Suzume (2023)

SUZUME tells the story of a 17 year old girl who ends up on a quest to lock the doors between dimensions so that a giant worm can’t escape and destroy the world.

SUZUME is a very good film. It’s a grand romantic adventure that pulls us in and drags us along. It has arresting visuals, magnificent set pieces and a score I need to run down and add to my collection. It’s a film that looks spectacular especially on a big screen where the sound and image will make you audibly gasp.

And as good as the film is, it’s kind of disappointing. I say this as an earlier adopter of director Makoto Shinkai, whose films VOICES OF A DISTANT STAR and 5 CENTMETERS PERS SECOND are among the greatest films ever made. (They are and this is absolutely not open for discussion), The problem is that Shinkai’s films have gone from glorious masterpieces  to variations on a theme, namely a young girl at the center of some mystical experience that puts her in contact with a cute guy. His last three films, SUZUME, WEATHERING WITH YOU and YOUR NAME kind of the same story with different details. Even his GARDEN OF WORDS is related. His story telling has become derivative with Shinkai lifting bits from other films, which is odd because his first few films were nothing if not brilliant original.  As much as I enjoy Shinkai’s films, and I do, I just wish he would get back to making a film where I haven’t felt I’ve seen the tale before. Basically I want a story as magical as the visually we get every time out of the box.

Does the repetition mean that SUZUME is bad? No, it’s not. It just means that when you see it it may seem familiar, though you may not care. The fact it is one of the highest grossing animated films of all time suggests that other people don’t care either. It’s good enough that the film is in some talk for an Oscar nomination this year (Shinkai’s films are always in the Oscar talk)

SUZUNE is a good fantastical romance that’s worth a look.

The NYICFF Interview of Jean-Christophe Roger co-director of ERNEST & CELESTINE TRIP TO GIBBERITA

This is a three question interview with Jean-Christophe Roger the co-director of ERNEST & CELESTINE TRIP TO GIBBERITA.  It was done back in March of this year when the film played the New York International Children’s Film Festival. And there is a story about how it happened and how it ended up only three questions.

Several days before the screening I reached out to the festival and asked them if Jean-Christophe Roger would be willing to do an interview. They said that they would let me know.  As time got closer to the festival the folks NYICFF said it was probably going to happen, they just had to lock down the schedule.  Eventually I was told that something would happen around the screening but they would let me know…. And they did as I was walking into the theater I was pulled aside and was told it was all good to go and that I would get some time, so I should just go find my seat and they'd come and get me… and then came to find me to say that it would be after the screening.

After the screening things went long. Jean-Christophe Roger  was mobbed by the kids and he took time to answer every single question put to him and he gave every kid his full attention. It was a glorious things to watch.

Finally it became my turn and we started to talk in the lobby of the theater….and then suddenly the theater staff appeared in the middle of my asking what would be the final question and told us it was time to go they were locking up.

What follows is the three questions I managed to ask.

I want to thank the folks at NYICFF for arranging this and Jean-Christophe Roger for taking a couple of minutes to answer some questions.

STEVE: First thing I have to tell you is that I have been waiting 12 years to tell you that I loved THE STORYTELLING SHOW. (An aside information on THE STORYTELLING SHOW is here)

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE ROGER (JCR): Oh thank you.

STEVE: I know it's been years and years and years but I finally get to tell you that I loved the film so much.

JCR: Thank you so much.  It's been kind of lost in France, so most people don't know that movie.

STEVE: It has always been one of the joys of this festival was that I got to see it. 

I know it was a personal project and then there is something like Ernest and Celestine which has the books, the earlier movie and the TV show. What's it like going from something wholly your own to something like this film?

JCR: Right now I am preparing two personal projects. It's much more difficult to bring those projects to fruition. Where the characters are more known to the producers it's easier for them to believe that the project will get some money back. But (personal projects) are really hard work, but its what I want to do now. These two films are completely different subjects and techniques.  But I'd like to do more personal projects.

THE STORY TELLING SHOW was very personal because because until then nobody let me do what I wanted.

STEVE: I was looking at my notes for THE STORYTELLING SHOW and with this and I was wondering how it was that you managed to get the voices so right. With THE STORYTELLING SHOW you got these kids and they sound and act like kids and here every voice seems exactly right. The voice in ERNEST AND CELESTINE are also perfect. How hard is it to do the voice casting?

JCR: What I do is voice creation. We record the voice without the film being made. We record the voice from the script and the rough storyboard and the we record and the actors can do whatever they want. If they feel that the character would so something one way they are free to do it. It gives the actor a lot of freedom to express the character. If the actor comes in at the end they have to stick to what is there but if we do it early they have freedom.  

