Filmfestivalen 2015

Filmfestivalen 2015

Release the Draken!

I'm a bit concerned. For the last gazillion years, or at least twelve, I have been volunteering at Göteborg Filmfestival, working alongside the awesomest people at the best picture house in all the land, leaving me free to watch as many films as possible at my leisure. As such, I didn't need to plan so much ahead and buy tickets, I could just watch any film that happened to be the talk of the town at a whim. This year, however, I attend the movie extravaganza as a regular Joe, wielding tickets and all. It will feel different, but I just know, once I sink down in those comfy chairs, that the screen will, as it always does, take me away to far off places, to meet interesting, lovely, sordid, boring and hilarious people. And experience films I will, wielding tickets and all.

/Martin

Kaguyahime no monogatari (The tale of princess Kaguya)

AdventurePosted by Martin 2015-01-29 22:41:27

Fairymation by Isao Takahata, Japan 2013
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2576852/?ref_=fn_ft_tt_1

From Studio Ghibli (Spirited away, My neighbour Totoro et al) comes the aquarelle animation adaptation of a Japanese folk-tale from the 900's, in which a simple old bamboo cutter one day finds a tiny princess in a bamboo shoot, a princess that all of a sudden turns into a baby girl. She grows quickly, and the bamboo cutter and his wife do their best to give the girl all she could wish for, as the princess from the heavens that she truly is. But suitors and riches and the lifestyle of a proper lady is not what she wants, and she starts longing for wherever she can call home.



As beauty goes, this one raises the bar. Every cell is a piece of art, carefully hand painted in water colour. The story is gripping, joyous, tear inducing and dramaturgically perfect. A feminist story with origins from feudal Japan that somehow doesn't feel out of place. To add to this film's credit, the acting (both the voice acting and the animated facial expressions and body language) is spot on. What's missing is hard to tell, but to mark it a masterpiece, that little extra something is lacking. That doesn't stop 'The tale of princess Kaguya' from being an awesome and stunningly beautiful film.

Bechdel test: Pass

5 treasures of 6



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Akane

AdventurePosted by Martin 2015-01-24 02:47:50

Teenadventure by Yuno Sakamoto, Japan 2014

http://k-yumecinema.com/

In a mid-size town in Japan something peculiar is going on: the youth start acting all grown-up and responsible-like, in no way how kids ought to behave. Akane and her friends decide to investigate what's happening, and their quest takes them to the dreamscape of their comatose friend, in order to defeat the manifestation of the contagion.


The barely 15 year old Yuno Sakamoto holds the director's megaphone, and she's aided by other teens in the creative department. As such, the interpretation of the youngsters’ situation gets bbelievable yet somewhat amateurish. Parts Inception mix with parts B-grade karate film á la 80’s, and any logic keeps well hidden in the background. Which, I suppose, is reasonable, seeing that the story in great deals takes place in the world of dreams. A film primarily for the younger crowd.

Bechdel test: Pass

3 mascots of 6





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