The festival have put me up in nice hotel, just a couple of minutes walk from the center of animation hub. It’s a nice, top floor room that looks out over the town, and would be ideal, except for the lack of internet connection, thus my blogs coming a day late, as I have to get into town before I can post them. I’m not sure why the festival thought it would be good to put someone with a Press pass in a hotel without internet, and so an inability to easy get copy away efficiently… I can only assume they’ve read my articles.
Also this means I can’t check my facts like I normally do to make me seem cleverer than I actually am, so apologies for any inaccuracies that will inevitably litter these postings.
One perk though is that I’ve been give a room with twin beds. This means that when I wake up in the night all clammy and horrible from the muggy night’s humidity I can just climb into the nice fresh and cool spare bed. A great tip for anyone planning on coming to next year’s celebrations.
It was good to get up feeling fresh though, especially after my long day beforehand, as the first event I was attending was the relatively early Shorts and Breakfast. I love Shorts and Breakfast, me, and it never seems to be too oversubscribed, given that it is a small, early morning, low key affair. I always turn up early to nab myself a table, and the diligent bar staff supply us with free coffee and croissants, while Serge Bromberg, the festival’s Artistic Director waxes lyrical with the directors of the previous days short films in competition.
It’s great to attend this having caught the shorts the day before, and, as I found the first time I attended this – not so great if you haven’t seen them… unless you just wanted the free coffee and croissants. I’m a big fan of DVD extras, and this is essentially what Shorts and Breakfast is. Where else could you hear Bill Plympton talk about his latest close up in such a relaxed, informal manner? Well, probably anywhere that Bill Plympton happens to be, actually, but I’m sure you know what I mean.
Also, I have learnt to pick up a portable translator set on my way in. Not all the film makers speak English, so the festival provide a personal radio receiver, and broadcast a live translation, helping us understand anything that is being said in Dutch, French, Portuguese or Welsh. On the flip side, the translator also translates any English speaking directors words into French, so if you get bored of what they’re saying, you can put the headset on and listen to a sexy French accent whispering huskily into your ear. And that’s for free too. Nice. Usually that sort of thing costs a fortune.
First exciting feature of the day was the Steve Carrell voiced animation ‘Despicable Me’. The film was packed out, as you’d imagine. I hadn’t booked for this one, so had to queue for tickets. As the crowd became a bigger mass of anxious people it was looking less and less likely that I would actually bag myself a ticket for this showing, but as luck would have it I was approached by someone who couldn’t make it and handed me their spare ticket. I’d juts like to thank the name on the ticket – Emmanuel Pierre, in case one day he ego searches his name in Google and comes across this blog. Cheers, Emmanuel, you stupid fool. What the hell were you thinking just giving away your ticket? You big dumb idiot. You could have flogged it for a fortune! I felt like Charlie Bucket with my golden ticket, and accordingly danced a jig off to the cinema, kicking my heels in the air, an ugly mass of envious people staring daggers into my back.
Just before the lights went down Serge Bromberg walked onto stage and informed us that this screening was a premier. Not just an Annecy premier, but a World premier -we were to be the first audience ever to see this film, which made the already giddy audience of the Grande Salle even more excited.
Now, I must say that I find it hard to enjoy a CGI animation that has not been made by the might Pixar giant. The standard they set is so immensely high that other animation houses struggle to meet it, and I can only unavoidably find myself comparing the work to that of Pixar. John Lassetter and crew have spoiled me.
And so it is high praise indeed that I can happily say that ‘Despicable Me’ was brilliant fun. Carrell’s character, Gru, is an evil mastermind. The look of the character is Leo Baxendale’s Grimly Fiendish mixed in with Danny DeVito’s Penguin. Everything about him is despicable. He drives a despicable car, lives in a despicable house filled with despicable dead animals, despicably mounted or turned into furniture. He wears a despicable roll neck sweater and drinks despicable coffee from a despicable multinational high street coffee shop chain (Quite obviously Starbucks, but the film makers shy away from naming names). He is flanked by odd yellow tic tacs with eyes – the Oompa Loompa like ‘Minions’ – and an evil inventor, oddly voiced by Britiain’s very own despicable embarrassment, Russell Brand.
