LA Cinema Youth

Here’s a revised version of the article I previously posted from Nicholas. He’s included a few overlooked films, such as Sony’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (what he hasn’t told you is that this is being directed by the team who created the short-lived Clone High, which was respectable as far as TV animation goes).

Honestly, looking over this list, this year’s Oscars will be one wild ride. It’s likely we’ll see Laika, Pixar, Ghibli, and Disney all compete for the big prize. Let us all hope that animation fully arises once again (though John Kricfalusi will insist it’s still dead no matter what).

Beyond Coraline: Animated Film For The Rest Of 2009
By Nicholas Zabaly

What a year 2009 is looking to be! Not only did we get Coraline, one of the finest examples of the imaginative potential of animation, but eager fans the world over have a lot of other great films to look forward to in the next nine and a half months. I’ve included films that have already been released in March for the sake of providing a complete listing, and also for comparison purposes. And now, for your reading pleasure (and cinematic anticipation), here is the shortlist of what’s coming up, where it’s coming out, and why (or if) you should take note.

March 2009:

Doraemon: Shin Nobita no Uchū Kaitakushi (Doraemon: Nobita’s How Space Was Won New Edition)
Release: 03/07/2009, Japan (Shinei Animation)
Interest Meter: Low
Info: Doraemon is one of Japan’s best-loved children’s characters, but his films never see US releases. For the uninitiated, the titular character is a blue mechanical cat from the future who has enjoyable adventures in the present era while teaching young viewers simple lessons. His human friend, Nobita, is a perennial idiot who is primarily motivated by whatever desire he has at that exact moment (usually, desire for food). This film is a remake of an earlier movie from 1981 that concerned the same story arc in the source manga. While the Doraemon film sometimes have surprisingly good animation, the lack of US interest probably means this movie will be for the YouTube only crowd.

Chō Gekijōban Keroro Gunso 4 (Sgt. Frog Movie 4)
Release: 03/07/2009, Japan (Sunrise)
Interest Meter: Low
Info: Sgt. Frog is another Japan-created character that hasn’t made much of an impact Stateside. These film versions don’t typically build on the story, but instead adapt easy-to-digest manga plot arcs or go with movie-only adventures. Sgt. Frog is an alien who means to conquer Earth, but he and his band of soldiers find themselves reduced to frog-form upon arrival, thus defusing their menace and endearing them to a loyal adoptive family of humans. Their subsequent misadventures play upon this unforeseen development. This is basically anime’s equivalent of a movie serial: like Doraemon and a number of other shows, there is a new film every year to generate interest and make money. For the anime companies, these are typically the movies that bring in profits. For American fans, they’re suitable for followers of the show, and not of much interest otherwise.

Monsters vs. Aliens
Release: 03/27/2009, US (DreamWorks Animation)
Interest Meter: Medium
Info: An interesting concept and some stylish effects animation highlight the previews for Monsters vs. Aliens, the first big studio American animated release this year. But overly silly humor (that strikes this reviewer at least as humorless) and shaky execution mar the anticipation ratings. This is one of those films that could go either way: maybe the trailers don’t do the movie justice, and passing early judgment is a mistake. On the other hand, this could be an example of too much general parody at the cost of an engaging take on the material. DreamWorks has been on a roll lately (with both the Bee Movie and Kung Fu Panda showing off in both the artistic and story departments), so I have hopes for Monsters vs. Aliens, but I’m carefully keeping them under control until the final product is revealed.

April 2009:

Crayon Shin-chan: Otakebe! Kasukabe Yasei Ōkoku (Crayon Shin-chan Movie 17)
Release: 04/18/2009, Japan (Shinei Animation)
Interest Meter: Low
Info: Anyone doubting the popularity of the foul-mouthed child Shin-chan need only observe the fact that this is his seventeenth movie, well over a decade and a half since he started tearing up Japan’s airwaves. While artistically these movies are nothing to rave about, they have the reputation of being funny, so fans will likely be amused. For non-fans, though, there’s really no way in at this point, so a return to earlier films (or TV episodes) would be encouraged. The likelihood of a US release is also rather slim.

Meitantei Conan: Shikkoku no Chaser (Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser)
Release: 04/18/2009, Japan (Tokyo Movie)
Interest Meter: Low-to-Mid
Info: Detective Conan, known as Case Closed in America, is an enduring and famed crime series with a kid’s sensibility: a genius teenage detective is, thanks to some misadventures, trapped in a child’s body. As a junior sleuth, he still takes on dangerous and tricky assignments and is never far from people who, remembering his teen form, want him dead. This film is the thirteenth in a long-running series, which also involves a manga and TV version. The higher interest on this film than the other franchise pics is due to the fact that we might get to see it in America: FUNimation has been distributing the series (as well as a few of the films) for years now, so a license might be in the future.

Tenjō-nin to Akuto-nin Saigo no Tatakai (Munto the Movie: Last War of Heavenloids and Akutoloids)
Release: 04/18/2009, Japan (Kyoto Animation)
Interest Meter: Mid-to-High
Info: A theatrical version of the final episodes of this year’s Sora o Miageru Shōjo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai (commonly known among fans as Munto), this is fan-favorite studio Kyoto Animation’s first movie. Kyoto Animation has in the past few years developed an extremely high reputation for animation and storytelling quality with their TV works, so needless to say, expectations are mounting for this movie effort. However, the film has limited appeal, since it serves as a cap for the concluding TV series, and it will be shown in just two theaters across Japan for two weeks. Besides this, much of the actual animation will be taken from the TV version (which is already near-theatrical quality), with just some new scenes added. The likelihood of a US release will probably depend on how well the TV version DVDs sell, and in any case, we can’t expect a theatrical release here even under the best of circumstances. This movie is of great interest to anime fans and Kyoto Animation watchers, and will probably be an interesting discovery for more casual animation watchers in video rental stores in the years to come.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Ragan-hen (Gurren Lagann Movie 2)
Release: 04/25/2009, Japan (GAINAX)
Interest Meter: Medium
Info: The second recap movie of the fantastically popular TV series Gurren Lagann, this film version will follow in the footsteps of an earlier film (released last year) that summarized the show’s first half. This movie will tackle the second half (approximately thirteen episodes worth of content) while mostly using existing footage. However, some new animation will be created to fill in storytelling gaps and ‘plus’ the action scenes. The film will also feature an all-new song sung by idol Shoko Nakagawa, who rose to fame after singing the TV version’s opening theme. For the uninitiated, Gurren Lagann is a send-up of the mecha anime of the 1970s and 1980s, where manly strength and bravery were the weapons that really won the day. In this way, the show is a return to an earlier, more innocent time in the mecha genre, which was inexorably altered by GAINAX’s own classic 1995 series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Evangelion took mecha into a deeper, darker, and more introspective and existential direction, so Gurren Lagann gloriously returns to the stupid, fun ‘manliness’ the genre was once known for. Gurren Lagann is undoubtedly one of those shows that every anime fan will (and must) see, but the fact that the movie is primarily a recap intended for new fans (and the hardcore who will watch everything) means it probably won’t get the same boost or interest level that it might otherwise.

Kōkyō Shihen Eureka Seven: Pocket ga Niji de Ippai (Eureka Seven The Movie: Pocket Full of Rainbows)
Release: 04/25/2009, Japan (BONES)
Interest Meter: Very High
Info: The 2005 TV series Eureka Seven was Studio BONES’ second attempt at the mecha genre (after their early series RahXephon), and to this day remains one of the triumphantly fun and imaginative adventures that anime is so well-regarded for. While plenty of individual plot motivations were been borrowed from other shows, the enthusiasm of the characters and their twisting relationships (which led to romance) was what drove this series and made it so enjoyable to watch. Additionally, the concept of mecha that wind-surf (while it sounds preposterous, it actually looks amazing) allowed a lot of the great action animation and choreography BONES is known for and gave the show extreme-sports appeal. This new movie is reportedly a new take on the story and characters, with a revision of both the plot and the general world. This makes it similar to the Escaflowne Movie, BONES’ earliest, which to this day remains one of the triumphs of anime cinema. Whenever BONES does a theatrical film, they pull out all the stops and spare no creative expense, so expect talent, pizzazz, show-stopping action scenes, and, according to the promotional material, “one more love story.” Besides this, a recently released spectacular trailer (which can be found on the show’s official website, http://www.eureka-prj.net/) has raised expectations even higher. With the TV series having done well in America, animation fans here can probably expect at least a DVD release in the years to come.

May 2009:

Up
Release: 05/29/2009, US (Pixar)
Interest Meter: Very High
Info: Pete Docter’s new movie just might be Pixar’s biggest gamble yet. A story about an elderly man who tours the world in his flying house, this is the kind of tale that one expects to find in a children’s picture book, not on the big screen. But on screens it will be, and in 3D no less: the first of Pixar’s films to be thus converted. The animation world has been speculating about this film for years, and there’s little to say that hasn’t already been said. But as the hype and rumors about this film have asserted, for Pixar to keep going Up from here might be a challenge: with WALL•E already under their belt, they’ve not only outdone themselves, but the entire animation world. Nonetheless, as Pixar’s efforts until late 2011 will be sequels, this looks to be the last (for a while) original wonder trip from them, so my bets are that it will not only be amazing, but unlike anything we’ve seen before.

June 2009:

Suske en Wiske: De Texas Rakkers (Luke and Lucy: The Texas Rangers)
Release: 06/17/2009, Belgium (Skyline Entertainment)
Interest Meter: Low
Info: The first CG animated feature film to be produced in Belgium, this take on the American western is essentially a children’s film for the local market. Other than it being a first for its respective country, it doesn’t seem like the sort of thing that will be released in America, or would have a lot of appeal if it were. However, you never know, really.

Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance
Release: 06/27/2009, Japan (Khara)
Interest Meter: Very High
Info: Evangelion is probably the single most famous anime-unique franchise (this excludes game-based franchises like Pokémon) the world over, and without question helped propel the medium to its tremendous success globally. Now, fourteen years after the original series, the second in a set of four new movies will hit theaters at the end of June. A direct continuation of 2007’s Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, the film will continue to retell the TV story with a number of changes and twists, and all-new animation. The first film was a visually spectacular revelation, quite simply among the finest crafted animated movies of all time, so expectations for Evangelion 2.0 are understandably astronomical. Studio Khara, which is handling the production, was set up just to make these four films (they are likely to shut down after the project is completed), and to achieve their goal they reunited much of the original staff, plus dozens of the best talents in Japan, to create the highest quality animation. With Evangelion 2.0 going in a decidedly different direction than the original TV series story, fans are eagerly anticipating what will happen next. While we won’t see it in America this year, Evangelion 2.0 is one of those films that every animation fan should watch for. If it follows in its predecessor’s footsteps, it will easily be among the best (if not the best) of the year.

Summer 2009:
(I’ve created a generic ‘Summer’ label simply because many of the films due out do not have assigned release dates — expect them between July and August)

Summer Wars
Release: Summer 2009, Japan (Madhouse)
Interest Meter: Very High
Info: Mamoru Hosoda, the director originally slated to helm Howl’s Moving Castle (before Miyazaki took over) is heading up this project at Madhouse. His name alone should attract attention: besides the Howl involvement, he also directed the 2006 film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, easily the best non-Ghibli anime of the past five years (in this humble reviewer’s opinion). This time, unlike with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (which was partially based on a famous novel from the 1960s), the story is completely original, and revolves around a family’s adventuresome road trip vacation, initiated at the behest of a 90-year-old woman. Apparently, the genre for this movie will be “family action entertainment.” What is certain, however, is the staff assembled: along with Hosoda, there is screenwriter Satoko Okudera (who wrote The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and is better known for her live-action scripts), character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (most famous for Evangelion), and art director Youji Takeshige (one of Ghibli’s best art directors, who has held that position on both Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away). The studio, Madhouse, also was the production company behind The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and their name recognition (and inclusive attitude towards the artists) allowed Hosoda to assemble a dream team of animators for the previous film. This time around will likely be a similar case. While Hosoda’s films don’t usually feature explosive action, they convey interpersonal relationships and individual character animation brilliantly, so his work is always a pleasure to behold as a refreshing change of pace from standard anime. Watch for this film… it might just be the best of the summer.

Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai
Release: Summer 2009, Japan (Production I.G)
Interest Meter: Very High
Info: Mamoru Oshii (not to be confused with Mamoru Hosoda) is, along with Miyazaki, among a small handful of anime directors who have achieved true international fame and respect. The director of the landmark Ghost in the Shell and co-creator of the Patlabor franchise, his touch on a project is almost always a sign that it is one to watch. Such is the case with his latest, Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai, which he has created and is writing. The actual directorial duties for the film have fallen to long-time animator and master craftsman Mizuho Nishikubo (formerly known as Toshihiko Nishikubo), who has worked with Oshii a number of times in the past. The film itself is a samurai action film, and knowing Oshii’s philosophical streak, it will likely be at least partially contemplative in nature. The staff also includes character designer Kazuto Nakazawa (he is best known in America for designing the characters of Samurai Champloo), art director Shuichi Hirata (known for Metropolis and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence), and animation director Kazuchika Kise (a major figure at Production I.G and among their best talents). For those interested, an English-subtitled trailer is available (at http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/video/1622/), although an American release is probably at least a year or more off.

