OINK - Fragments Festival

 

OINK, the first stop motion animation film made in the Netherlands

The first animated film to win the Golden Calf (Netherlands Oscars) in 2022, tells the story of a young girl Babs who is granted the birthday present of a pig by her eccentric grandfather. Based upon the book Revenge of Oink by Tosca Menten and directed by Mascha Helberstad.

Following in illustrious footsteps of Aardman and Burton, the animation says as much about human life as any live-action depiction could do. Acerbically satirical yet endearing towards the human relationships it depicts there is so much to admire in the production here.

Babs at the film's beginning is a sort of vegan who bemoans the meat industry, and yet when she is bestowed the gift of Oink it is love at first sight for her. 

Entertaining for all the family (with some scenes that may be unsuitable for young ones), this is a wonderful film that translates across many languages about belonging and responsibility.

OINK is part of the Fragments Festival at Genesis Cinema this weekend, screening at 10.45am 

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My thanks to them for the screening link

ANOMALISA

This sterling work of stop-motion animation (a la Fantastic Mr. Fox) comes from the creative genius of Charlie Kaufman, who wrote the script and co-directs with Duke Johnson.

From the mind that brought surreal offerings as Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ... Anomalisa is a film about a male trying to find an understanding of his place in the world. Kaufman is a romantic writer, who wants the characters he starts with to end the film happy; this does not necessarily mean staying with the same partner they started the film with.

Michael (voiced by David Thewlis) is attending a conference in Cincinnati, Ohio where he is giving a speech on customer service. From the flight to the taxi ride to the hotel ride to the ex he calls, every person be it male or female is voiced by the same person, in this case Tom Noonan, a voice of soft banality and lacking emotion. This tells us Michael is suffering with disillusionment in his life, he wants to be alive and after he has a shower, he hears a new different voice.

The voice he hears is Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a young telesales operator attending the conference who has read Paul's book and is a fan. The sweetness of her voice is music to Michael's ears and he wants to hear everything about Lisa, which she finds surprising as she considers herself fat and ugly in comparison to her flirtatious friend Emily, who men Lisa says prefer generally.

This anamoly of their courting happening out of the blue coupled with her name gives the film its name. Perhaps Kaufman is critiquing a fear in society about how settling for your life can lead to mundanity and everything sounding the same, Lisa is a new sensation bringing a sense of solace to his ears and eyes.

Michael and Lisa share a night cap in his room and this leads to a sexual coupling between the two, which is done with a bit more sincerity than the marionette puppets in Team America. However, Michael wakes up from a mad dream where everyone has the same voice and they all love him. He wants to convince Lisa to runaway with him and he will leave his wife back in Los Angeles. 

Following a breakdown at his convention speech, Michael travels home to his mundane household. Again everyone has the same face and voice, even his young child Henry has the voice and his demands for a present shows how ungrateful a child he is and in effect symptomatic of the life Michael endures.

The animation couples well with Kaufman's witty script with good observational dialogue such as the taxi driver describing the Cincinnati Zoo, 'You should visit it. It's zoo sized'. The voice cast do excellent work across the board, and this is another worthy film into Kauffman's pantheon full of intellect undoubtedly and now with this film, one of unique charm.

This is a beautiful little anomaly of a film, insightful of the human condition stating how we deal with loneliness and project our insecurities towards the world. Both haunting and beguiling, Anomalisa is a cinematic treat that will stay with you long after you leave its dream like quality

Anomalisa is released from Curzon World cinema in DVD and Blu-ray from Monday 11th July. The discs feature a Q&A with Kaufman and Johnson, a total of 13 featurettes, photo gallery and theatrical trailer

My Frozen review is actually Tangled

Like coming to a party when the lights are coming up, I was treated to a viewing of Disney's Frozen in the company of my wonderful girlfriend who has seen it on numerous occasions.

Now, I don't want to rock the boat nor be controversial but the film Frozen is okay. However, it is not the most amazing animated film of all time (that remains Toy Story 2 or the opening of Up). I can though see why the film has made near to £1 billion worldwide.  Strong female characters who hold our attention and are independent without the influence of their parents, the allure of royalty and the most Marmite of songs since Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' from Titanic, another chick flick. If you get the girls in the cinema you get box office for sure.

Yet, the film as a whole left me confused due to plot holes and convenient narrative twists.  Elsa leaves her homeland and in doing so freezes it in an eternal winter, yet creates a talking snowman without knowing. Anna chases her sister to make her return and break the spell, and builds her character creating her own true love without knowing.  

Anna is the optimistic sister, beguiling and hopeful that a new day will bring change and joy. Yet it is Elsa who gets the stand out track of independence - the song Let It Go, is about Elsa embracing her powers and not being bothered by what people think. The Broadway show tune is the sort of number to end the first act as the lead character reveals a change of perspective or intention, yet the message of the song proposes that she will face her detractors and yet she remains in a less than fully furnished ice castle with no nourishment, in essence she is Disney's first refugee.

The message of true act of love coming from one sister to another is one to be lauded in this day of selfishness and something I hope young viewers embrace in the cementing of familial ties in this day and age of vanity.

Frozen is good but it borrows a lot from another Disney film about a young princess banished from a kingdom who has to find her way home with the help of a young suitor and his trusted steed, I am talking about Tangled. A film that will be easily forgotten in the memory of cinephiles due to the overpowering juggernaut of Frozen. 

Tangled had better characters, better animation, a better set of songs albeit devoid of a smash hit Oscar winning song, and better comedy in the form of repartee between Eugene and his horse with good action set pieces.

Upon reflection, the addition of Olaf seems a last minute gamble and or risk as the dialogue between Anna and Christof would have been too telegraphed and perhaps reminded viewers of Tangled. Tangled was helped by the presence of a villain from the outset whereas here the narrative does not have a villain reveal himself until the last fifteen minutes, whereas we feel of Elsa as the villain. This makes our affection to her uneasy due to her self imposed exile and alienation from her sister, and all the more surprising that it is she who gets the stand out solo number.  And even more surprising that people want to be Elsa at parties and fancy dress, when Anna is the true star of the film learning about love, life and finding strength within herself she did not know she had, and rekindle the relationship with her sister when all was lost.

Elsa and Anna

Perhaps the placing of two female characters at the heart of a film will conflict emotions for viewers, whereas in Tangled you had the one princess to root for.  

Last week it was announced there will be a sequel and Frozen 2 will be upon us. For me though, I'm going to let my hair down and watch Tangled again.