Things kick off for Gru when he is caught napping, and someone steals one of the great pyramids, instantly usurping his position as top evil genius. Obviously keen to reinstate this lofty status, he hatches a wild plot which will never be beaten – and plans to steal the moon, which leads to an exhilarating face off with arch-arch-evil pyramid thief Vector (who turns out to be a comicly geeky nerd boy, and who would probably would have been played by Steve Carrell had this film been a live action comedy).
The scenes between Gru and Vector vying for the top evil genius spot are hilariously executed, and packed with top gaggage. “But!”, I hear you cry, “we can’t watch a film that is just full of funny jokes about about evil genius’s being evil! What about out delicate moral sensibilities? Nobody will go to the cinema to see this if it is just about evil geniuses being evil! Where are the three orphan girls he has to grudgingly adopt, initially hating them, but slowly realising that he loves being a parent and becoming a much better, well rounded human being? We demand a mawkish emotional journey, not just evil genius fun”. To which I say “Well, I was coming to that bit. Jesus. Give us a chance.” before adding “Are you sure you’re a proper of the representative member of the audience and not a studio executive in disguise?”
Yeah, at first the orphan girls introduction does not achieve much else than signpost the direction in which the film is heading. But the characterisation of each girl is brilliant, and their place in the film is integral to the overall plot. This is not Huey, Deuy and Louie out with Unca’ Donald. Each girl has their own distinct personality and their own role to play in the film.
Gru must adopt the orphans as part of his wider dastardly plot to steal a shrinking ray from his nemesis, Vector, so that he can secure investment money from the bank. You see, evil plans don’t come cheap. It’s truly a great touch that the one thing that strikes fear into the heart of an evil genius is a trip to the bank.
However, as his grand plan start to be allayed as the girls lives take precedence in the eyes of Gru, he is forced to choose between his new life as a foster dad, or his evil old ways. Guess which one he ultimately goes for.
A hilarious film with some cracking gags and real depth to the characters, especially with both Gru and Vector’s parental issues, this animation flies by incredibly enjoyably. It is a testament to the films success that it received a very long standing ovation at the end of the screening that would have gone on until the crowd started to drop dead with exhaustion, throats dry from cheering and hands bloodied and blistered from clapping, had the film makers not eventually requested the applause to stop.
To sum things up simply; Despicable Me is wicked. Now let’s see how many newspapers overuse that phrase once it comes out on general release.
I have seen two other feature films in competition today: ‘Piercing 4’, and ‘Metropia’. I don’t have the time to write them up now, but will be doing so in the near future. Both were highly enjoyable pieces of work, and very deserving of my time, so I will try to do them both justice soon.
Now to finish off with a quick round up of today’s shorts in competition.
Je T’aime
My first Anime. It’s set in Tokyo, naturally in the future, and naturally everyone has been wiped out. All apart from a dog. A Basset Hound. God knows why he was spared, perhaps he’d popped out to appear in a boring American comic strip and then came back to find everyone dead. The film looks amazing, as you’d expect form this sort of work, and the detail is truly startling up on the huge screen. All the minutia is there in evidence – the animators have even spent time drawing the dogs little arsehole just to make sure nothing is left out. Possibly a bit too much time given that I noticed it enough to warrant giving it a mention. I don’t usually stare at dog’s arseholes in movies. Honest.
In the center of Tokyo a weird robot woman thing made out of French horns appears, and the dog keeps fetching her back various types of balls, until she is surrounded by dozens and dozens of spherical objects. It’s fair to say that there was a load of balls on the screen. Eventually she blasts a special ball and stuff blows up and all that, and then God knows what happens. It’s an Anime film. You know the story. Or rather, you have no idea of the story.
Lipsett’s Diaries
A very arty piece this, I didn’t follow the story as I was so taken in with the drawing. It was like wandering around a life drawing class were the students are encouraged to use any medium they like. Some great examples of animated artwork on paper, rendered with pencil, oils, collage and various other forms. Visually interesting, and one I will have to revisit to see what the plot was all about, if indeed there was one at all.