July 2009:

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Release: 07/01/2009, US (Blue Sky)
Interest Meter: Low-to-Mid
Info: Blue Sky wowed animation fans with Horton Hears a Who last year, but this third installment in the Ice Age franchise seems like a return to their normal mid-level quality work. While Ice Age fans will likely enjoy this, it’s hardly the place to join the series for newcomers, and the original creator (Chris Wedge) is not in the director’s chair this time around. Appreciation of this will probably be dependent on familiarity with the previous films, and of course appreciation for the humor style (something I, sadly, have little of).

Pocket Monster Diamond & Pearl: Chōkoku no Jikū e (Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: To the Conquest of Space and Time)
Release: 07/18/2009, Japan (Oriental Light and Magic)
Interest Meter: Low
Info: The latest in the long series of Pokémon films (this is the twelfth), this particular movie completes the Diamond & Pearl trilogy started two years ago. The Pokémon movies always do good business in Japan, and are sometimes surprisingly decent (past films have dealt with important issues for children, such as self-identity, rebellion, and even notions of destructive violence), but when they are released in America, they are always dubbed, rescored, and re-written, sucking their interesting and meaningful elements out. Other than for dedicated Pokémon fans (who will watch this online) or for children who like the Americanized version, this movie will likely not have mass appeal or promote any deeper notions than completing the popular trilogy-story and of course marketing new characters.

August 2009:

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Release: 08/14/2009, US (Ghibli, released by Disney)
Interest Meter: Very High
Info: Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film is finally making it to America, sometime this summer. Not only has the movie received rave reviews around the world, but it is also the most animation-intensive work Ghibli or Miyazaki has ever created: 170,000 animation drawings, all done without the aid of the computer. The entire film is handcrafted, without any digital touch-ups or effects. This monumental achievement, when hand-drawn animation is on the wane, will surely interest animation fans. But the simple story of the film, which harkens back to My Neighbor Totoro and is at least partially inspired by the childhood of Miyazaki’s own son, Goro (director of the 2006 movie Gedo Senki), has great appeal for both children and adults. I won’t reveal any of the premise here, because doing so would give away a lot of the magic that comes from ‘discovering’ Miyazaki’s worlds as they unfold on the screen. However, this is probably the best ‘family’ animated film to come out of Japan in many years. Shortlist this, along with Up, for likely Oscar consideration at year’s end.

September 2009:

9
Release: 09/09/2009, US (Starz Animation)
Interest Meter: High
Info: Based on director Shane Acker’s short film of the same name, 9 is a post-apocalyptic rag-doll movie… something I can safely say I never thought I would see. Nine separate sentient dolls each struggle against mechanical creatures bent on their destruction, and all the while attempt to save the legacy of humanity. While the plot is at best a shadowy proposition (more details are likely forthcoming, but the marketing has left things drenched in mystery), the celebrity voice cast (which includes Elijah Wood and Martin Landau) and the interesting style are sure to attract many curious movie-goers. It is a CG film, but meant to resemble stop-motion. Huge, highly-detailed environments of great realism are the haunting grounds of the dolls, and their adventures in these places, even if not ultimately the most original, are promised to look great. This is probably one of the more high-concept animated films that we’ll get, similar to other CG experiments of the past, so while I can’t make any predictions on the actual quality of the story or film, I can practically guarantee it’ll look great.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Release: 09/18/2009, US (Sony Picture Animation)
Interest Meter: Medium
Info: Sony’s big animated release for the year, this film (which is adapted from the children’s book of the same name) promises to provide a comical spin on the disaster movie and parody the genre’s conventions. If Sony’s past works are an indicator, this will probably be a good-looking movie with big plusses in the effects, although the studio’s handling of characters has always seemed to me a bit uneven. This might be their big break, though, in that they are working from an existing source and are shooting for a specific aim (parody) in the content, much as Horton Hears a Who did last year. Sadly, details on the film are few and far between at the moment, so we’ll just have to wait and see how it ultimately turns out.

October 2009:

Astro Boy
Release: 10/23/2009, US (IMAGI)
Interest Meter: Medium
Info: This CG film version of the classic Japanese anime by Osamu Tezuka features a Hollywood voice cast and animation done by IMAGI (previously known for the TMNT movie, aka Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) at their Hong Kong studio, but has been plagued by production problems which have primarily stemmed from lack of steady financing. If the movie does make it out at its scheduled time, it will be the first of several planned Hollywood-driven CG remakes of anime, so from that standpoint, it may be a trendsetter or breaker. I haven’t seen much of the movie in action, but if one keeps managed expectations, there could be a pleasant surprise here (especially for children not familiar with the Astro Boy mythos or the darker themes explored in the original).

November 2009:

Fantastic Mr. Fox
Release: 11/06/2009, US (20th Century Fox Animation)
Interest Meter: Mid-to-High
Info: This is a rather interesting project, in that live-action filmmaker Wes Anderson is directing. Originally, this was to be an Anderson / Henry Selick co-production (with Selick serving as animation director), but Selick left in early 2006 to work on Coraline, and so the project went through several gyrations (and a studio change) before coming together. Work has been going on in London, with Anderson and new animation director Mark Gustafson overseeing much of the same crew that created Corpse Bride with Tim Burton in 2005. It is primarily a stop-motion film, but will feature other methods and styles as well. George Clooney and Cate Blanchett are set to lead the voice cast, which also features many Anderson regulars. Plot details are scarce, other than that it will involve a wily fox who outwits three exploitative farmers, but expect a fairy tale, Wes Anderson style, and you’ll probably have a good idea of what this will be like. Could very easily be the most interesting and unique animated film of the later part of the year.

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
Release: 11/10/2009, US (Khara)
Interest Meter: Very High
Info: The date listed above isn’t for a theatrical release, but rather the DVD release, of this film. I am listing this because there will almost certainly be a theatrical release, probably the same week as the DVD comes out, as this has been the pattern in the past from this distributor, FUNimation Films. As mentioned above in the Evangelion: 2.0 preview, this is the first film in a set of four which is (slowly) being released. Evangelion: 1.0 originally came out in Japan in the fall of 2007, and went on to be the second best-selling DVD of the year in 2008. Having seen the film several times already, I can promise viewers spectacular action sequences, marvelous art direction, memorable music, terrific voice acting, and a great story that leaves you ready for more. This was 2007’s animated movie, the best of the best, and should be seen on the big screen when it finally comes out. FUNimation is also sending this around the festival circuit, so keep your eyes and ears open for a screening near you.

- EVANGELION HEADS UP! - A special advanced screening of this film will be held on Saturday, April 11 at 7 p.m. at the Laemmle Monica 4-Plex in Santa Monica as part of the Japan Film Festival Los Angeles. The screening will be in Japanese, with English Subtitles. Tickets are just $10 each. Details and ticket information are available at:

http://www.jffla.org/films/evangelion-10

Planet 51
Release: 11/20/2009, US (Ilion Animation Studios & HandMade Films, distributed by TriStar Pictures)
Interest Meter: Low-to-Mid
Info: This CG film, produced in Madrid, Spain, follows a human astronaut who lands on an alien planet, only to discover the ‘little green men’ living the American dream, 1950s-style. While, like many of the projects listed here, details are scarce, it looks like it will be an amusing send-up of sci-fi films, and should be fun for kids. Despite the Spanish origins, TriStar is set to give the movie the Hollywood dub treatment, complete with stars (and not the ones in the sky), including Gary Oldman. It’s tough to say what this will be like, but at the very least, seeing some Spanish animation should be interesting.

December 2009:

Yona Yona Penguin
Release: 12/??/2009, Japan (Madhouse)
Interest Meter: High
Info: The first CG anime from Madhouse (with much of the actual animation done by an international collection of companies in France, Thailand, and of course Japan), this engaging children’s film is about a young girl with a penguin obsession who is transported to a fantasy world where, due to her penguin pajamas, she is mistaken for the savior of a kind-hearted civilization of goblins. I happen to be somewhat personally invested in this film (I was involved while interning at Madhouse’s US office). I can tell potential viewers that this is a wonderful story, cutely realized, and helmed by Rintaro (one of Madhouse’s most senior and respected staff directors). This is likely to be a great family film with a delightfully realized fantasy setting and engaging, likable characters. The movie will be released around the world in 2010, with a US release probable (if it is licensed soon).

The Princess and the Frog
Release: 12/11/2009, US (Walt Disney Animation Studios, Feature Animation)
Interest Meter: Very High
Info: As the first hand-drawn Disney film since 2004, a lot is riding on The Princess and the Frog… a whole art form! Depending on how this film does, Disney may officially revive hand-drawn animation, so everyone (even animation people who normally diss Disney) is hoping for a hit. The credentials: Ron Clements and John Musker in the director’s chair(s), and an all-star assemblage of the surviving Disney animation greats, including Andreas Deja and Eric Goldberg. The music for this New Orleans-set movie is to be provided by Pixar regular Randy Newman, and Anika Noni Rose and Keith David (of Coraline) will be headlining the voice cast. Riffing on the fairy tale The Frog Prince, this will be a Broadway-style musical set in turn-of-the-century New Orleans, with plenty of voodoo and animal sidekicks to match. It also may well be the last animated-on-paper American film, since Disney (among others) have been pushing for drawing on digital tablets for future productions. While the movie has had its share of changes during production (including a change of title and the main character’s name), Feature Animation has been very carefully guiding the film and attempting to ensure success. It’s a tremendous gamble, but it could have equally tremendous rewards if things work out. As the cap to the 2009 animated year, the whole world will be watching, waiting, and hoping for a return to the Disney golden age.

And there, my friends, are 2009’s previews. Now go forth, and watch as many as you can! The animated world can only continue to grow if filmgoers continue to support the movies, and this year’s batch of movies looks to be among the very best. See you at the theater!

Darnit, Nicholas, stop working so hard!

My list was based more on speculation and prediction, while Nicholas addresses his own personal views. I’m a little shocked at his choice for Best Picture, but I haven’t seen his choice yet, so who am I to judge?

Nick’s Picks (and Pics!): Oscar Predictions for 2009

By Nicholas Zabaly
Since Cameron has already shared his list with the blogging world, I thought it only appropriate that I join the fray now that I’ve (at last!) seen all the Best Picture nominees. I will apologize in advance for at times going out on a total limb (which is just part of my non-pragmatic style when it comes to art) and picking movies I know have no chance of winning, but all you readers can suffice to hold in your hearts that my choices are my true choices, based on honest opinion and respect for the quality Hollywood has put forth (or not). So, while my picks will probably not end up all that accurate, you can be assured they are from the heart.
Additionally, a note on interpreting the list: italicized titles are those I’ve seen, while bolded titles are for those I’m predicting (or in many cases, just hoping) to win. I also have only listed categories where I’ve seen some of the nominees. Now, let’s get to it!