We recorded (Erenest and Celestine) during covid times and we did it early. We did it with just four actors and with the other actors came in at the end. It was complicated but we insisted on working that way. We got some new ideas during the recording and thought we could shoot that. During the lunch scene Ernest reacts to his father during the speech, it was not in the script but it follows logically again and again. Ideas come by working that way. It makes it seem very natural.

STEVE: One of the things I have to ask you, because the music is fantastic and I loved watching the kids dancing in their seats... I know you worked with a composer, but what inspired you to pick this music? I could hear hints of things like the English group Madness and others that you seemed to pull from. What music did you use for inspiration?

JCR: Basically, its a kind of Balkanic kind of band, ska music, from salasa and various types of music depending on the sequences.

(And it was at this point we were physically removed)

To see the Q&A from earlier in the evening go here and here

HOME IS SOMEWHERE ELSE (2022) NYICFF 2023

Animated documentary  about three stories about  three people on either side of the US/Mexico border told in three different animated styles.  We get the story of two sisters one studying to be a doctor and the other a baker; There is the story of an activist looking to help families, and finally there is story of young man who was deported and is now an artist and activist.

This is a good film which I honestly like more than I love. This isn’t to say there is anything bad about the film, rather it never quite generates enough emotion for us to fully connect. I think part of the problem is the differing animation styles which never allow us to settle into one place emotionally. Yes I like the people telling their stories, but I never fully felt connected. I kind of felt I was watching PSA rather than film.

Worth a look for those interested

Two from NYICFF's CELEBRATING BLACK STORIES

HOOP DREAMS

Short and sweet film about a young girl who thinks anything is possible if she wears hoop ear rings. 

More illustrated poem than narrative film HOOP DREAM delights. It’s a trip into the world of a young girl that is good for the soul. It’s a film that will make your smile, which in the darkness of today we all can use. 

Recommended

MORE THAN HAIR

This is hands down one of the best films at the Santa Barbara Film Festival  and of the year so far. The film is a staggering film about finding a place and one’s self in an unexpected place.

Told as a memory piece MORE THAN HAIR has a black man remembering back to when he went to a barbar for the first time as a child and how being in a place where he could be who he was and choose how he looked changed his life.

I truly don’t know what to say. There is something about this film, the perfect marriage of sound and image and past and present rocked me. Somewhere toward the end the emotion of finding a place filled me with so  much emotion I started to tear up.

This film is pure magic. This is exactly the sort of thing that films are supposed to do, tell us a story that move us on a basic human level.

Filmmaking does not get better than this.

Highly recommended.

Ernest and Celestine: A Trip To Gibbertia (2022) NYICFF 2023

ERNEST AND CELESTINE A TRIP TO GIBBERTIAhas the pair going to Ernest's home country in order to have his broken violin fixed. When they arrive they are shocked to find that a law named after Ernest, all music has been banned.

This charming film is a worthy follow up to the classic original. It’s a smile producing film that had the whole audience bouncing in their seats thanks to one of the most infectious score in years.

I really don’t know what else to say but this film warmed my heart. It was more time with good friends. I'm not going to say a great deal about the film other than it is very funny, genuinely moving, it has incredible set pieces and one of the greatest uses of music I've seen in years. The kids (and some adults) were literally dancing.

This year, when the sequel was announced, it was at the top of my list of things to see at the festival.  When good friend Reid Ramsey found out it was playing he insisted on coming along and we both had  a grand old time. Making things extra special  was the appearance of  co-director Jean-Christophe Roger came to the festival to do a Q&A (see below)  

My love for the world of Ernest and Celestine has been around for over a decade. I fell in love with the the characters I don’t know how many years ago when the original film played NYICFF and I was stunned by the magic I witnessed on the screen. The film delighted everyone who saw it and after the screening. After the original film played the magic on screen continued when director Benjamin Renner  answered questions for all the kids in attendance. The next year when the English language version played NYICFF Renner returned and sat outside the theater drawing pictures and signing autographs for the kids and adults. At the festival this year, the sequel brought that magic back as co-director Jean -Christophe Roger followed Renner's lead doing a Q&A, signing autographs and taking pictures with the kids and parents who were in love with the sequel. The Ernest and Celestine  films are clearly made by magicians who love their audience.

I have to say that Mr. Roger is a charming man who talked until he was forcibly removed from the stage. He was then swamped by kids who continued to ask questions in the theater and lobby. He was so in demand by the kids in the audience that the on the fly interview I arranged with the festival for after the screening ended up cut really short as we were ejected from the theater by the staff who said we had to go.

What a great way to open this year’s festival.

Below is Roger’s Q&A from Opening Night. The video isn’t perfect. While I was in the second row I had to get up a couple of times to let people by so they could go on the long lines to ask questions.

I should also mention that I will be posting the three question interview as soon as it is transcribed.

