Category: Live Action

Scott Pilgrim Fans Vs. The World

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hisuiconThe fandom around the movie Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was a fascinating phenomenon to me. I saw a dozen of news articles, blog posts, podcasts, forum debates, twitter discussion, and Facebook rants after the movie’s first weekend in theaters about the question: “Why did Scott Pilgrim Bomb?” The best analysis of why the movie did not do well the theaters was the article on Cinema Blend as its five reason were pretty much spot on. But what interested me more than the fallout at the box office was the strange cult of Scott Pilgrim fans that made the movie into a line in the sand on which the future of entertainment was based.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #092

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House of Five Leaves was a quietly compelling series that came full-circle in its story. Something about beginning and ending with the same gesture really gets to me in a good way. As Masa starts to connect to each member of The Five Leaves he is changed but through his gentle and honest (minus, you know, being part of a kidnapping ring) nature he genuinely surprises and moves the people around him. Yaichi remains a bit of an enigma throughout to the people around him, even Masa is still making the connection with him in the end but learning about his past allows him to be more of an open book atleast to the audience. It wasn’t immediately obvious from the first couple of episodes that this story would be more of a personal journey rather than about the crimes playing out. As the you begin to puzzle out the story it becomes gripping despite the languid pacing. House of Five Leaves has atmosphere and characters who tell you who they are with the slightest of actions. Beautiful and recommended, I am looking forward to picking up the manga as well.

hisuiconI must say that the House of Five Leaves anime picked the perfect place to end. When adapting an ongoing manga it can be hard to decide where to end especially when the source material is very character and plot driven. But Tomomi Mochizuki ended at the point where you had insight into all the main characters and everyone had a good arc of character development. You got the impression that everyone had changed greatly since you had first met them and you had a decent idea of who they were. Masanosuke still has growing to do, Yaichi still has unfinished business, and we could have learned a bit more about Otake but overall if the manga had ended here I don’t think anyone would have felt cheated. I was sad to hear that this was got fairly low ratings for a noitaminA show in Japan. When something that is extremely experimental like Trapeze gets ratings like that I am not too surprised. But I would have assumed the mature quality would hook a noitaminA audience. That is a shame because this is a well done historical character piece that while not extremely fast in it’s execution is great at building up an atmosphere that draws you into a group of very unusual kidnappers and their stories. I hope to finish the story through the VIZ manga.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #081

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hisuicon Waking Sleeping Beauty is a fascinating documentary highlighting the renaissance of Disney animation from 1984 and 1994. It goes in depth on how the perfect storm cam together to create amazing Disney films like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, and the Little Mermaid after it seemed like Disney animation was dying. The studio went from putting out box-office bombs to having Beauty and the Beast nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards. The film shows how the triumvirate of Roy Disney, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg were all so instrumental in the success of these movies and how the tensions between them would eventually kill the renaissance as easily as they built it. The film uses archival footage, sketches, and caricatures from the artists of the time to ground the documentary in the period to great effect. It goes to show how luck plays just as much of a part in the creation of a great film as hard work does. Amazingly insightful and extremely well-executed. I think parallels could be made with the most recent rise and fall of anime as well for a clever soul out there.

What struck me as very unique about the story of Waking Sleeping Beauty is the focus on the artists, directors, musicians, and all other manners of the creation process rather than the infamous infighting between Roy, Michael, and Jeffery that has already been well-documented. This documentary goes deeper and really shows the hard-work of all those people who rarely made it into the newspaper. The way that it is cut together with only old footage much of which is very off the cuff like home movies (the only things that are new are some of the voiceovers) really helps it to feel grounded in reality and not like some glossy corporate highlights reel. What I found truly incredible about this 10 year journey was the proof of fate, that sometimes the right people come together at the right time and it can never be duplicated because the factors were so diverse. That isn’t to say that hard-work and dedication isn’t the most important part of this project, it’s central to what these animators especially went through to perfect these films, but there is a little bit of magic in these people getting together and making it all happen. Waking Sleeping Beauty is insightful, funny, moving, and may make you believe in Disney magic.

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