Back to my Roots.

So a quick "fyi" to my readers, but something amazing happened. What was this amazing event? Well, a few weeks back the New York International Children's Film Festival took place in wonderful Manhattan and I was excited to see that they were going to have in person screenings. Why is that big news? Aside from the fact that we might be going back to some sense of normalcy, I absolutely love the movie theater experience. Getting immersed in the world of the film, the darkness of the theatre, all of my real world issues and problems disappear for a few hours and this was the first time since 2019 that the venue had an actual audience and I wasn't going to pass up this chance.

So I went to five screenings for animated films (my personal favorite medium) over the course of three weeks and I thought I'd get back to my roots and do something I haven't done in a while, but love doing, writing a review. I love critiquing, I love it so very, very much. I love to sit down and analyze a film, TV show, comic, etc. and think about what works and what doesn't work. So I felt like doing a top five of the five films I saw at the NYICFF.

5. Number five was a weird one for me. I was immediately drawn into the short blurb about The Ape Star "a young girl gets adopted by a gorilla? sign me right up for that!" But little did I know that I grossly overlooked the age demographic for this movie. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking, "Well what did you expect Wit? You went to a children's film festival, surely you should've known that this was a film for babies." to which I reply, "Hey, for the record the festival also screened films like 'The Night is Long, Walk on Girl,' in the past. A film where the first thirty minutes is devoted to the main character drinking her weight in booze as she meets random weirdos on the streets of Japan and she doesn't even get tipsy." I was drawn into The Ape Star for it's quirkiness and while I don't dislike it there are reasons why it's number five. While the relationship between the main character "Jonna" and her adoptive gorilla mother is very sweet and a well established, it's everything around them that's annoying.

For one thing, the dialogue is pretty bad. I'm sure things had to be altered and some things were lost for the english dub, but my top three films are dubs and they did a bang up job. Jonna's fat faced friend who thinks the Gorilla is abusing Jonna, the mealy mouthed matriarch of the orphanage who's about as spineless as a sea sponge and the antagonist who's an evil real estate agent, or government official or investor or something, I don't know the movie wasn't exactly clear on what he is or how he gets away with his dubious business practices, the only thing we know is that he wants to knock down the orphanage to build a water park and then sets his eyes on the junk yard that Jonna and the Gorilla live instead and that he's a jerk. But, I truly love the scene's where Jonna and Gorilla have bonding moments and Gorilla teaching Jonna about the books she loves, the junk business and fireside chats on camping trips. So a cute movie, but I'd recommend watching it with an actual child so you don't feel so out of place.

4. Truth be told reader, if this was a top ten list then The Ape Star would be ten, this would be nine and eight through four would be, I don't know me talking about my favorite episodes of Star Trek, M.A.S.H, Columbo or how much I hate Star Trek Picard. Not that Turning Red was bad (title drop), but it was just very strange. Kind of on brand for the director though, since Domee Shi also did that bizarre "Bao" Pixar short that had me more bewildered than anything else. Even more so when "Bao" won an Oscar, but I digress. It may sound like I have an axe to grind, but I really don't. I have been telling people that Turning Red is good, but that comes with a big red asterisk (or in this case, a red peony), that I had zero expectations going into this movie. The trailers leading up to the premier didn't give me any ideas on what this movie was about. "Ok, so a Chinese girl has an overbearing mom, can turn into a giant red panda and there's early 2000's Backstreet Boys music playing. This tells me nothing other than the red panda is a puberty/period metaphor." And while I love being right in my snarky assumptions, there was more to it than that. The protagonist "Mei" finds out that the women of their family is cursed to turn into a giant red panda when they reach a certain age and uses this as a way to make money so she and her friends can go to a boy band concert. Yeah, I'm sure I'm reading too much into it, but with the period joke/metaphor established, it's kinda hard not to think about it when Mei turns into a panda and becomes popular and uses the panda for monetary gain.

But now I'm going to remove Turning Red from the fire and give it some praise. The movie does a really good job at capturing the lifestyle of a pre-teen. I'm sure everyone has seen the "Mei doodling under her bed meme" at this point, but it's a fun scene and most importantly it's relatable. Everyone had cringeworthy moments like that in their life. Heck I shipped my self-insert with Sailor Mercury when I was young. The animation style is also superb since all the characters are so expressive and lively and the style is giving a quite a few nods to the Ghibli style. And I love Mei's friends, I can't remember their names, but I remember everything else about them. Their mannerisms, quirks, the fact one of them is just a super aggressive Mabel Pines. Yes I could look up their names, but I don't want to. Besides I think the movie kinda planned that we wouldn't remember their names so all of Mei's friends have very noticeable color schemes to set them apart from everyone else. Also the climax of the movie is so ridiculous I can't help but love it. So in summery Turning Red exceeded my non-expectations and should be commended. Certainly liked it more than "Onward" or "Soul."