About St Basil
A Russian folk tale is on offer here, animated in fun, cartoony 2D. It centers around a mad old tramp who lives in Moscow. He is given spare change by the townsfolk which he keeps and never spends. When he dies the tramp leaves to the now vast amount he has accumulated to the town and so becomes sainted. There’s a mad old tramp who goes around Newcastle but I don’t think he’ll be made a saint for his generous monetary nature – not unless Carlsberg Special Brew start handing out the award.
The Village
A really nice bit of stop motion puppetry is on display here. A doctor gets a call from the local village asking him to come to their aid immediately. On arriving he finds the town to be deserted and in a bad state of disrepair, so sets about fixing things up. Although he methods for fixing a broken chair leg involve a flimsy bandage and a ceiling in bad need of propping up with a joist gets a bit of wood banged into it. I’m just glad he’s not my doctor. Honestly, if he was a genuine labourer he’d be taken to court, or at the very least filmed secretly for ‘Britian’s Worst Builders’.
The quirky character design is remarkably similar to John Cleese, and his characteristic walk makes him seem like something out of the ‘ministry of slightly odd walks’. This film, similar to the previous popular stop motion film ‘the Weatherman’, is hghly enjoyable, if only let down by the ‘Oh, it’s that kind of ending, ending’, as seen recently in ‘Lost’ and ‘Ashes to Ashes’.
Don’t Go
I hate cats. Cats are horrible little twats. Scratching things and yowling. Round them all up, shove them into a bag with some bricks and toss it into a canal. And then shoot it. Bloody cats.
This film however, has the best cat in the world in it. I love this cat. I adore this cat. You go anywhere near this cat, you so much as hurt one hair on his lovely little cute cat face and I’ll come after you.
Featuring a live action cat chasing and attacking a CG compostited one eyed pink rabbit creature around a room, ‘Don’t Go’ made me convinced at first that this was an amazingly real looking fake CG cat. How else would the film makers have got it to react so convincingly and act so well with an animated rabbit that was to dropped in later? This cat puts Bob Hoskins to shame.
The last few shots of this animation are sans rabbit. Just cat. Just cat reacting and twitching and chasing nothing but thin air. This is a mental, mad cat with a personality that has inspired an amazing film. Coupled with a crowd pleasing soundtrack, I think this is a very strong contender to hold aloft the audience award on Saturday. It’s got a cat in it!! Awwww!! Look at the cat!
Fossil Memory
A very stylish film, created, from what I can tell, from charcoal and chalk. A suitable medium indeed for a story about a young boy finding out about the mine in which his grandfather worked. This is a really interesting piece, and especially nice as the method used has that wonderful ‘ghost’ effect of previous frames where the drawing has been rubbed out and redone. In an industry where flashy, seamless computer trickery is commonplace, it’s really nice to see a film were you can see the methodology, as previously displayed in the popular ‘Blu’ wall art stop frame animation.
Hand Soap
A typically bizarre offering here from Japan. Starting off with frogs being hurled at a wall, and bludgeoned to death we instantly realise that this is not cuddly safe Disney enchanted frog territory. This is the story of a germophobic young boy reaching puberty. At least I think that’s what it was. It was hard to follow, not least because the film seemed intent on making the audience turn away and wince as much as it could.
So we were treated to acne being revoltingly squeezed numerous times; a long thick penis with an anus on the end that laid big fleshy fatty eggs, and a dissected frog dancing merrily away, with all its guts hanging out on display. Actually, the audience sheered that last one, truth be told.
Hand Soap is notably mainly for the technique employed. Where some 2D animation use ‘moving holds’, or ‘boiling lines’, Hand Soap uses the same technique for every frame – backgrounds, textures, the lot. The result is a look that ripples away constantly on screen, almost as if we are viewing the film through a fish tank. The human skin textures throughout are created with detailed, magnified close ups of actual human skin, uncomfortably bringing us far closer to a spotty teenagers acne strewn face than we ever should have to be. Luckily the final film of the shorts in competition was shown after dinner, as the acne imagery would have put me the fromage I had for my lunch.