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

Richard Jenkins (The Visitor)

Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)

Sean Penn (Milk)

Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
WHY: This is, quite frankly, a darn hard category for me to pick. Three of the four performances I saw were extraordinary, and the fourth at the very least had some aspects of uniqueness, so it is rather difficult to pin down just one. But Mickey Rourke for me steals the show. Not only was this a great role for a great actor, but it was one totally mastered, completely emotionally convincing in its sincere bid for feeling. Moreover, Rourke had to master some very physical scenes and set pieces, and did so with remarkable effort and spirit. While a lot of people are making this out as a case where he will win due to the comeback nature of landing the role, I see this as a case where Rourke’s talent was finally untapped by a terrific screenwriter and director, who were able to encourage him to be all he could and go to the places that no one, much less a person who’s had as much trouble as him, want to go. If Rourke wins, and I think he will, it is totally deserved without any qualifiers or strings of any kind attached. This is, simply, just damn fine acting.
Best Actress in a Leading Role:

Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)

Angelina Jolie (Changeling)

Melissa Leo (Frozen River)

Meryl Streep (Doubt)

Kate Winslet (The Reader)
WHY: Because it’s finally Kate’s year, that’s why! The only competition here (at least, based on what I’ve seen) would be Meryl Streep, who totally dominated her habit without a Doubt (pun intended, however bad it may be), but Kate Winslet brought an amazing humanity to The Reader that overran normal boundaries of a good performance, instead conveying true life and dimension. She also had a very challenging character to do that with, in that very few actresses working today could make a person as deeply flawed as Hanna Schmitz relatable, let alone likable. But like her you do, in a way that is as fraught and twisted as the love she shares with her young admirer. Winslet is brave, revealing acting that isn’t afraid to play with raw emotion, teasing it out even in non-verbal moments. Having been recognized twice by the Golden Globes, I think it’s high time that the Academy awarded the remarkable Winslet with the prize she so obviously deserves.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

Josh Brolin (Milk)

Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)

Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)

Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)

WHY: Perhaps the most obvious choice of all this Oscar season, but not for the obvious reason. Of course, everyone thinks it would be only right for Heath Ledger to be awarded the Oscar for his final complete role (and if there is any justice in the world, it would), but to give Ledger the award for this reason would be to overlook what it easily a career-best performance, and one that no one other than he could have delivered. Ledger delved into his role with immense professionalism, reaching frightening depths that summon in audiences all the fears of this age. This is total immersion acting, even extending to the horrifying videos of his victims that the Joker films (which, of course, were shot by Ledger himself). Josh Brolin and Philip Seymour Hoffman also do top-of-the-line (and arguably also career best) work, and I don’t feel I could in good faith avoid saying that, were they not up against an iconic role, their work would be Oscar worthy. But this, quite simply, is Heath’s year, and at this point I can see nothing standing in his way. This Oscar, which I sincerely hope (more than in any other category) he gets, will be the final flourish on what can only be called an uneven yet glorious career. Bravo, Heath.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

Amy Adams (Doubt)

Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

Viola Davis (Doubt)

Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)
WHY: Amy Adams is, in my opinion at least, one of the finest young actresses we have in the film craft today. I first was made aware of her in last year’s Enchanted (which she deserved at least a nomination for), and seeing her again in Doubt, I can confirm that her talents spread across the full spectrum of genres. The key to her persona is a believable innocence, something that very few people can convincingly put forth. But her character in Doubt is not just naïve, but has a rich underlying dimension of having erected an image innocence to protect herself from the unpleasant possibilities the world has to offer. To a certain extent, all the supporting actresses (that I saw) this year had one-note emotion characters, Adams included. But in her performance, there was far greater believability, raw humanity, and sympathetic vulnerability than in the others. Only Marisa Tomei came close to matching her, and even then, Amy Adams is to me the clear victor. Hers is a performance I feel confident in studying, because it holds up to scrutiny. But to look at it in purely analytical terms would be a mistake, for Adams’ remarkable triumph is in creating an emotional bond between herself and the audience. It is better to ‘feel’ her than anything else, and the notion that we can feel, through a channel of sympathetic vulnerability, is quite astounding and certainly Oscar worthy.

Best Cinematography:
Changeling (Tom Stern)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Claudio Miranda)

The Dark Knight (Wally Pfister)

The Reader (Roger Deakins, Chris Menges)

Slumdog Millionaire (Anthony Dod Mantle)

WHY: Wally Pfister not only attempted to do something revolutionary this year, but succeeded: he shot some of the most challenging sequences of The Dark Knight, including a very lengthy and complex chase sequence, in IMAX. The challenge of working this out, and then creating camerawork that was not in any way hindered or held back by the difficulties of the technology, is itself astounding. But to then realize the filming of the rest of the movie so well, with such excellent shot choice, use of lighting, and especially effective movement, seals the deal. Roger Deakins and Chris Menges did fine work in The Reader, but it seems almost pedestrian compared to the marathon trial by fire that Wally Pfister not only survived, but mastered with aplomb. While other crowd favorites (like Slumdog Millionaire) might snatch up the prize, in my mind, Pfister’s camera remains one of the most distinct makers of The Dark Knight’s success as a landmark motion picture.

Best Editing:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter)

The Dark Knight (Lee Smith)

Frost/Nixon (Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill)

Milk (Eliot Graham)

Slumdog Millionaire (Chris Dickens)

WHY: Editing is perhaps one of the hardest categories to judge, because if a film is edited well, one will likely not notice the editing. More than almost every other aspect of moviemaking, editing is an ‘invisible technique’ to most. But good editing is always evident in effective scene flow, an in my mind, no film does this better this year than The Dark Knight. Lee Smith’s work feels like a natural progression, and nothing ever seems unclear, unnatural, or out of place. The film just flows off the screen, without the audience ever feeling they’ve been left behind by a change in location, or by inter-cutting of the numerous concurrent threads. Ultimately, it just comes down to effectiveness, and Lee Smith takes the prize for that.

Best Art Direction:
Changeling (James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo)

The Dark Knight (Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando)

The Duchess (Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway)

Revolutionary Road (Zristi Zea, Debra Schutt)

WHY: A number of imaginative worlds were conjured up in this year’s batch of production design, but for me, The Dark Knight is again triumphant. The reason is simple: everything in the art direction of Nathan Crowley and Peter Lando works, and works well. I never for a moment thought I was looking at anything other than reality, partially because so much of the film is actually shot on real locations, but also due to remarkably convincing attention to detail in the fantastical, such as the cell phone tracking machine, the high-tech Batman Basement, and the assorted dark places where the Joker lurks. A wonderful sense of the urban was conjured up here, and for anyone who’s ever been in an overbuilt old city like Chicago (where a lot of the film was shot), the drama is only made more authentic and frightening.

Best Costume Design:
Australia (Catherine Martin)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Jacqueline West)

The Duchess (Michael O’Connor)

Milk (Danny Glicker)

Revolutionary Road (Albert Wolsky)

WHY: All the nominees this year had the task of trying to match the clothes of an era (or in the case of Benjamin Button, curious or otherwise, several eras). And, of the films I saw, all of them did this admirably. My choice of Milk is partially based on my fondness for the film and subject matter, but it is equally due to seeing some of Danny Glicker’s costumes first hand (they were displayed at the Arclight Hollywood). They have a very smart fashion sense and have a great feel of realism, effectively capturing the Castro of 30 years ago in its best and most appealing light. While I suppose this is a category that could go either way, I felt the strongest connection to Milk’s costumes, as they totally fit the characters (and actors) wearing them, not only in the literal sense, but in the subconscious realm of psychological reinforcement. Harvey Milk looked and felt like Harvey Milk, with his smart suits and more casual relaxed wear, while Dan White’s straight-laced conservatism was likewise conveyed by his wardrobe. If the clothes make the man, then Danny Glicker helped make Milk. And in my mind, he did a fine job of it.
Best Makeup:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Greg Cannom)

The Dark Knight (John Caglione Jr., Conor O’Sullivan)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz)

WHY: Although plenty of incredible talents were on display this year in the makeup field, the brilliant work on The Dark Knight took things to a new level. Although it’s easy to overlook it now, creating a convincing and horrifying look for the Joker could have, in lesser hands, completely backfired and stripped the character of his visual menace. Instead, John Caglione Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan created a terrifying visage of cracking white makeup, blood-red lips, and threatening scars that has become as much a part of the Joker’s presence as Heath Ledger’s performance. Particularly incredible is the interrogation scene, where the Joker’s makeup (that has remained the same since the start of the earlier chase) is allowed to slowly crack and deteriorate throughout. This ingenious sequence demonstrates unbelievable attention to continuity (since it was not shot straight through in a single session), as well as total command of using makeup as an actor within the moment (for indeed, the makeup coming off and gradually revealing the Joker serves the scene tremendously and aids Ledger’s acting). Besides this makeup tour-de-force, the rest of the cast was also well attended to, including the convincing (and digitally assisted) appearance of Two-Face.

Best Original Score:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Alexander Desplat)

Defiance (James Newton Howard)

Milk (Danny Elfman)

Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman)

WALL-E (Thomas Newman)
WHY: For me, this is a clear choice. While the music in all the other nominees was decent, none of it was memorable. None, except for Thomas Newman’s score for WALL-E. The WALL-E score is a work of orchestral genius, with unique sounds and aural landscapes created for each environment (Earth sounds nothing like the Axiom), each character, and the whole range of emotion. This is simply beautiful scoring, far and away the best of the year (save the score for The Dark Knight, which the Academy stupidly disqualified), and indelibly a part of the WALL-E experience. Months after last seeing the film, I’m still humming the score (and believe me, it’s not an easy score the hum, as it’s rather complicated!). For any composer, that’s the mark of true success.

Best Original Song:
Slumdog Millionaire – “Jai Ho” (A.R. Rahman, Gulzar)

Slumdog Millionaire – “O Saya” (A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam)

WALL-E – “Down to Earth” (Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman)
WHY: Again, another clear choice. While the songs in Slumdog were good, there is a certain memorable feeling that lingers in Peter Gabriel’s lyrics and melody that, subsequent to seeing WALL-E, has become a part of my musical life. At emotional moments where my state of mind seems to match that of WALL-E and EVE, I find the song on the tip of my tongue. It continues to astound me that an unassuming song like “Down to Earth” would have that kind of power, but it does. It’s one of the great movie songs of the past few years, along with Melissa Etheridge’s “I Need to Wake Up” from An Inconvenient Truth.

Best Sound:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten)

The Dark Knight (Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo)

Slumdog Millionaire (Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty)

WALL-E (Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt)

Wanted (Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt)

WHY: This is an incredibly hard choice for me. Between The Dark Knight and WALL-E, we had simply phenomenal sound this year. On the one hand, The Dark Knight takes the sounds of the real world to a whole new level, transporting them to the same realms of aural iconography that the visuals have. One the other hand, WALL-E creates a whole new world of sound, an entire universe of things we haven’t heard before. Ultimately, I had to go with WALL-E, but it’s on a totally subjective level, and I wouldn’t at all be sad to see The Dark Knight take the prize.

Best Sound Editing:
The Dark Knight (Richard King)

Iron Man (Frank E. Eulner, Christopher Boyes)

Slumdog Millionaire (Tom Sayers)

WALL-E (Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood)

Wanted (Wylie Stateman)
WHY: Again, this is a hard choice. However, it’s made easier by the fact that I know the back-story behind Ben Burtt’s creation of the voice of WALL-E and the other robots. This is one of the great triumphs of sound editing, a fitting crown on the career of one of the greatest soundmen of our age. Richard King also deserves an ocean of credit for The Dark Knight; but it’s Ben Burtt’s year, and I sincerely hope he wins for this.
Best Visual Effects:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron)

The Dark Knight (Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, Paul J. Franklin)

Iron Man (John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, Shane Mahan)

WHY: If one will excuse the implication that Visual Effects are necessarily computer-created effects, and will allow the term to also cover Special Effects (those done in-camera, with models, or via non-digital means), then The Dark Knight wins hands down. This is some of the most convincing Special Effects work I’ve seen in a decade, with stunning models (remember the garbage truck being rammed by Batman’s tumbler? That’s a model!) and tons of physical effects work (really blowing up a hospital, which was actually a Brach’s candy factory). There’s even some good computer work too, including creating the appearance of Two-Face, and the shots of Batman flying and being pulled out of the high rise (which the director actually wanted to do, but the Hong Kong authorities would not allow it). If Visual Effects purely means computer work, then Benjamin Button will win, but if the Academy is willing to look back to an age where people really did effects physically, then The Dark Knight is an incredible triumph of the effects work of the past, brilliantly realized for the present.
Best Animated Feature Film:
Bolt (Chris Williams, Byron Howard)

Kung Fu Panda (John Stevenson, Mark Osborne)

WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)
WHY: This was a great year for animation. Technically, any of these nominees is deserving. In terms of a fully realized film, I’m torn between two of them. But at the end of the day, I have to go with WALL-E, because of the three, this is the only film I felt deserved to be nominated for Best Picture. It is my favorite film of the year, animated or otherwise. So, I give it my vote, and hope for the best.

