n&k
In religion, a revelation is commonly understood as an act of disclosure or communication from a higher, divine force. Depending on its significance and momentousness, it can trigger a change in one's beliefs or, more simply, a conversion. For a non-believer, however, a revelation can only be ascribed to a deceptive perception leading to a false impression of reality - in other words, to an illusion.
Until very recently I was a resilient cartoon atheist, an agnostic of the non-live action image. With the notable exception of Hayao Miyazaki's masterpieces I have always remained curiously untouched by the beguiling pleasures animation feature films n&k seem to provide to most people around me, children and adults alike. Although it is as enjoyable and worthy genre as any other, I believe it needs certain qualities and a very specific pace and mood to sustain the viewer's attention for more than an hour.
That's why I have been procrastinating the inescapable duty of watching Pixar's Toy Story 3, a film that has been hailed by many as the best motion picture of the year. Admittedly, I am always biased against an animation film n&k when I sit down to see it, and TS3 was no exception, not least because any title with a number higher than 2 gives me the creeps unless the film has been directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Nevertheless, I obediently fulfilled my duty and I can state that TS3 can claim my unrestrained admiration for its technical perfection, its superb writing and its faultless craftsmanship. But was it a revelation? Was I converted? Not really, hélàs. I still was, I thought, painfully impervious to the magic of the animation world.
And then, suddenly and unexpectedly, the ghost of a genius literally came back from the dead to conjure up the miracle of the conversion thanks to 80 minutes of sheer illusion.
Jacques Tati (1907-1982), one of the greatest comedic filmmakers of all time, wrote the script for The Illusionist at the end of the fifties, just before filming Mon Oncle (1958). He set the story in Czechoslovakia and supposedly dedicated it to his daughter Helga Marie-Jeanne, whom he had abandoned when she was a baby. The script remained unproduced for five decades, partly because Marie, Tati's other daughter, was wary of the idea of any actor impersonating her father's unmistakable persona. In 2003 French director Sylvain Chomet, who had received an Oscar nomination for his previous film Les Triplettes de Belleville, was passed the script by the caretakers of Tati's work and followed Marie's old idea of turning it into an animation movie, relocating the story to Scotland.
Where does the difference between The Illusionist and TS3 lie? Which element of the former convinced me to take this leap of faith?
Both TS3 and The Illusionist are remarkable films on its own merits, independently of their attachment to the animation genre. Radically different in their surface (lavish and aseptic in Toy Story 3, delicate and affectionate in The Illusionist), both films share a central thematic thread: they are both the story of a disillusion.
The plot in TS3 revolves around Andy's imminent departure to college and the uncertain consequences this crucial moment in any young adult's life has for the future of his toys. In that sense, TS3 can be compared as much with Beauty and the Beast or The Little Mermaid as an animation motion picture as with, let's say, Lone Scherfig's An Education or, given the film's surprising cruelty, Frank Perry's Last Summer as a coming-of-age film. The disillusion in The Illusionist comes, paradoxically, from the character's disenchantment with his own profession and, as a result of it, with a very particular way of seeing and understanding life.
tag : n&k
In religion, a revelation is commonly understood as an act of disclosure or communication from a higher, divine force. Depending on its significance and momentousness, it can trigger a change in one's beliefs or, more simply, a conversion. For a non-believer, however, a revelation can only be ascribed to a deceptive perception leading to a false impression of reality - in other words, to an illusion.
Until very recently I was a resilient cartoon atheist, an agnostic of the non-live action image. With the notable exception of Hayao Miyazaki's masterpieces I have always remained curiously untouched by the beguiling pleasures animation feature films n&k seem to provide to most people around me, children and adults alike. Although it is as enjoyable and worthy genre as any other, I believe it needs certain qualities and a very specific pace and mood to sustain the viewer's attention for more than an hour.
That's why I have been procrastinating the inescapable duty of watching Pixar's Toy Story 3, a film that has been hailed by many as the best motion picture of the year. Admittedly, I am always biased against an animation film n&k when I sit down to see it, and TS3 was no exception, not least because any title with a number higher than 2 gives me the creeps unless the film has been directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Nevertheless, I obediently fulfilled my duty and I can state that TS3 can claim my unrestrained admiration for its technical perfection, its superb writing and its faultless craftsmanship. But was it a revelation? Was I converted? Not really, hélàs. I still was, I thought, painfully impervious to the magic of the animation world.
And then, suddenly and unexpectedly, the ghost of a genius literally came back from the dead to conjure up the miracle of the conversion thanks to 80 minutes of sheer illusion.
Jacques Tati (1907-1982), one of the greatest comedic filmmakers of all time, wrote the script for The Illusionist at the end of the fifties, just before filming Mon Oncle (1958). He set the story in Czechoslovakia and supposedly dedicated it to his daughter Helga Marie-Jeanne, whom he had abandoned when she was a baby. The script remained unproduced for five decades, partly because Marie, Tati's other daughter, was wary of the idea of any actor impersonating her father's unmistakable persona. In 2003 French director Sylvain Chomet, who had received an Oscar nomination for his previous film Les Triplettes de Belleville, was passed the script by the caretakers of Tati's work and followed Marie's old idea of turning it into an animation movie, relocating the story to Scotland.
Where does the difference between The Illusionist and TS3 lie? Which element of the former convinced me to take this leap of faith?
Both TS3 and The Illusionist are remarkable films on its own merits, independently of their attachment to the animation genre. Radically different in their surface (lavish and aseptic in Toy Story 3, delicate and affectionate in The Illusionist), both films share a central thematic thread: they are both the story of a disillusion.
The plot in TS3 revolves around Andy's imminent departure to college and the uncertain consequences this crucial moment in any young adult's life has for the future of his toys. In that sense, TS3 can be compared as much with Beauty and the Beast or The Little Mermaid as an animation motion picture as with, let's say, Lone Scherfig's An Education or, given the film's surprising cruelty, Frank Perry's Last Summer as a coming-of-age film. The disillusion in The Illusionist comes, paradoxically, from the character's disenchantment with his own profession and, as a result of it, with a very particular way of seeing and understanding life.
tag : n&k