Summing up, the film is great, the festival is great. Go if you can to any of the remaining screenings. Also if you can’t see Ernest and Celestine at the fest G-Kids will be releasing it soon after it finishes a festival run.

Titina (2022) NYICFF 2023

The story of Titina, the dog who traveled with Umberto Nobile in his two trips to the north pole via airship.

Visually  arresting film looks like a mix of Chuck Jones, Sylvain Chomet and Italian Brutalism. It’s a film that delights the eye in every shot and has some of the most dropping sequences you’ll see all year (The trippy penguins and the whale). I am so glad I saw his on a big screen because despite seeing some of this on line, seeing it big just blew me out of the water.

As a film on it’s own terms TITINA is pretty good. While the narrative tries to do too much, it still manages to hang together by remaining focused on the POV of the puppy himself. It also gets points in my book by not sugar coating that people died on the expeditions.

As history the film is a mess. Knowing the story of the expeditions, TITINA fudges a great deal. Details are softened or not addressed and bits are made up, Nobile seeing Amundson’s rescue plane and not signaling it for example. I mention this because too many people think the movies are gospel truth and in this case its not the case. (If you want a film closer to the truth see THE RED TENT)

Regardless this is so viusally amazing that if you can remember this isn't wholly true this is a good time at the movies that will occasionally blow your mind.

A Summer Story (202) NYICFF 2023

A film like One Summer Story is one of the reasons I started Unseen Films. I wanted to put films on the radar that seem to have disappeared. ONE SUMMER STORY is exactly that. Released two years ago in Japan, the film apparently never really played anywhere and only surfaced at this years New York International Children’s Film Festival because the programming director did a deep dive into back catalogs.

The film concerns an anime loving girl who decides to try and find her biological father via the brother of one of her classmates.  The result is a film full of magnificent people, lots of laughs, a few tears and the most moving romance in years.

My god this is a great film.

This maybe the crown jewel in NYICFF’s line up this year and its only screening played to a near packed house at the festival.

I truly love this film.

Sure the film looks like a typical teen film, but the truth is it speaks volumes about life, family, friends and potential lovers. This is a film about real people who live without TV like conflicts. People just are. I adore that the film  has a trans character who is just there among everyone else. I love that people connect in ways that real people connect, shared interests. This is the way people do it in real life.

I don’t know how this hasn’t escaped to more festivals and world wide release. Yes it looks typical, but the fact is that is you watch it, if you watch the whole thing, you find that there is this magic to it. There is these moments late in the film where it’s like watching lightning in a bottle as all the buildup between the characters pay off in spades.

This film needs to be seen. Some bigger festival, such as New York or New York Asian or Fantasia or some other bigger name festival needs to get this on the world’s radar.

This is the sort of film that explains why films can be more that bang bang shoot’em up.

I have no idea how you can do it, but track this film down and see it.

Block out two and a half hours, get some popcorn and just sit an watch this film and watch people find each other.

This is a great film and highly recommended.

Totem (2022) NYICFF 2023

When I tweeted about TOTEM after coming home from the NYICFF screening I received tweets from people who saw the film in Europe who were delighted that the film was going beyond the continent. The amount of love the film has is  astonishing.

Totem is the story of Ama, a young girl who was born to Senegalese parents who migrated to the Netherlands in order to find a better life. She was born on the boat to freedom and the only life she knows was the one in Rotterdam. When the police arrest her mother and her brother for being in the country illegally she has to find a way of finding her father and reuniting the family as well as a way of staying in the only home she has ever known.

Oh and Ama is helped by her totem animal, a giant porcupine.

Absolutely delightful film is one of the absolute gems of this year’s NYICFF. A smile producing film about finding and keeping your place in the world it also speaks volumes about friendship, immigration and the police.  This is a film that grabs you early on and just pulls you along in the best sort of a way.

One of the best things about this film is the use of magical realism. Totem, the porcupine, is magnificent. I’m not entirely sure how it was all done but he kicks serious ass and wins your heart. By the time he goes swimming he will have won you over and made you a believer.  Hell he made it so that by the time the film ended I was a teary mess.

I love this film. I love that it gives us great people, none of who are truly bad, puts them in conflict and resolves them in  a way that rings true. I love that by the time we get to the end the film has honestly earned all the joy the film rings out of us. There isn’t a false step anywhere in this film

This is just great filmmaking and we need to thank NYICFF for putting it on our radar.

If you are NYC this weekend make and effort and go see it when it plays the festival. (Tickets here)

DOUNIA & THE PRINCESS OF ALEPPO (2022) NYICFF 2023

When war breaks out in Syria Dounia and her family must flee the country if they want to be safe.