Best Foreign Language Film:
Das Baader Meinhof Komplex (Germany)

Entre les murs (France)

Revanche (Austria)

Okuribito (Japan)

Vals Im Bashir (Israel)
WHY: This was a category where I wish I’d been able to see all the nominated films. As it is, I’m just barely able to squeak in at the last minute with my vote. But based on what I’ve seen, I have to go with Waltz with Bashir, Ari Folman’s masterpiece. This is a film that probably would be too hard to take if it weren’t animated, yet because it is an illustrated movie, the sentiments enter your heart in a completely different way than if it were live action. I personally think it is more affecting because it is animated. Besides this, however, it is a brilliant piece of filmmaking, and easily deserves the Oscar. My bets are on Bashir for the win.
Best Short Film, Animated:
La Maison en petits cubes (Kunio Katô)

Ubornaya istoriya – Iyubovnaya istoriya (Konstantin Bronzit)

Oktapodi (Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand)

Presto (Doug Sweetland)

This Way Up (Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes)

WHY: While This Way Up was highly creative and amusing, and La Maison en petits cubes was the most meaningful, Doug Sweetland’s Presto takes the prize for most entertaining and funny. There’s such a sense of enthusiasm and movement in his work that it really is impossible to resist. As a second choice, I wouldn’t be sad to see Kunio Katô recognized (as his film really is Oscar worthy in every regard), but my vote stays with Sweetland. Best of luck, Doug!
Best Original Screenplay:
Frozen River (Courtney Hunt)

Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh)

In Bruges (Martin McDonagh)

Milk (Dustin Lance Black)

WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon)

WHY: This is the category where I’ve seen the fewest films, so my judgment may be a little off. Nonetheless, I cast my vote once more for WALL-E. To be able to create such memorable and sympathetic characters largely without dialogue, and to master storytelling to such a huge extent via the purely visual, practically sends WALL-E back to the silent age of moviemaking. But in that environment of actions speaking louder than words, WALL-E’s script reaches heights of emotion and plot that seem almost unattainable. Despite its unconventional nature, this is as close to a perfect script as anyone is likely to find this year. With a great concept, wonderful characters, and a deep and moving story that totally transcends time, space, and international boundaries, WALL-E speaks to us all. That is an amazing accomplishment.
Best Adapted Screenplay:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Eric Roth, Robin Swicord)

Doubt (John Patrick Shanley)

Frost/Nixon (Peter Morgan)

The Reader (David Hare)

Slumdog Millionaire (Simon Beaufoy)

WHY: Having seen all the nominees, and having thought about all the scripts carefully, the one that emerges most strongly in my mind is, without a Doubt, that of John Patrick Shanley. Adapting his play (which has only four characters) into the rich film environment of the final movie, he hit upon timely questions of trust and faith, not only in religion, but across the entirety of society. The great performances of Doubt were only possible thanks to this great script, which is literally overflowing with top-notch lines and stabbing emotions.

Best Director:
Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)

Steven Daldry (The Reader)

David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon)

Gus Van Sant (Milk)
WHY: This is a very hard choice for me. Between Daldry, Howard, and Van Sant, there are three great directors at the top of their craft this year. Ultimately, though, I had to go with my favorite of the films, and that was The Reader. Steven Daldry directed his actors to remarkable heights, gaining revealing intimacy from them in every scene. Besides this, the flow of the film is unmatched, working from a great script and aided by a fine crew. But it is Daldry’s movie, and he executed it perfectly. There isn’t a single thing I would ask him to change, if I had the opportunity. This is great work, and highly deserving of Oscar honor.
Best Picture:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Ceán Chaffin, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshal)

Frost/Nixon (Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Eric Fellner)

Milk (Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks)

The Reader (Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris)

Slumdog Millionaire (Christian Colson)

WHY: Because, just as with Best Director, there just isn’t anything I would change with The Reader. It is the most emotional film, the most gripping, and the most memorable after the credits roll and curtains close. I truly think it is one of the finest films of the decade. Furthermore, it is a fine parting work from Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, who together helped to launch it into being and who both sadly did not live to see its success. I also have to highlight Frost/Nixon and Milk as being great movies that both deserve top honors. If any of these three won, it would be a happy day for me. Nonetheless, my top choice still remains The Reader, and with a little luck, I hope to see it succeed on Oscar night.

Thanks for reading all my comments, and sorry I didn’t get to the short live action films or any of the documentaries. Next time! Until then, here’s to Oscar!

Another article by Nicholas. This is a good one:

Land of the Setting Sun: Is The End Of Anime As We Know It Imminent?

Part I: Anime In America

By Nicholas Zabaly
Japanese animation, colloquially known as anime throughout the world, even twenty years after entering the international cultural milieu continues to remain a contentious subject. Mention the term in a group of American animation aficionados, and you may encounter scorn, even derision. Draw a comparison in conversation to a popular series among America’s youth, and you may be hailed a fellow otaku (here meaning anime fan, but in Japan referring to a fan of anything). The problem with anime is this profound divide: by forward-looking critics and cultural historians, it has been hailed as an imaginative medium that has directly impacted American live-action films, and to a lesser extent commercial animation. On the other hand, the animation establishment has more or less ignored or decried Japanese productions, either for artistic or business-related reasons. American union-member animators, perhaps justifiably, are angered at the popularity of an industry that essentially rose out of outsourcing in the 1970s. They also correctly level accusations that Japanese productions do not represent the artists with adequate pay or, until very recently, any union protection. And critics, who highlight the Golden Age of Disney as the pinnacle of the medium, see anime as an extension of the Clutch Cargo limited animation disaster of forty years ago. Other than increased stylization, there seems to be nothing, to these critics, that makes anime any different. Even in cases like Hayao Miyazaki’s Ghibli films, critics like Michael Barrier (in a posting on his website on January 20, 2006) have argued that, while the effects animation is frequently brilliant, the character animation and personality expressed in the works are not seriously considered. The end result of this is that, while anime is frequently hailed as a breakthrough medium, it is essentially ignored by the Hollywood superstructure. Even the few chosen prestige examples (Miyazaki’s films) are subjected to harsh criticism, such as that by the admittedly harsh Paul Tatara of CNN, who in his November 15, 1999 review called the landmark Princess Mononoke “… just a cartoon… and a surprisingly pompous one, at that.” This then leaves only smaller distributors, without the means for mass advertising campaigns or theatrical runs, to provide 95% of the Japanese animation available in the United States.
It is this system which is currently strained to the brink of collapse.

The Companies
Presently, distribution of anime in America is handled by a group of seven companies. The major players, ADV, Bandai, FUNimation, and Viz, are responsible for licensing the majority of content, while the smaller Manga Entertainment, Media Blasters, and Urban Vision either sit on older but still popular licenses, or occasionally acquire new content. Besides these, there are also a number of micro-licensors, who primarily exist as business entities devoted to other aspects of the anime business (such as retail) but who distribute individual series as a supplement. These include AN Entertainment and The Right Stuf / Nozomi Entertainment. Finally, there are powerful Japan-based rights-control groups who, while not actually distributors, aid the licensing process by providing capital or deals on large-scale multi-series agreements. These would include Kadokawa (the Japanese publishing giant), Sentai Filmworks, and Sojitz. All of these players set the bar for how much anime is distributed in America, what price it sells for, what distribution means are utilized, and how much of an impact American capital and fan-influence has on Japan-based productions. This system of small and specialized distributors originated in the infancy of American interest in anime. Streamline Pictures, founded by Carl Macek and Jerry Beck, was the first of these companies that focused exclusively on providing Japanese animated content (including what falls within the now-broad definition of ‘anime’), and with its success releasing films such as Akira, was quickly followed by others.
In this early period, anime was billed as exotic and strange, foreign cartoons uninhibited by Disney standards of decency. As a result, blood and boobs were the stock in trade in the early days. This of course caught the attention of open-minded animation fans and youngsters, while at the same time effectively ghettoizing the anime market and cutting it off from mainstream film company attention. Whether the path chosen in the early days was right or wrong for the medium, its lasting effects centered control of anime in America in the hands of small companies operating on the fringes of the home video market. Perhaps because of this, US involvement remained primarily in the distribution-only sector, whereas if a major studio had been involved from the get-go, the Japanese production side may have had to deal with more tampering and pressure to conform to American expectations. The small-time nature of distribution operations in America also encouraged an atmosphere of massive releases and (relatively) cheap licenses, and by the mid 1990s, enough anime was coming out so as to be noticed. The current ‘big seven’ all emerged (or had their parent company roots firmly planted) during this period. Through a combination of cashing in on ‘Americanized’ dubbed and edited anime shown on network television, and on continuing the ‘exotic foreign cartoon’ model of the past, the companies grew their businesses, culminating in the late 1990s releases of a small handful of classic series. These television anime, including The Vision of Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, and most famously Neon Genesis Evangelion, catapulted awareness to a new level, and formed the base of the current generation of most active and enthusiastic fans. Meanwhile, American investment in production-side activities reached a new level several years earlier, with the 1995 release of Production I.G and Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell, which was partially financed by Manga Entertainment. As the new millennium crested, the large studios had started to take notice.

The Majors & Miyazaki
Miramax was the first to dive in, releasing Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke to American theaters. The Ghibli classic, which still endures today as one of the finest anime ever produced, barely grossed $2.4 million in the United States and Canada, disappointing the parent Disney Company and setting back the cause of studio-released theatrical anime. Nonetheless, this release set into motion the long-term distribution deal between Ghibli and Disney, which has endured to this day. By granting what amounted to ‘Disneyfication’ of the English language dubs of Miyazaki’s films, the great master was given immeasurable status that immediately had the effect of setting him apart from the larger medium. It also created an atmosphere of ‘auteur’ clout around Miyazaki, cutting him off from the activities and accomplishments of his staff. In much criticism of his work, Miyazaki is treated as a god-like figure who does all the labor on his films himself, a notion helped by reports of how much time he personally invests in checking the key animation and drawing corrections. Lost in the glowing myth is the fact that Ghibli’s staff, while primarily comprised of full-time animators employed by the company, includes many who split their time between Ghibli and other studios.

First and foremost among these other studios is Madhouse, a company that was adopted early on by the anime fan subculture in the United States and revered in many ways as the ‘anti-Ghibli.’ By focusing on mature, hard-edged stories and frequently violent action animation, American Madhouse fans often saw little to nothing in common with the work being done at Ghibli under Miyazaki’s watch (this assumption on the part of the fans, as one may suspect, was based on Madhouse’s non-action works being overlooked or going unlicensed). Yet, major figures like Masashi Ando and Kitaro Kosaka more or less bounced back and forth between the companies, doing animation direction at Ghibli while designing characters (Ando) or directing their own material (Kosaka) at Madhouse. And among the ranks of the individual animators, even more crossover is apparent. Yet, because of the polarization of the different studios based on subject matter choice (a policy encouraged by US distributors) and the lionization of Miyazaki by American industry leaders like John Lasseter, an almost inseparable divide was created between the ‘prestige’ anime of Ghibli and the ‘subculture’ anime of Madhouse and other studios. Even (and perhaps especially) today, many self-proclaimed anime fans publicly state disgust with Miyazaki and Ghibli (although often in the anonymity of the internet), while traditional anti-anime critics and general American audiences recognize Miyazaki’s work (even if grudgingly) as era-defining for animation.

Of course, the most intractable old-guard figures in American animation do not take even Miyazaki seriously, and regard non-Ghibli productions with contempt. It is these figures who primarily form the upper levels of the system of peers in animation. Anime is shut out from awards events, studio screenings, promotional campaigns, and especially co-productions. Despite a wholehearted willingness to treat Asian subsidiary companies as creatively inferior cheap labor, virtually no one in American animation wants to give Japanese companies a creative voice. As a result of this, a large number of American animators, who themselves do not dislike anime, have no awareness of it and seem not to understand their Japanese compatriots conceptions of squash-and-stretch, purity of line, or sense of motion. The idea of international competition or collaboration simply does not exist, and American animators do not regard anime as taking place in the same artistic sphere as their own activities. The only crossover who has partially succeeded in bridging this divide is, perhaps unsurprisingly, Miyazaki. Because his traditional work ethic contains echoes of the old Disney, open minded proponents of traditional hand-drawn animation have held him up as proof that time-honored non-computer animation still has a place in the world. At the same time, a great number of these adoring critics conveniently forget his collaborators. An example is the 1995 film Whisper of the Heart. Since it is a Ghibli film, credit for it is often attributed to Miyazaki rather than its actual director Yoshifumi Kondo, Miyazaki’s friend and chosen successor, who sadly passed away before the baton was passed to him. Ghibli as a whole is conflated with Miyazaki despite the fact that the company has several directors, Isao Takahata among them. Looking beyond this, a disturbingly high number of supportive critics either purge Miyazaki of his Japanese origins or glory in his ‘exoticness’ while not attempting to understand it. This was particularly evident following the release of the Oscar-winning Spirited Away, where traditional figures of Japanese folklore (animal and elemental gods most prevalent) were often negatively referred to as ‘monsters too frightening for children,’ or were chalked up to being inventions of ‘those wacky Japanese’ while divorcing them of their symbolic context. One cannot help but wonder what the Japanese might think upon seeing the forms of North American folklore realized in a film. This is ultimately the heart of the problem: a chronic difficulty for fundamental cultural identity symbols to cross international lines. But because Miyazaki possesses the strength of truly rare genius, enough does cross over for people on the opposite side of the cultural divide to at least detect the universal sheen of quality, even if they don’t understand what it means. Thus, a two-tier system exists, where Ghibli (and Miyazaki in particular) are almost ‘forgiven’ for being anime (or are excused of the label all together), while everything else falls to the bottom.