3. Ah the top three. The creme de la creme, the best of the best and the main reasons I wanted to do this exercise. Despite my ragging on "The Ape Star" and "Turning Red" I do love it when a movie is quirky and not just bland, by the numbers tosh. It shows that there are people out their willing to take risks and further the advancement of art, animation and film in general. Which is why my number three spot goes to Poupelle of Chimney Town. Based on a manga I've never heard of, the story is about a young chimney sweep named "Lubichi" and his chance encounter with a man made of garbage. While I've had a particular thorn in my side about 3D anime in the past, I can safely say that Poupelle is one of the best examples of 3D anime done right (see also Dragon Quest: Your Story and Lupin III the 1st) and with a heartwarming story with a vibe of "The Iron Giant as directed by Miyazaki."

Set in the titled Chimney Town, where the city's smog is so bad that no one's seen the outside world in many generations, Lubichi hopes to one day see a sky full of stars like the ones that appeared in his father's stories when he was young and with the help of the garbage man (Poupelle), help uncover the mysteries surrounding Chimney Town and why people who poke around about the outside world disappear overnight. I really don't want to spoil much, since I highly recommend this movie, but I friggin love the opening musical number. It's a high energy halloween song, written and preformed by the artist "Hyde" and it's a straight up BANGER.

2. If you noticed how my last spot was rather sparse of snarky and snide comments, it's mainly because I honestly can't think of anything that rubbed me up the wrong way about it, certainly nothing worth mentioning. Which brings me to my number two on the list, Charlotte a beautifully crafted biopic about Charlotte Solomon, a German-Jewish expressionist artist and her life in the 1930's and 40's and the work that would out live her entitled "Life? Or Theatre?" a collection of over 700 paintings depicting the artist's life. Quick disclosure, I love history. I even considered it for my major at one point, so when I read what this film was about and came to the realization that I had no idea who this woman was, I made sure to buy my tickets. Honestly the films visuals are great, probably the best out of the five. And my favorite thing about it is that it's so rare to find an animated film that utilizes the "language of cinema" so well. The lighting is perfect, the settings feel very realistic, aka, Berlin in the 30's was basically the Nazi's playground and France wasn't THAT much better. Also, the most creative scene transitions I've seen in a long time. Each major event is almost catalogued in Charlotte's art, a blank white screen soon gives way to rich gouache colors eventually creating one of Charlotte's real life paintings.

Also the ending blew me away, not to spoil anything but Charlotte Solomon was a Jewish woman in Nazi infested Europe, there is no way this ends well for her, but the ending left me absolutely gob smacked. I still remember the final scene playing out and no one applauded at this incredible film. No one said a single thing, we were all just stunned by how the final scene played out. Eventually when the credits rolled, people clapped, but I'll never forget how the theatre felt after that final scene.

1. Oh how I "umm'd" oh how I "ahhh'd" oh how I "err'd" between this and "Charlotte." But in the end while I loved "Charlotte" for being a great film and a history lesson, my number one film goes to Pompo the Cinephile. The story of how young and plucky producer Pompo and her nervous assistant turned director Gene set out to create an Oscar winning blockbuster. I mentioned the language of cinema before and if "Charlotte" was a great example of said language, than Pompo the Cinephile is a superb translation guide. The film is about the making of a film and covers everything to the casting, scripts, shooting on location, the dangers of reshoots and financial backers pulling the plug on your project. But for me, the reason why it's my number one, is because it reminded me of why I love film. It took me back to a time when my father was alive and we'd watch movies together and when he died and my mother had to work multiple jobs and all I had was a TV, a VCR and a bunch of VHS tapes (wow, guess I'm showing my age here). It reminded me why I've always been fascinated by film, by animation and why I've always wanted to be a part of that world. So Pompo the Cinephile won my top slot and my heart at the same time despite the name sounding a tad dirty. I know cinephile isn't a dirty word, it just means a "movie lover" (like me) but it sure does sound like a dirty word. Like what Pee-Wee Herman got arrested for in the 90's. Too dated? It sounds like what Harvey Weinstein got arrested for.