,3 and 16th at NYICFF. For more information and tickets go here.

Dilili in Paris (2018) NYICFF 2019

Michel Ocelot's DILILI IN PARIS maybe his most beautiful film. A mix of his flat 2 style of animation with computer generated 3 images and real locations it delights the eye with its stunning visuals and eye popping colors.

Set in Belle Epoque Paris, the film follows young Dilili as she teams up wit delivery boy Orel to try and track down a band of evil doers called the master men. They are kidnapping young girls in order to make them their servants and stealing money and jewels at every turn. Along the way the pair get help from a variety of real people such as Marie Curie, Marcel Proust and Picasso.

Stunning visuals give way to a rip roaring adventure. Wild bike chases, submarines and airships are just some of the delights that form the various forms of transport used in the adventure. Its all edge of your seat stuff thanks to Ocelot's excellent story telling. Who would have thought a near silent rescue would result in explosive cheers from an audience. It happened in the later part of the film when Dilili and her friends make an effort to rescue all the trapped girls

Kudos to Ocelot as well for making a film that raises the question of equality between the sexes (the bad guys want to oppress women) and race (Dilili's mother is African and her father is French and she feels she belongs nowhere). While he doesn't resolve all the issues he does make them prominent enough that any good discussion of the film must at least note them as well.

As good and near great as the film is Ocelot has made one error in telling the story and that is loading it with famous faces. You can't go more than a couple of minutes without a a famous person appearing. It's interesting to think that so many famous people could have a piece of the mystery  but at the same time it grows tiresome as we go from famous face to famous face just because. Its not fatal but it takes the edge off things as we try to figure out who will show up next.

One of the joys of this years NYICFF, you really should make an effort to see it big where the images will over whelm you in the best possible way.

DILILI IN PARIS plays the remaining three weekends at NYICFF so buy tickets and go.(Information can be had here)

One quick note- It should be noted, but not held against NYICFF, that the print running at the festival occasionally suffers from frequent moments of white on white subtitles. While not fatal and never readable, the lack of clarity forces us to spend a little too much time focusing on the words instead of the images.

Okko's Inn (2018) NYICFF 2019

Based on a series of 20 children's novels which were then turned into a manga and TV series OKKO'S INN if the story of young Okko who moves in with her grand mother after her parents are killed in a car accident. Deciding to help her grand mother run the inn the young girl is helped by the ghosts of her grandmother's best friend from when she was a child and the sister of her rival in life and commerce, not to mention a bell demon who has a knack for bringing people into the inn.

Lovely and charming little film will delight you and bring a tear to your eyes with its honest and heart felt emotion concerning the comings and goings of friends, and the learning that we are never really alone. The audience at the New York International Children's Film Festival that saw the World Premiere of the English language version laughed and cheered and sniffled in all the right spots.

If there is anything really wrong with the film is there are a couple of times in the second half when I had the feeling that there was more to somethings than we were being told. It wasn't that we didn't have enough details but simply some back story to make the moments come fully to life. When I found out about all the previous source material it made perfect sense that things were left out of a 95 minute film.

Regardless of  any quibbles, OKKO'S INN is a charmer of the highest order. You will get misty at times.

Highly recommended.

The film plays one more time at NYICFF on March 10th, but it is currently sold out. However they often release tickets and they do have a standby line so keep checking the website for details.

Additionally the film will be playing as a Fathom Event on April 22 and 23rd. For tickets go here.

NYICFF 2019 Girls POV

Here are my thoughts on the films in the Girls POV collection from this year's NYICFF. Its a really good collection of shorts with a couple of true standout films

Preschool Poets: Supergirl
Sweet minute long piece about dreaming of being a superhero

Jesszilla
Portrait of Jesselyn Silva a young girl who loves to box. This is great little film about a wonderful young girl who isn't afraid to box (but is terrified of rollercoasters.) This is a glorious film that needs to be shown to girls everywhere so they know there is nothing that they can't do if they want to.

7 Planets
A space obsessed girl is certain a far off planet in habitable. An interesting concept works a little too hard for an okay pay off. This would have been better longer so we could have known a little bit more about Cassie so we truly felt something at the end instead of knowing what we should have felt.

