Doc’s Fantasia Fest Journal
Week 1: Animation
The Fantasia International Film Festival runs until August 3rd
Get tickets HERE
By “Doc” Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director
The Fantasia International Film Festival’s 29th year is off to quite a start. I’ve seen some truly w-i-l-d stuff, some of which I’ll be talking about below, but what’s most impressive and important is the variety! I don’t know about y’all, but I’m a sucker for animation. Though it has admittedly started to shift, for a long time animation in America was viewed as “for kids”, and most of the stuff that broke free of that label did so by leaning heavily on shock tactics like sex and violence. I believe that animation is its own art form, capable of telling any kind of story, and for any type of audience, exactly the same as film.
I think there should absolutely be animated features for all tastes. To that end, I’ve selected four animated features from this year’s Fantasia, and arranged them from most- to least-accessible to all audiences.
I Am Frankelda (Soy Frankelda)
Written by Arturo Ambriz, Roy Ambriz
Directed by Arturo Ambriz, Roy Ambriz, Mireya Mendoza
A sprawling storybook epic with maybe a turn or two too many, I Am Frankelda is still a marvelous debut feature as well as an actual triumph of stop-motion animation and creativity. And I Am Frankelda is all about creativity, about the world of fiction where dreams and nightmares come from. When an aspiring young writer’s stories enable that world to cross over with ours, an epic battle between the various clans inhabiting the so-called Realm of Spooks ensues. The worldbuilding is a little unclear, but, like a half-remembered dream, the logic doesn’t matter as much as the feeling you’re left with. I think animation geared towards children should do more than just distract them. To that end, I Am Frankelda is an impetus to follow your passions, both in its messaging and its methods. There are so many creative tricks and gorgeous visuals to be found that it’s worth watching on that metric alone, but as a sweet, all-ages friendly film about chasing your inspirations, it’s impossible to beat.
ChaO
Directed by Yasuhiro Aoki
A riff on The Little Mermaid (the 19th century fairy tale more than the 1989 animated film, to be clear) with touches of environmentalism, futurism, and a specific flavor of character design and animation common to STUDIO 4°c productions, ChaO is at its core a very sweet love story. When an aspiring engineer and designer, Stephen (Oji Suzuka) falls overboard during a punishment by his boss, he awakens in the hospital having somehow won the heart of the Princess of the Ocean. The movie follows their, pardon the pun, fish-out-of-water romance, which teaches a lesson about how buried traumas of the past run the risk of ruining good things in your future. I love the animation aesthetic of this studio; aside from shape-shifting merpeople, there are humans of all shapes and sizes (Stephen’s boss is mostly an orb for instance), but even the “standard” humans are exaggerated and instantly identifiable. The only thing keeping this from being all-ages friendly is some very inoffensive but juvenile moments, like a character perpetually picking their nose, or someone with the nickname “boobie rocket missiles”. Nothing to clutch pearls about.
Death Does Not Exist (La mort n'existe pas)
Written and directed by Félix Dufour-Laperrière
When firebrand Helene (voiced by Zeneb Blanchet) freezes at the moment her group of ragtag revolutionaries storms the compound of a local wealthy family, she is forced to watch as everything falls apart. Fleeing into the wilderness to avoid security, she unknowingly sets off on a spiritual journey where she will confront her past, her future, and the horrible moment she is running away from. There are some shocking moments of violence, and graphic depictions of skinning and eating animals, which is balanced and almost heightened by comparison to the delicate, painterly-textured animation style that utilizes color in very unique ways. Emotionally moving, and with a tantalizing sense of the supernatural, Death Does Not Exist is a tremendous example of what the term “adult animation” can be.
Dog of God
Written by Lauris Abele, Raitis Abele, Ivo Briedis, Harijs Grundmanis
Directed by Lauris Abele, Raitis Abele
To say that Dog of God has a lot going on would be an understatement, no matter how frequently or decisively you say it. First things first: the rotoscoped animation--a process which I’m particularly fond of, wherein filmed elements are animated directly over top of--constantly flirts with the uncanny valley by presenting characters and environments that feel realistic and tangible, but somehow off, and drenched in the color palette of a blacklight poster. Then there’s the subject matter: sex plays a major part in the narrative, with frequent appearances from butts, bare breasts, penises of many shapes and sizes, and The Devil’s Testicles (I don’t know why I capitalized that, it just felt polite). However, if you can look past what seems like shock tactics, there’s also a very mystically fascinating film constructed here. Though playing with a power struggle between the local pastor and a local baron, wherein barmaid Neze (voiced by Agate Krista) is either dangerous witch or a helpful naturalist healer, the depiction of the supernatural crosses into numerous houses of belief. Imagine Ken Russell’s The Devils set at the foot of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain, with the palette of Panos Cosmatos, and the whole thing is a segment in 1981’s Heavy Metal, and you’re getting close to the aura of Dog of God. Not for everyone, but extremely for some of us.