Forgive me for being pointed in the recounting of the plot, but it is closer to what the film is than the official descriptions which talk about the young girl on a mythic journey at behest of a princess (the girls late mother).  I'm telling it that way so that anyone wanders into the film knows what they are getting.

This is a truly beautiful film about war and how it's seen by a small child. Yes it is mythic in it's telling but it also doesn't shy away too much from the harsh realities of war. I was entranced by the the film. The characters are charming and the visuals are gorgeous. This is a film that shows a great deal of love and magic in it's making. 

As much as I love the film I;m not always certain the magical and reality always mesh perfectly. A couple of turns  are much too neat for words which keep me from being absolutely over the moon about the film. I say this as some one who absolutely love many of the sequences in the film to the point I am cursing not being able to get to the NYICFF screening to see them on a big screen.

Worth a look for anyone who wants to see a good story out of Syria that isn't all death and destruction.

Little Nicholas Happy As Can Be (2022) NYICFF

Animated gem of a film is the dual story of the creation and creators of the Little Nicholas comic strip and the adventures of their character as well. Sweet little animated film begins with the creation of the Little Nicholas comic strip and then moves into the adventures of the little guy and his friends.

This film is a delight. It’s a “hand drawn” film that is certain to put a smile on your face. It’s a celebration  of a creation and the creators that is just a lot of fun. I just chuckled my way through the film from start to finish.

While the film is good fun from start to finish, I’m not going to lie and say it’s perfect. The sections of the films on creators René Goscinny, and Jean-Jacques Sempé where Nicholas isn’t involved are less compelling. Yes they are good, but the problem is its about the life of grown ups which makes them less fun that Nicholas. The Nicholas stuff is a blast and I’m so annoyed that I never ran into him before this.(I will have to track reprints down)

If you need to smile you need to see this.

It plays tomorrow and the next two weekends at NYICFF is absolutely worth your time. It

Goodbye Don Glees (2022) NYICFF 2023

 

The official  synopsis of the film says its about three friends who go into the woods in order to find a drone that will clear them of setting a fire. The reality is that the film is a complex look at friendship and our place in the world and each other's lives

This is a lovely memory tale. Its a tale that gets all of the little bits of being a geeky teen friend right. There was so much I could relate to from when I was geeky teen.

If you ever want to know what animation can do to enhance a story consider that this is pretty much a straight forward drama  However the created images and color palette, things not possible in the real world with out looking wrong, here add emotional depth. The hand drawn world trumps the real and instantly puts us in a head space from frame one.

I was stunned.

As good as much of this film is I don't know if it all works. The structure of a memory play doesn't always hold together. The problem isn't the structure at self rather it's that early on director Atseuko Ishizuka can be felt manipulating things.  You feel her angling for the end game, and while it did make me misty, I kind of felt it wasn't wholly earned. I don't want to feel manipulated.

Still outside of that this is a really cool film and I for one can't wait until it's done with the festival run and I can see it in theater with my niece.

Recommended

Panda Go Panda plays NYICFF 2023

Back again after several previous appearances at NYICFF, PANADA GO PANDA is Hiyao Miyazaki working in support of his friend and co-founder of Studio Ghibli Isao Takahata.

The film is actually a couple of short stories of a little girl and pandas. It is an absolute delight and shows the seeds of what would become the Ghibli style.

While I could talk about the historical importance of the film the truth of the matter is the reason you want to see this is because the film is a blast. It doesn’t matter who you are this film is just an absolute delight and it is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

I can’t recommend this enough

The New York International Children's FIlm Festival opens Friday

 

Friday the New York International Children’s Film Festival starts and the world is better for it.

I’m in heaven at the thought of spending several weekends in the dark seeing great films with great people. In all seriousness the people running NYICFF are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. They love to talk and discuss the films and they everyone feel welcome. The audience too are marvelous full of adults and kids who love to share their enthusiasm for the films. There is nothing like talking to kids who explain to you why the film they just saw was the BEST.

The thing all of you adults need to realize is that the films and the screenings are for you too. Yea it’s a festival that says it’s a children’s films fest but it’s for everyone of any age regardless.  Everyone is welcome as long as they like great films.

I’ll be at the festival the entire first weekend. I’ve  got a lot of films to go through so expect lots of coverage. I’m still working out the second weekend and trying to see if I can get out to Sag Harbor for the third weekend.

There are just too many films to see and not enough time.

As this posts I’ve seen few of the shorts and five of the features. I’ll be posting the new reviews and reposting the old reviews beginning in a day or so.

I’ve enjoyed everything that I’ve seen so far so my advice is just go see what ever tickles your fancy. I say this because most of the coverage of the fest is going to be after the fact since I will be going to the festival so I can’t do a big recommended list.

Go buy tickets. There is great stuff there.

Tickets can be had here

And if you see me and my monster bag come say hi