And for a while, anime was content at the bottom. The money coming in from American licensing was a nice bonus for Japanese producers, and helped to create an increase in general animation quality and budgets from the early 2000s on. Whether a series sold particularly well or not mattered less than the amount of the original licensing fee, so the studios were not usually invested in the long-term appeal of their projects overseas. However, this gradually changed with the rise of anime conventions, a broadening of the anime fanbase, and the increased role of American distributor funds in putting together original productions in Japan. At one point in the mid 2000s, ADV co-founder Matt Greenfield justifiably boasted that ADV money was finding its way into about half of the original content produced in Japan for the Japanese market. This massive influx of capital had the effect of pumping up the Japanese production end on financial steroids, giving them the ability to martial resources previously all but impossible to attain. Korean subsidiary studios took on increasingly high volumes of work as the Japanese industry, fully into an animation boom despite the national economic bust, was unable to fill positions fast enough. Despite the fact that anime in the United States was still not being embraced by the general populace, and certainly was not receiving American industry support or respect, the Japanese end was flush with cash and happy. The stage was set for success.

This was the moment that the anime industry in Japan, and the anime distribution business worldwide, hit an intractable wall with the force of a high-speed train. That wall was the internet.

The End Of Business As We Know It

No one in Japan, America, or anywhere else was prepared for the effect the internet would have on the anime fanbase or on the distribution of content. Along with creating an immediate entitlement mindset among the otaku of the world (i.e., “I deserve this content, and I deserve it now”), the internet gave them a means to fulfill their lusts instantly. Because the distribution companies that held all the cards did not foresee this, and because Japanese financing and management companies that controlled the rights to the content were wary of leaping into a distribution stream they did not fully understand, the first wave of anime made available online was illegal. Taped off the original television airings in Japan, and then subtitled by fans, these ‘fansubs’ had an instant and dramatic effect. Before long, the question at university anime clubs and at animation conventions wasn’t “what new series are out in America now?”, but “where can I download free fansubs?” The industry, slow to react, did not realize the severity of the threat until a series of crushing blows had already been dealt. One of the major companies of the old guard, Central Park Media, went into extended hibernation in 2007 after the folding of the Musicland group (operators of the Sam Goody and Suncoast stores), in which they had a high financial stake. While Musicland went bankrupt for a complex series of reasons which did not directly relate to anime, the loss was generally regarded as the first blow dealt to a large distributor by fansubs and piracy, as well as a rebellion against the high prices of anime DVDs (so priced because of the limited number of copies sold, and due to requests from the Japanese producers, who sell DVDs in a market where prices average twice as much). But the real devastation came on December 3, 2007, when Geneon Entertainment, the huge (Japan-backed) distributor, fell under its own weight.
With a tremendous slowdown in US sales, the Japan side of Geneon, owned by advertising giant Dentsu, decided to pull the plug. Entire series were discontinued midway, and the jobs of all US-based employees were eliminated instantly. In the wake of Geneon’s fall, the remaining distribution companies had to deal with a sudden lack of confidence, an angry fanbase, and a shocked and reeling business model rendered worthless by its very attempts to deliver high-quality releases. The fans, it had become clear, didn’t want fancy packaging or special features. They wanted their anime, and they wanted it yesterday. Every moment that passed of an unlicensed show sitting in negotiations or a licensed series awaiting release was a moment that another fan went to YouTube or any of the BitTorrent streaming websites that had sucked up anime like sponges. In the immediate wake, all the major distributors assured their fans and customers that they were stable and on a good footing. But behind the scenes, the seeds of panic were sown.

ADV hit the wall next, in July 2008. For reasons that are still not entirely clear or public knowledge, the company’s Japan-based financing partner, Sojitz, had a sudden crisis of confidence in ADV’s ability to deliver profits. They were, perhaps, not unjustified. ADV had, since the licensing of landmark series Neon Genesis Evangelion, been cash-rich and at the top of their game, picking up a plethora of series and branching into magazine publication with NewType USA (itself licensed from the publishing giant Kadokawa Shoten). But ADV started to feel the fansub pinch, and an overall decline in anime sales due to the fading of its ‘fad’ status among casual pre-teen fans started to cut into profits. NewType USA was the first to go, discontinued and then replaced by a new publication, PiQ, which was entirely produced by ADV to save the cost of licensing content from Kadokawa. PiQ failed after just four issues. ADV then started to cut into other side businesses, discontinuing the Anime Network cable channel, the Anime ADVocates club outreach program, and ADV’s production and planning division ADV Pro. It was not long after this that the Sojitz partnership, which had already started to fissure, cracked publicly in spectacular fashion. Overnight, ADV lost the licensing of no less than thirty series, the vast majority of all their licenses since 2006. Critically crippled, major doubts regarding the short-term, let alone long-term, survival of the company surfaced. Fans who were still outraged over the discontinuance of series they had been following from Geneon, abandoned ADV in droves. ADV limped along for the rest of the year, forming a new partnership with Sentai Filmworks in October, and finally began releasing new titles in January of 2009. The once-mighty king of the anime world had been displaced from the throne. In the shower of shed blood and resentment over ADV’s implosion, a new monarch was set to be crowned.

That monarch was FUNimation. Controlled by corporate partner Navarre, the company had gained a solid bulwark of cash resources by being the exclusive distributor of all things Dragonball Z for close to a decade. Long hated for their practices of editing and aggressive ‘Americanization’ dubbing, FUNimation turned the corner in fan opinion with the licensing of the super popular BONES series Fullmetal Alchemist. Leaving the series intact and giving it a highly-praised dub, FUNimation began an ascension that took them to the top of the heap in July 2008, when they deftly stepped into the void left by ADV while at the same time picking up the series Sojitz had pulled from Matt Greenfield’s company. Some heralded FUNimation (called FUNI by fans) as a savior. Others accused them of stabbing ADV in the back. Whichever side a person was on, the one thing that was abundantly clear was that FUNimation was the dominant force that now controlled the industry.

Unlike the other distributors, FUNimation won itself favorable relations with the Japanese side by sending cease-and-desist letters to fansubers, as well as taking on major BitTorrent sites. In some cases, they did this with series they had not yet or did not intend to license, on behalf of their Japanese partners. Also unlike other distributors, FUNimation had long worked with non-Union voice acting talents for the dubs, and had tapped almost exclusively local actors in the Fort Worth, Texas area, keeping costs lower. Following their lead, and especially after the collapse of Geneon (which used Union actors in nearly all of their dubs), distributor after distributor went non-Union, sending dubbing production to Canada and resulting in some of the top talents, such as fan-favorite Crispin Freeman, being put nearly out of work. By doing things cheap, and by playing fast and loose with the original Japanese language scripts in their dubs, FUNimation has captured a huge segment of total sales. But even they have found themselves subject to the influences of the larger economy.
On February 5, 2009, FUNimation’s parent company Navarre announced their Third Quarter results. Across the company’s many separate departments, FUNimation included, an operating loss of $32 million was incurred. In order to counter this, Navarre and FUNimation have slashed jobs in an effort to ‘restructure.’ No less than fifty Navarre employees, twenty of them from FUNimation, were laid off on January 6. And, several of the Sojitz-controlled series that FUNimation picked up from ADV (which had just a single DVD volume to go before being completed) were left unfinished for months on end. Instead, FUNimation has focused on releasing box set compilations, forcing fans who had started the series while they were still controlled by ADV to wait through two release delays, and in some cases to repurchase DVDs they already owned in order to finish. The reason for the delays has never been stated, but to many commentators, it is clear that FUNimation was understaffed before this round of cuts, and the job eliminations have only caused further release difficulties and delays, contrary to the publicly stated position of the company. Where exactly FUNimation will go from here, even with all the power in the anime distribution world, remains anyone’s guess.

“Go(ing) Back To The Way It Was”

And what of the rest of the distribution industry? Viz and Bandai are fortunate in that they are the US branches of powerful Japanese conglomerates, but this alone does not protect them from changing fortunes. Bandai, for example, has recently announced indefinite delays for several popular series, including their limited edition release of the final volume of best-selling series Lucky Star. Meanwhile, other small distributors have gone silent on new releases, or are releasing subtitle-only DVDs without dubs. And in the television world, Cartoon Network, once the go-to source for anime on cable, has virtually removed anime from prime time slots. On the Japanese end, the losses in America have become especially dire. On January 28, at Digital Hollywood’s University of Digital Content in Tokyo, Keisuke Iwata, the executive in charge of TV Tokyo’s animation division and AT-X anime channel, gave a lecture that sent shockwaves through the Japanese and American anime worlds. Concluding that the North American and European anime markets are in critical condition, Iwata said that “as it stands, we may have to go back to the way it was in the past – back to selling Japanese animation only to the Japanese marketplace.”
What does this mean for the future? What role, if any, will anime play in America? If these questions are to be answered, and answered with positive responses, then the anime world in America is in sorely in need of a revolution of business tactics, self-image, and perhaps most important, fan behavior. The distribution methods and the companies which provide distribution services must be dramatically altered. A greater recognition of internet distribution is important, but rekindling an interest in hard copy DVD and Blu-Ray releases must take priority. This can only come from making anime less expensive, and appealing to a broader audience. To that end, the major Hollywood studios must be encouraged to take up serious distribution. Already, Sony has risen to the challenge, and Warner Brothers has financed and co-produced several compilation films based on their live action film properties, but more must be done. Furthermore, the surviving small and specialized distributors must make their product more relevant, pulling it out of its marginalized status and holding it up proudly in the marketplace and at awards time. “Anime is here to stay!” must be the cry, and an abundance of the most convincing examples must be shown to the larger American animation world. No matter what prejudices are encountered, and encountered they will be, Japanese producers and their American distribution partners must push ahead, and do so not by attempting to bend to American clichés and tropes and thereby neuter the originality of their vision and content, but by educating the public and the critical intelligencia that, like the works of the Japanese film autuers of the 1950s and 1960s, anime is a unique art that need not abide by the traditional rules that govern Western conceptions of animation.

But all these efforts will be in vain if the fans themselves do not undergo a change as well. Because the primary audience for anime in America is America’s youth, and this generation of youth seems, more than any previous group, ruled by the momentary passions of the immediate ‘fix,’ anime which is released in the traditional way will wither and fall by the very nature of the time it takes to reach its market. While it is important that release times be decreased, the fans too must be taught (or re-taught, as the case may be) that instant gratification (and the free or low-cost pass that comes with it) is destroying the medium they love. Furthermore, the dangerous idea that “I want it, so I should have it” has removed a key concept from many fans’ minds: that of a value exchange. If they value the content, then they must give up something of value to get it. If you want it, you must pay for it. This is, quite simply, the way the world works. But because of the entitlement impulse that is so strong in this generation, and due to the total disconnection between American fans and Japanese creators, there is no perception that watching for free is directly destroying the industry which produces the content in the first place. Even if anime goes entirely online, streaming episodes for a few dollars each cannot possibly make back the same kind of money that home video once accounted for. And, even if American fans have little sympathy with American distributors, which have routinely been called ‘dinosaurs’ and ‘outdated relics,’ perhaps they will have more compassion for the Japanese production studios, which now are finding their budgets slashed and their paying audience ever shrinking. If anime is no longer produced with America in mind, not only will American anime fans lose the content, but the content itself will no longer reflect the desires, interests, or sensibilities of this demographic. If being universal is no longer a valued trait, then who can blame Japan for becoming isolated and closed once more?
Of course, even if all these questions can be satisfactorily answered, anime still faces many challenges. The Japanese industry is in a state of dissipation, as old talent fades and new talents are not up to the challenge of filling their places. Time and time again, the heads of the anime companies, as well as the senior directors, have bemoaned that the generation that turned the industry into a powerhouse of art are on the verge of fading away, and that the new generation does not seem ready to fill their shoes. But that is a concern for the long term. In the immediate moment of now, major studios, having gambled everything on increasing sales and on a viable international market, are on the verge of collapse. And, as the domestic demand for anime decreases in Japan, producers must increasingly turn to the most hard-line and fundamentalist otaku, a group plagued by narrow interests, racist nationalism, and extreme vitriolic hatred towards anyone who betrays their astronomical expectations. Astride the edge of a rapidly changing future like a great paper colossus, anime as a whole must forge new pathways to relevancy and reform, or risk igniting like a tinderbox as the rays of the setting sun set it ablaze. Japan has, as a nation and society, long seen meaning in the ephemeral cherry blossom, or sakura, as a sign of fleeting beauty. It would be tragic indeed if anime, like the burning sakura petal, expires so soon at the end of short spring, while still at the height of its exquisite loveliness.