Stories Floating on the Wind
Images that fill the sense in a small coastal town in Japan. Beautiful little film is impossible to describe as image and sound excite all of your senses. Very cool. A must see especially on a big screen where it will truly over whelm you.

Hvalagapet
A young girl ponders what will happen if she says something to the boy she likes. Beautiful, lovely and echoes something we've all been through.

My Body
A young woman has visions of her body changing. A good little film.

The Shadow of Cairo
A young girl tries to retreat into being a superhero after the death of her mother but finds more danger than she imagined. I liked this film and I understand what it trying to do but at the same time I'm not certain the tone is ever right. Is this supposed to be amusing or deadly serious? Then again I don't think I'm the intended audience for this film.

A Field Guide To Being A 12 Year Old Girl
12 year old girls explain what it's like to be a 12 year old girl. This is a very very funny film that tells it like it is. This is an absolutely lovely film. A joy and one of the best films in the collection.

GIRLS POV plays 7 times through the film festival, the first time this Saturday February 23rd. For more information and tickets go here

Penguin Highway (2018) NYICFF 2019

With PENGUIN HIGHWAY playing at NYICFF this weekend, here is a repost of a review that ran for Fantasia last summer.

How you take PENGUIN HIGHWAY will depend upon how you take Aoyama, the 4th grader at the center. A super smart kid he knows he is going to be great and he knows he will marry the mysterious young woman who works at his dentist's office. What he doesn't know is why there is a flock of penguins in the middle of his tiny town. He is a cock sure kid that made me want to beat the snot out of him.

Yea he's a sweet kid, but he is a real twit. He is kind of like Sheldon from THE BIG BANG THEORY, annoying as all piss which is the reason I avoid the show. He is exactly like a bunch of really smart kids I knew growing up, all of whom I wanted to smack sense into. The fact that I didn't like Aoyama meant that I had a difficult time with the twists and turns involving the rest of the film.

Filled with some wonderful idea, some beautifully rendered sequence and a haunting score PENGUIN HIGHWAY should be a home run but it never really worked for me. It's not just that I didn't like the main character, it is more the fact that the film wants to be more clever than it is. Its trying to be wondrous and instead it is just okay. Yea, the bits look great (I love the penguin hordes), but the story never really works.(And I'm not going to be specific because much of this film is a mystery and the fun is seeing where it goes.)

Worth a look if you like BIG BANG THEORY.

Festivals upon Festivals all week long

I hope you all have been enjoying the coverage of The Winter Film Awards International Film Festival that has exploded this weekend. I want to let you know that the plan is to continue to bring you coverage through the end of the festival next weekend. So if you're enjoying it be happy more is coming.

If you haven't been  enjoying it I just wanted to let you know that we'll be having a lot of other coverage of three other festivals this week as well...

The Museum of Modern Art's Documentary Fortnight starts Friday and we'll have a little coverage. While I would like to do  more life, and a schedule that din't thrill me has gotten in the way. Forgive me for saying I'm trying to rekindle my love of doing Unseen by seeing films I want to see and MOMA's slate, while having some great films (which I saw already) didn't have a ton of new stuff I needed to see. Watch for coverage to drop closer to time.

Lincoln Center's Neighboring Scenes runs next weekend it has some great,and some greatly disturbing films. We are going to have coverage of half dozen or more titles and there are some winners there. I highly recommend, with the warning they are dark and disturbing, THE WOLF HOUSE and MURDER ME, MONSTER both of which ill mess with your head something fierce.

One of the great festivals of every year The New York International Children's Film Festival hits Friday and we will be wading in. Look for as much coverage as I can muster over the next four weekends. Again life is interfering and while I will miss the opening night for probably the first time in a decade I am attending several full days of screenings. I have only seen one film so far, PENGUIN HIGHWAY, which I saw last year at Fantasia so look for a repost later in the week. Reviews of everything else will come as I see the films....and we may end up with reports from my niece who is psyched up for her first day at the festival.

Last I want to let you all know that the awesome Queens World International Film Festival which runs March 21 to 31 has announced it killer slate (go here) and it has tickets on sale. I haven't had a chance to really look at the slate yet (working on this weeks four festivals has kicked me to the curb) but I know it's all good, it always is. If you want to get tickets for something great then buy a ticket for PALACE which I've seen and will be reviewing shortly. For more information on the rest and all the insanity connected to the fest go here.