Next Time, in Part II: Anime in Japan – Industry On The Edge

Cameron again. Honestly, I’m iffy on anime, appreciating the cinematic quality and creative freedom and lamenting the sometimes lackluster animation (though I find it irritating how some criticize it for not measuring up to Disney standards of “squash & stretch”). However, Nicholas’s essay was quite informative, and leaves me open to anything new he has for the society. After all, there are few filmmakers I admire so much as Miyazaki. For the love of Pete, I loved My Neighbor Totoro years before Spirited Away was even made. For the double-love of Pete, I’ve seen all his episodes of Lupin III!

Henry Selick is a twisted, demented little child with a heart of gold. The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach were filled with a blend of Brothers Quay-esque grimyness and a sense of glee-filled wonder. It’s interesting that the co-creator of one of the most treasured family movies in the Disney canon has here been granted a notoriously creepy Neil Gaiman novel to adapt and what must be greater creative freedom under Focus Features and a newly founded studio, Laika. Focus has never exactly been well known for their family-friendly romps, but they’ve produced one of the finest family movies in some time. By this I mean it is a film for the whole family, not simply a diversion for ADD-stricken children in search of pop-culture references and scatalogical humor. This is an intelligent, technically accomplished, visually inventive, and accessibly creepy movie that shows just what fantasy and animation should do at their best.

Coraline Jones is afflicted with a humdrum new life at an apartment in the country. Her parents, consumed by their work on a gardening book, have no time for their daughter. Thus, Coraline entertains herself with such activities as finding wells with dousing rods and listing the number of windows and doors. She encounters the closest thing to a friend in Whybie, (short for Whybourne) a somewhat obnoxious eccentric with a pet cat who becomes very important to the story later. She also encounters her neighbors: Mr. Bobinsky, the acrobat who trains mice, and Spink and Forcible, a former acrobatic team who now dabble in pacidermy. Coraline isn’t especially amused by all this, and it’s all she can do to keep herself from being driven insane.

But a mysterious door in the wall piques her curiosity. In the day, it’s all bricked up, but at night she’s drawn back to the door by scurrying mice to find a whole new world open to her. Inside, everything from her real life is contained, only better. Her other-father and other-mother devote all of their time to her, playing songs about her, making gardens in the shape of her head, and cooking the most delicious meals only for her. Whybie’s here too, only his yap’s forced shut, while his cat talks.  It’s interesting that the two of them have buttons for eyes, but in every other way Coraline prefers this world.

But something starts to go wrong. She’s offered a pair of buttons to sew to her eyes and a promise that she can live in this world forever. This doesn’t set well with Coraline, who immediately attempts to return to her original world. Nothing doing. Soon, Coraline is fighting not only for her soul, but for that of her parents and of the children who have suffered the same fate that she may soon if she’s not careful.

Besides the inevitable literary  link to Alice in Wonderland, this reminded me quite of bit of Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece, Spirited Away. Both films star somewhat bratty little girls forced into new locations with distant parents who encounter fantasy worlds and are forced to grow up in order to conquer their new surroundings. Between the two, I find Spirited Away to be the more layered and poignant work. However, Coraline certainly has Spirited Away licked as far as the scare factor is concerned. While it never becomes too scary for children to handle, this film offers enough creeps to surpass most of the so-called horror films typically found in American theaters. It’s this sense of creeps that brings Coraline closer to the horrifying roots of the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson than Disney’s more direct adaptations. It’s as if Pinocchio was constantly taken up by the Coachman.

However, what’s most impressive about Henry Selick’s work is how it dares to incorporate the old with the new. I’m no fan of the 3D craze that’s taking over Hollywood, but that Selick could make a hot “new” technology compatible with a form of animation that isn’t CGI should send a message to Hollywood executives that older forms of animation will never be out-dated. Watching the trailers for upcoming movies like 9 and Up causes one to ponder the possibility that animation may be in the process of revival. True, we also were forced to endure Dreamworks’ Monsters vs. Aliens (which has an interesting concept and unconvincing execution, judging from the trailer) and Fox’s latest Ice Age sequel, but if Disney succeeds in marketing Ghibli’s latest films (which may be possible with their reshuffled management) and Princess and the Frog truly brings in the money, we may see animation enter a new phase. Coraline is artistry in the same way that last year’s WALL-E was, but with a seperate vision all its own. Animators would do well to follow the example of movies like these.

Special mention is deserved by the film’s composer. His name is new to me, but Bruno Colais provides a score unlike anything out there. It sells the atmosphere perfectly, incorporating instruments not typically used in film outside of a few European art shorts. In an age when many films neglect their scores, it’s refreshing to see something new.

In many ways, Coraline is an example of what the typical family film should be: compelling in its characters, unique in its perspective, and filled with a desire to entertain and fill its audience with awe. This new studio, Laika, presents a new voice in animation which I shall eagerly observe. The studio’s next release may not be for a while, but in the meantime we have this piece of magic to chew on. Weird people everywhere are obligated to experience this little piece of movie magic.

I haven’t seen or heard much of this film, other than a brief trailer (and, as we all know, America doesn’t know how to market animation, save the Pixar guys). Nicholas quite likes this movie, and invites anyone interested to a screening on Thursday. I can’t make it, but anyone interested should drop by.

Eye on Anime: Sword of the Stranger Screening on Thursday, Feb. 5th
By Nicholas Zabaly

One of the categories of animation that I’m particularly eager to cover in my writing is Japanese animation (or anime), since more than in most other national animation industries, there is present in the best works of Japan a vitality and willingness to push the envelope and take risks that would in other places be stifled, ignored, or simply too costly to pursue. To that end, I intend to occasionally write entries in this column, called Eye on Anime, to highlight certain outstanding examples of the medium that are available in the English language market. And for my first entry, I’m honored to not only showcase an outstanding feature film, but one that you can catch in theaters this coming week.

Sword of the Stranger is one of those great anime films that leaves you convinced at the end that animation was the only way to do it. A rousing action film with stunning animation, it’s also one of those films that you could excuse for being light on the plot. As it is, well-realized characters dominate the core of the movie, and though the story of a Japanese boy being pursued by soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and the ronin (masterless samurai) who protects him is at its essence just a device to propel the swordfights, the screenwriter and director have skillfully woven some interesting commentary on the relationship between Japan and the foreigner, and even between East and West. Remarkably, the East doesn’t come out looking so good, and the movie ends with the interesting conclusion (for a samurai film) that perhaps serving as a stoic warrior counts for less than being an empathetic human being. The heartfelt character relationship between the pursued boy Kotarou and his ronin protector Nanashi (literally, No Name) brings remarkable life to the story. By the end, these aren’t just characters, but real people who you can’t help but care a lot about. The film also features one of the cutest (and most deadly) dogs to appear in an anime in a long time, so canine lovers have a reason to celebrate as well.

The film is the directorial debut of Masahiro Ando, a famed animator with a long and successful career doing mostly action animation. Fans of the legendary anime Neon Genesis Evangelion will no doubt remember one of his key moments from the End of Evangelion film: he drew the lance spearing Unit 02 (and even more impressively, he drew all his shots in just two weeks). On the other end of the spectrum, fans of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie have likely also enjoyed his work: he did the key animation for the entire last third of the Spike vs. Vincent fight. Besides this, he’s also drawn for Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Metropolis, and quite a few other movies and TV shows. However, since coming to Studio BONES, the production company of Sword of the Stranger and top-tier action series studio, he’s been on top of his game. BONES agreed to make his first film, and over a seven-year period (two years of which were spent just on animation), Sword of the Stranger came to life. It is a highlight talent reel for BONES’ best animators, including superstar Yutaka Nakamura (recognized in Japan on the same level as James Baxter or Eric Goldberg), who did the climactic end fight entirely on his own. BONES has, since its conception about ten years ago, continued to improve its talent base by developing in-house animators and raiding the best from elsewhere, and a noticeable progression in their abilities is obvious to any anime watcher. But to see their accomplishments on Sword of the Stranger puts this studio into another category. Quite simply, this is the best sword fighting animation ever put on film. It completely outdoes anything else produced thus far, and on a sheer quality level, the action scenes match the best of contemporary Disney, and beyond.

Due to a special co-release between distributor Bandai Entertainment and events promoter NCM Fathom, the film will be shown theatrically for one day only on February 5th at 7:30 p.m. The film is 2 hours and 5 minutes in length, including a special documentary following the feature, which includes voice actor interviews and a profile of the BONES studio facilities. Although the film isn’t rated, it’s rather violent, so I would say it’s the equivalent of an ‘R’ rated film (although the official site lists a suggestion of ‘PG-13′). This is the wide-release theatrical premiere of the English dubbed version; I haven’t yet seen this version but I’ve been told it’s good. The film is playing at several theaters throughout the Los Angeles area, and in hundreds of theaters nationwide. A list of theaters, as well as an online means of buying tickets, can be found on the official NCM Fathom Sword of the Stranger website:

http://www.fathomevents.com/details.aspx?eventid=765&utm_source=ANNandMania&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=SOTS

I will personally be seeing the film at the AMC Century City 15, so if anyone would like to join me, please feel free to stop by and say hello (I’ll be wearing a Cowboy Bebop T-shirt, so I should be easy to spot!). For convenience, the location and contact information for the AMC Century City 15 is listed below.

AMC Century City 15
10250 SANTA MONICA BLVD., 2000
LOS ANGELES, CA 90067
310-277-2262

I hope to see some of you there!

Recently, I pointed out that the Academy would be stupid to not nominate The Dark Knight for Best Picture.

The Academy is stupid.

The Academy, or at least a slim majority, seems to not realize how thoroughly they’ve killed their viewership for this year. They had plenty to gain and nothing to lose. Unfortunately, they’ve instead nominated a series of predictable, sure to be soon forgotten Oscar bait. I fret for my beloved AMPAS, I truly do, but with a non-comedian at the podium and a series of films that few theater goers are going to care all that much about, I’m not looking forward to learning about this year’s Oscar ratings.

Let’s grumble in-depth, shall we?

Best Actor: I’ve heard terrific things about Richard Jenkins in The Visitor, which adds a little spice to the nominations. The other nominees are easy to predict, but each actor did solid work this year, so I’m not disappointed. Mickey Rourke will win.
Best Actress: I’m not sure if any of these performances made much of an impression. Not so much the Academy’s fault as the fault of filmmakers, though I was impressed by much of Jolie’s work in Changeling.

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger. It’s practically guaranteed he will win, though Brolin did good work in Milk and Robert Downey Jr. was quite a bit of fun in Tropic Thunder. Not a horrible ballot this year.

Best Supporting Actress: Taraji P. Henson? Was she the motherly black woman? What is it with the Academy and “strong black women?” Otherwise, it’s a predictable list. My money’s on Penelope Cruz or Marisa Tomei.

Best Animated Feature Film: Predictable. WALL-E shall surely win, but while the other nominees are the best work of their respective studios in some time, I can’t help wondering whether there was anything better to put in.

Best Art Direction: Not much to say here, though I’m honestly in favor of The Dark Knight.

Cinematography: I’m surprised The Reader was nominated instead of Revolutionary Road. Deakins should win his Oscar, but it won’t happen this year. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button seems most likely to win.

Best Costume Design: Nothing in particular stands out. The Duchess may win, as it’s a “costume” drama.

Best Director: The same nominees as the Golden Globes. Boring.

Best Feature Documenatry: Werner Herzog oughta win the Oscar he should have won in 1982 for Fitzcarraldo.

Best Editing: It’ll most likely go to Slumdog Millionaire, though The Dark Knight wouldn’t be a bad choice.

Best Foreign Language Film: I must have misheard the rules, because Waltz with Bashir is up here. My money’s on that one.

Best Makeup: An impressive ballot, especially with Hellboy II making the showing that its predecessor deserved back in 2004. I doubt it will win, but I’m still hopeful.

Best Score: Between Slumdog Millionaire and WALL-E, this wasn’t a bad list, but it’s lacking many that certainly outranked Banjamin Button and Defiance…such as The Dark Knight.

Best Original Song: I’m glad Peter Gabriel was nominated, and he’ll probably win. However, there were a number of good songs, such as Springsteen’s for The Wrestler, who truly deserved a nod. Not bad for what it includes, but underwhelming for what it excludes.

Best Picture: Of these, Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Button seem most likely to win. I’m not going to lie, though: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a sore disappointment to me, with its mechanical script and melodramatic performances. As a fan of such saccharine populist trash as Forrest Gump and Big Fish, seeing the arthouse version of those films sounded like my kind of film. Unfortunately, I found myself being bored and not particularly enlightened. Strangely, Fincher’s vastly superior Zodiac film wasn’t even afforded a single nomination last year. Try to explain that.

Best Animated Short Film: Being a member of the Pixar groupies, I have to root for Presto. I’ll know for sure when these shorts are screened.

Best Live Action Short Film: Can’t speak for this category, having not seen any of these films.

Best Sound Editing: Ben Burtt better win this. I’m rather disappointed in Hellboy II’s exclusion, though.

Best Sound Mixing: Ben Burtt.

Best Visual Effects: Again, Hellboy II was robbed. It’s not a bad list, but I’m sorely disappointed that they’ve passed over the best visual effects of the year. I predict a win for Benjamin Button.

Adapted Screenplay: It’s between Benjamin Button and Peter Morgan, of which Morgan probably deserves it the most.

Original Screenplay: As there are no clear-cut winners, I’m rooting for WALL-E. It was a script of depth, humor, and poignance, and it accomplished this with a silent protagonist. Overall, there are a few interesting nominees here, but I’m disappointed with both screenplay categories.

I love AMPAS. I truly do. However, this year’s Awards show seems to be careening toward a disastrous showing. Someone needs to knock some sense into these Academy members, because they seem more concerned with appearing “respectable” than actually making some money and connecting with those of us who are sick of Oscar bait. Are we to return to the days when something like Cimarron can win Best Picture?

For shame, Academy members. For shame.

99% more accurate than that other ball, the Golden Globe.

Alas, my schedule has picked up just as this year’s films did. So desperate was our situation at the beginning of ‘08 that I proclaimed Speed Racer and The Incredible Hulk some of the best movies of the year (both of which I still like, and of which Speed Racer still sticks in my mind as the most unfairly treated movie of ‘08). However, with Eastwood’s Gran Torino, Howard’s Frost/Nixon, and a whole bevy of other films which I’ve not had time to see, 2008 seems to be taunting me like a Ghiradelli Bar atop a mountain of Hersheys’.

In addtion to ’08’s being a step down from ‘07, it’s quite a bit less predictable just who will win the Oscars this year. There’s no hailed quirky underdog comedy, there’s no cinematic epic, and the greatest live-action critical darling of the year wasn’t even recognized at the Golden Globes (mostly owing to the fact that the Foreign Press is in such a state that they can give best picture to something like Atonement).

The Oscars haven’t always been reliable, but they’ve usually been more trust-worthy than the Golden Globes. So, who can we expect to be nominated this year?

2008 has proven to quite literally be the year of the underdog, which makes Slumdog Millionaires nomination in the category of Best Picture quite guaranteed. Alongside this, we should see a showing from veteran directors Ron Howard and David Fincher, with Frost/Nixon and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button respectively. The Reader and Revolutionary Road aren’t so set, though there is a real possibility of their representation. However, two films overlooked by the Foreign Press stand a strong chance of nomination: Milk, and The Dark Knight. Milk has a number of factors which stand in its favor, such as a veteran Oscar-nominated director, a powerhouse performance from Sean Penn, and the fact that it’s a biography. Though a Hollywood blockbuster, The Dark Knight has made such a critical and financial splash that to ignore it is for the Academy to deal a major blow upon itself. It will be nominated, and you can quote me on this.

Best Actor nominations seem guaranteed for Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, Sean Penn in Milk, Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon, and Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It’s difficult to predict who the fifth nominee will be, though Javier Bardem, Robert Downey Jr., Leonardo DiCaprio, and Colin Farrell each stand a chance as the wildcard. Best Actress nominations are likely for Kate Winslet, Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway, Sally Hawkins, and either Frances McDormand or Meryl Streep. In supporting roles, the male category will definitely go to Heath Ledger, as there isn’t much competition in the field this year. Expect Robert Downey Jr. and Philip Seymour Hoffman to show up on this year’s ballot. The female category has no clear-cut leader, but the Globes nominations of Winslet, Amy Adams, Penelope Cruz, and Marisa Tomei seem to be an accurate enough prediction.

Best director seems as if it should be shaken up for Oscar time. Danny Boyle, David Fincher, and Ron Howard can rest easy, but Daldry and Mendes should be nervous. If the Academy makes the smart decision and nominates The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan should simultaneously pick up a nod. Potentional surprises include Woody Allen for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Clint Eastwood for Gran Torino, and Gus Van Sant for Milk.

Screenwriters Simon Beaufoy, Erich Roth, Robin Swicord, and Peter Morgan (for Slumdog Millionaire, Benjamin Button, and Frost/Nixon) are guaranteed a carry-over from the Globes to the Oscars, as well as a number of others for the categories of original and adapted screenplay. Probable nominees include Woody Allen, the Coen brothers, Robert Siegel, (who has created his greatest masterpiece with The Wrestler since The Onion Movie) Dustin Lance Black, and Nolan/Nolan/Goyer (does The Dark Knight count as original or adapted?).

The Oscars have a habit of giving Best Original Score out as a concession prize to the film that barely missed winning Best Picture, but as there are no clear leaders in that category we can’t expect to know who will win in this. Expect an unexciting ballot, with A.R. Rahman, Alexandre Desplat, and Hans Zimmer standing the best chance of nomination, though I’m personally praying for Thomas Newman to be nominated for his work on WALL-E (as Michael Giacchino was deservedly nominated for Pixar’s Ratatouille). Again, Zimmer and James Newton Howard will most likely see a nomination for their work in The Dark Knight. Best Song will definitely be occupied by Bruce Springsteen and Peter Gabriel, as well as the theme to Gran Torino. It is doubtful that AMPAS would allow a nomination for Hannah Montana, though that’s certainly not a promise.

This year’s Foreign Film favorite, Waltz with Bashir, is not nominated in this particular category. As a result, we’re left without any clue of who stands the best chance of winning. Of all this year’s films, only Gomorrah seems especially noteworthy enough to consider, though the first half of Che by Steven Soderbergh might poke in for a nomination.

Only three animated movies will be nominated this year, which makes WALL-E and Waltz with Bashir shoe-ins while the third entree remains up for grabs. Most likely, it will be occupied by either Dreamworks and Kung Fu Panda or Disney’s Bolt, of which the former stands a good chance. This stands a major contrast to next year, which appears as if it will revitalize the entire genre, with such films as Up, Ponyo on the Cliff, 9, Coraline, The Princess and the Frog, and Tales of Earthsea seeing their US debuts, though Dreamworks seems to have abandoned the precedent set by Kung Fu Panda to go back to making Shrek remakes/sequels.

Now for those technical awards. Rather than boring my readers with my grumblings and rants, I’ve listed my predictions in list form:

Cinematography:

-Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire

-Roger Deakins, Revolutionary Road

-Claudio Miranda, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

-Harris Savides, Milk

-Wally Pfister, The Dark Knight

Art Direction:

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

-Revolutionary Road

-The Dark Knight

-Changeling

-Doubt

Costume Design:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Revolutionary Road

Milk

Sound:

-WALL-E

-The Dark Knight

-Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Editing:

-The Dark Knight

-Slumdog Millionaire

Sound Editing:

-As soon as I figure out the point of this category, I’ll let you guys know.

Visual Effects:

-Iron Man

-Hellboy II: The Golden Army

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Makeup:

-Hellboy II: The Golden Army

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

-The Dark Knight

Having not seen any of this year’s documentaries or short films, I’m not going to attempt to make any predictions.

Do any of our members have their own predictions? Go ahead and post a comment if you do.

Though I failed to post this up when I should have, I am correcting my mistake a week later (hence the reference to the Golden Globes). It gives a hint of what is to come from Nicholas.

Waltz With Bashir and the Animated Biography

By Nicholas Zabaly

This article is the first in an intended series on the personal and political in animation, a sort of jumping-off point or hub if you will, which I hope will inspire, both from writer and reader, delving into further investigations of this multi-layered and fascinating film group. In the articles ahead, I hope to explore some of the deeper aspects of why animation is used to tell these types of stories, and how the art form itself has become associated with certain themes, messages, and viewpoints. Additionally, I want to attempt to consider how, for certain of these films, the animated story has reflected the culture in which it was created, and how the culture in turn reflected on and was influenced by the final work. This topic holds great interest for me, and I hope that it will for readers as well.

Ever since Sunday night, when the Hollywood Foreign Press awarded Ari Folman’s Waltz With Bashir the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, animation fans, documentarians, and the Israeli film world have been on cloud nine. Not only is it just the third Israeli movie to win a Golden Globe (not including Paradise Now, winner in 2006, which hailed from the Occupied Palestinian Territories), but also it is only the second full-length animated film to be made in Israel, and the first in many decades. Besides this, it is the first non-fiction film to win the Foreign Film Globe, and the only documentary to be awarded a prize since 1977. However, most impressively for animation fans, it is only the second animated foreign film to ever be nominated (Persepolis, from 2008, takes the honor of being the other), and the first to actually win. Amid all these record-setting statistics, however, remains the important notion that Waltz With Bashir also fits into another select group: the animated biography. While several high-profile films, including Persepolis and John Canemaker’s 2006 Oscar winning short The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, can also claim this status, Waltz With Bashir is one of the first to rise to true international prominence, due to a timely theme (made all the more pertinent by the latest Israeli-Palestinian war), a mastery of surreal images, and a true documentary approach. Furthermore, Ari Folman and his Bridgit Folman Film Gang were able to produce their film, albeit over a number of years and on a tiny budget, the way they wanted to. Freed from conventional studio restrictions, this model for the independent feature-length animated film provides an inspiration for filmmakers and animators looking to tell more personal (and perhaps relevant) stories.
At an event hosted by the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood on January 10th, the day before the Golden Globes, Ari Folman answered many questions regarding his breakout film for eager audience members. Although he was originally a live-action director and writer (who was recognized for his work by the Israeli Film Academy with top prizes in the past), his experience working on animated sequences for a television documentary inspired him to try and tell his personal war stories via animation. Working over a period of six years, with a budget of just $1.7 million dollars supplied largely by the Israeli government, Folman and animation director Yoni Goodman worked with a team of two lead and six regular animators, later expanded to include a seventh as well as two assistant animators, to complete the film in a combination of Flash, 3D animation, and some limited hand-drawn sequences. Literally every available animator in Israel was tapped for the project, and despite a desperate search for more artists, Folman was unable to locate anyone else. Thus, the tiny crew became a representative sample of the best (and only) that Israel currently offers. Fascinatingly, despite being extremely critical of the aggressive Israeli role in the 1982 war against Lebanon, the government not only did not discourage the film, but actively helped promote it. Folman speculated the reasons were to highlight Israel’s talent in animation, and also because the film accurately lays the blame for the terrible massacre of Palestinian civilians at the feet of Christian evangelical militia terrorists. Correcting the record in this fashion, Folman said, was “publicity money can’t buy” for the government, and thus, the film was given approval. Nonetheless, the director remains very critical of aggressive government action, insisting Waltz With Bashir be seen as an anti-war film. The personal experiences of his friends and himself, as depicted in the film, serve as both historical time capsule and political statement. And, when asked about the timeliness (and timelessness) of the film, Folman stated that, while associates lamented the fact the movie was not ready in 2006 to capitalize on Israel’s renewed military actions against Lebanon, he wryly and sardonically reminded them that it was only a matter of time before “the [Israeli] government cooked up another war.” As fate would have it, the US release of Waltz With Bashir almost perfectly coincided with the fighting in Gaza, further bringing Folman’s point home. Autobiography, in the form of history captured via animated dream vision, thus becomes a biting contemporary commentary on current war and conflict.
Ari Folman, perhaps unsurprisingly, is not unique among directors who have sought to confront issues of war in biographical animation. Marjane Satrapi, first in her award-winning graphic novel Persepolis, and then in the film of the same name (co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud), gives a more than cursory look at the effects of the Iran-Iraq War, in one scene documenting the bombing of her childhood neighborhood, and elsewhere showing (again in surrealistic form) the battles between the opposing nation’s soldiers. Equally affecting, though far less known in the United States, is Isao Takahata’s 1988 masterpiece Grave of the Fireflies, based on Akiyuki Nosaka’s semi-autobiographical novel. Grave of the Fireflies, despite being a film about war, is almost entirely the opposite of Waltz With Bashir: scenes of battle are almost non-existent, and the focus remains squarely on two young siblings, older brother Seita and younger sister Setsuko, as they struggle to survive without a mother, father, or other helpful relative in the midst of Japan’s final days before defeat. Although somewhat fictionalized (Nosaka had two sisters instead of one), the story still contains many incidents and situations which befell non-combatants and particularly children during the war. With superb artistry courtesy of the famed Studio Ghibli, the film is hauntingly beautiful and utterly tragic, providing real insight into the civilian conditions for those on the losing side of a war. When he came to Los Angeles some years ago for a retrospective of his work, Takahata, like Folman, voiced a strong anti-war sentiment and hoped the film, which also incorporated details from his own life, would convince others not to continue to support conflict in the world. Another Japanese production, 1982’s Barefoot Gen, deals with the atomic attack on Hiroshima in startling and soberingly graphic terms. Produced by Studio Madhouse, the film is based on the autobiographical manga (comic book) of Keiji Nakazawa, who credits his survival of the blast to having a brick wall collapse on top of him, shielding him from the shockwave. Nakazawa wrote the screenplay to the film himself to ensure the accuracy of what he remembered. These two works, however, stand virtually alone as the sole major studio biographical animated feature films, although (of course) Japan’s animation budgets are, even for large projects, just a shadow of the typical Disney production. For other works, like Persepolis and Waltz With Bashir, individual project-based production companies have been established, and crews assembled on a case-by-case basis. In essence, these are true independent productions, perhaps necessarily so, given the personal (and frequently political) focus of the subject matter. While an anti-war message in animation in Japan is considered the norm (and even encouraged, based on the sheer number of such fictional projects that have been produced and prospered), in much of the rest of the world, these films take a much more grass-roots approach to spreading their messages and individual stories.
If one of the key elements of the animated biography is to provide a political statement, then it may be that such movies remain a minority. But, Ari Folman’s comments at the Egyptian Theater do provide hope for more meaningful and true-to-life animated works. Referring to his own experience making Waltz With Bashir, as well as the experiences of other animation filmmakers, Folman suggested that a new period of “serious animation for adults” may be just on the horizon. Via the independent system, and national subsidized financing (such as exists in many European nations), small-budget animated films are now more possible than ever to make. Whether they are done as personal, autobiographical stories, or as fictional films such as Tatia Rosenthal’s Annie Award nominated $9.99 (which took ten years to realize), only time will tell. But whatever the case, the door has been opened wider than ever before to the feature-length ambitions of personally driven animators the world over. With films like Persepolis and Waltz With Bashir to urge them on, there’s never been a better time to dive into storytelling, animation style.

In conclusion, and on behalf of the entire global animation community that has eagerly watched and celebrated with Ari Folman and his team for their well-deserved successes, I want to congratulate the Waltz With Bashir crew on their amazing, history-making accomplishment. I can find no more fitting words to sum up than those with which Mr. Folman himself concluded his acceptance speech on Sunday night:

“I want to dedicate this prize, as we promised to do, to the eight beautiful production babies who were born in our tiny studio in Tel Aviv, during the making of Waltz with Bashir, [over the period of] four years. And I hope one day when they grow up, they watch this film together, and they see the war that takes place in the film, it will look to them like an ancient video game that has nothing to do with their lives whatsoever.

Thank you so much.”

Thought I might as well share this with the society.

Zhang Yimou’s To Live is a dense and extremely powerful account of the communist takeover of China, told in a sweeping and literary sort of style over a period of several decades. Films with this much ambition can be compelling and rich or bloated and portentous, depending upon its execution. To Live, however, is every bit a masterful work of complexity and nuance, though it’s as cinematic as a film should be. It can be difficult to watch, and at times, rather painful. Yet, through its own honesty, it successfully transports us into day-to-day life during this period, from its costs to its trivialities. It is a mighty achievement for these and other reasons, making it a must see for anyone seeking to better understand the people and history of China.

The film starts well before the Communist takeover, with the collapse of the Xu family. Fugui, the father, loses his home and family with a single night of gambling. Eventually, he reforms himself and returns to his wife, but must tour the country as the leader of a puppet troupe in order to make a living for her and their two children. During one performance, his troupe is kidnapped and forced into the army of Chiang Kai-shek to battle against Mao Zedong. He survives the harrowing experience and the army’s collapse to return to his family once more, but now lives beneath the government against which he was previously forced to battle. The rest of the film details the changes and tragedies that ensue.

Amazingly, though Yimou was forced to complete this film under the very government which this story takes place, there is some degree of subversion and subtle criticism running throughout. A factory accident is portrayed as an isolated incident, Zedong’s troops are kind to Fugui when he’s captured, and public officials take their treatment as justly deserved desserts. However, one must suspect Yimou sees little good in the proletariat revolution, which causes grave results in the film and a graphic reminder of the dangers of generational disconnect. Though certain execution scenes take place off-screen, and the methods are never directly criticized, these sequences still seem unjust and terrifying to anyone who does not already support them. Yet, in between these events, the Xus simply try to live as normal a life as they can, always running into trouble with communism but never directly condemning it. Though not a pro-Communist film, To Live makes it clear that the people of this time were quite ordinary, in spite of their conditions being separate from ours.

As a piece of technical filmmaking, Yimou particularly impresses with his use of color. He captures the cold of winter with a few browns and greens set against a wasteland of white. The interior of a bar features all the warm reds you’d expect for a place of danger and sought comfort. Yue Lu captures these bright colors perfectly with his cinematography. However, though Yimou composes his visuals wiith the sure hand of a master, he takes a restrained approach which presents the locales and characters without any unnecessary virtuoso flash or camera movement. Besides this, there’s very little to say about the technical elements of the film, as they remain quite consistent and unchanging throughout in telling its story.

To Live is a film recommended to anyone with a strong will and a thirst for historical storytelling. There are times when watching this uncompromising work can be painful, death’s effect on the family is displayed fully and with absolute sincerity. However, if one can endure, he or she will find a rich tapestry of history, familial strength, and sub-plot which wraps up in the end as the portrait of a day in the life of a family like yours or mine. This is Yimou’s version of King Vidor’s The Crowd, another great film concerning an average family in early twentieth century New York. However, this film shows how these people exist in a country berated by some living here in America. More than anyone else, those people should see To Live in order to view how similar we can be to these people in our artistry and our souls.

For those unable to access it, this is my interview with Mr. Coppola from a while back:

For my first interview, I may have bought off a little more than I could chew. Christopher Coppola gave me a call last Thursday to conduct this interview over the phone, with only my iTalk to record it. Coppola’s obviously a man with a great amount of excitement about what he does, and it showed through in this interview to a fault. He made lengthy statements aplenty. Yet, in an industry where so many care so little, having people like Christopher Coppola who seem to care too much is a heartening thing. Overall, whether you agree with him or not, this interview gives a good overview of his views on film as an art and a business. Enjoy.

-For those unfamiliar with it, what is PAH Fest and how is it different from other film festivals?

PAH Fest is where we bring the concept of Hollywood to the people, let them feel, let them know that they’re celebrities and they have a voice and they have the creative process in them as well. One of the things about Hollywood that I can’t stand is that it’s exclusive, so part of what PAH does is we make it inclusive.

What makes this festival different…for two reasons: One, it’s the only festival that is a real-world cyber-world where we actually go into communities and work with people, focus them, digitally empower them to tell their stories…and then the other aspect is it’s shared online and people around the world see it and then they talk about it on the PAH Nation forums, so it’s both of those things. There’s a lot of festivals that are just online festivals where you never meet the people, and you’re never sure if the person you think you’re talking to is the person you’re talking to. One of the things that PAH does is that it really celebrates our human spirit and uses the digital media to bring us together and know who you’re talking to.

The second thing about this festival is that it’s all about the new media, and a lot of people are afraid of it, and what we do is we show you how to use some of the latest technology and focus you to be able to use it to communicate your voice and what community you’re from in either a fiction or non-fiction kind of way, and that’s good. It’s sort of like a focused Youtube, because in Youtube everything goes; you have to look through a bunch of stuff like moms feeding their babies corn mush, or look through things like pornography. And there’s a place for Youtube, obviously. People want to do that. My idea’s to think about some of the contests that we’re doing, some of the topics, to really respect the creative process and then to share it with the rest of the world.

-Where did you get the inspiration for PAH Fest?

Well, what happened was is I was one of the main judges and mentors for a festival called Flix on 66 which was in New Mexico, and I have a little house there, and I was helpful in setting up the whole film incentive there. But I got really tired of just seeing film school students submit scripts and make shorts that are primarily being made to get something else, and for me that was a real problem. Like, no matter if you’re making a little cell phone piece or you’re making a 100 million dollar movie, you go at it exactly in the same way and with the same sort of respect. You don’t use one as a stepping-stone to another. I said, well, I don’t just want to do film school students, I want to do so-called “common people.” That kind of thing. Let’s see what a plumber has to say. Let’s see what a librarian has to say. They can make a movie. So, at that festival we did a Common Man category and a construction worker from New Jersey submitted, and he was someone who didn’t want to come out once he won because he lived in his basement and he was horribly electrocuted and essentially rewired and felt like he was a Frankenstein. So, I said, you won, you submitted, you gotta come to New Mexico. And, after much talk, he did come out in the sun. Very large man, imposing, and definitely rewired. Not comfortable or confident around other people, but in the process of me coaching him and helping him to tell his story, he got very confident and very comfortable. It actually healed him, the creative process healed him. I said, Wow! We gotta be doing this for everybody around the world, communities and individuals. So, I basically broke off from that festival and created PAH, which made everybody kinda like part of the Hollywood process using old Hollywood craft & storytelling in the new media world.

-Where’s PAH Fest held?

PAH Fest is held all around the world. It’s been doing that for two & a half years. We usually find hubs to do it in, like right now we’re doing PAH Fest 2008 on the campus of L.A. City College. We’ve done it in San Francisco. We just came back from PAH Fest Bay Area where we had two hubs, a high-school art school and a San Francisco Art Institute. Sometimes we do it in conjunction with another festival or we do it at art galleries. When we did Mini PAH in the high desert we did it in a coffee shop, an art gallery, and a motel all at the same time, so it’s really a traveling festival that looks for hubs to work with to bring the people of the community to the hub so they can use this new arena to share their stories.

-How has PAH Fest changed the lives of its participants?

Well you told you a little about the New Jersey construction worker, and he was somebody that was not confident and lived in his basement, so when he participated, he got very confident and doesn’t live in his basement anymore. I think that everybody else that has participated have all been inspired and have realized that they have an artist inside themselves, that their human worth is just as much as any Hollywood celebrity and that they have the right to share that with the rest of the world, and the fact that they completed something in such a short period of time really makes them proud.

-What are some of the most moving of these experiences?

Well, I would say definitely being the coach for Doug Arnie, the construction worker, and then having people at the awards ceremonies tell me how much it meant to them that we’re doing this. It always feels worthwhile when people come up to me, because I’m pretty accessible for one of the Coppolas. I’m actually out there talking to people in the street, whereas my family members either can’t be or don’t want to be. But I appreciate people coming up to me saying that really meant a lot to them and they’re gonna continue on and enrich their voices and grow. That means a lot to me. There are some pieces of What is Left that was made by a high school student in albequrie and she wanted to tell a story about her father who passed away and its totally moving. It’s from the heart and it communicates to the heart, and it kinda blows me away when I see that and then when I go and have to look at students films at the directors guild. Yeah they look great, they’re slick, the lighting’s great, the makeups great, but there’s nothing there. There’s nothing from the heart to the heart, and then you look at what this young lady from a high school did and…yeah. It’s not slick, the craft is a little sub-par, but it works. The story is intense and it goes right to your heart. So that makes me happy, and some of these people they continue doing it using this technology because it’s available to everybody and its easy to keep doing it on your own using your cell phone to keep making little films that are true to yourself, and perhaps they’ll become forces in Hollywood. I know one gentlemen who won the PAH fest Chicago for a poem piece that he did which won on the festival as the best mobile flick and he decided he liked it so much that he’s raising money and making his own little feature.

-What inspired you to move into this business?

First of all, I grew up in a family, even though I was sort of on the outskirts, being my father was an educator, which is kind of interesting because what I do is I mix education with entertainment which is important to me, so I’m using both what my father taught and what my uncle does and has taught me. But my dad would show great movies, Fellini movies, silent movies, when we were kids and then at the same time you’re aware that your uncle made The Godfather and all these movies, and you’re impressed with that and also people would start responding to you just because of your last name. I just thought, it’s a new art form, I love music, I want to combine the two. I went to art school, and in the process of developing my voice somebody said, well you oughta try this in Hollywood, and that was really part of it I did. Doing my first feature, sort of Dino De Laurentiis Draculas Widow, which was a very intense experience coming right out of art school, but I enjoyed the process. I enjoyed working with a big group of people to make something, create something. I would say part of it is growing up in a family that makes movies, and the other part of it it’s a modern medium to be able to express yourself to as many people as possible, and thirdly I love genre movies. I love B movies as well as A movies, and I like going to drive-ins and I have fun with it. I’m the one Coppola who is able to do that. So that’s part of it. And I feel like I’m good at it. I enjoy working with people, so I think people enjoy working with me.

-Overall, what would you say your mission as a filmmaker is?

My mission as a filmmaker is to become the next producer-director like Roger Corman, because this doesn’t exist anymore. But to be a digital Roger Corman where we use new media to make very low-budget genre movies, letting students work with professionals to get their feet wet, to learn how to do it. Basically that’s where Francis and James Cameron and Ron Howard all learned it was by working with the Corman studio, low-budget studio. I’d like to redo that and then make a slate of movies every year that has its brand & stamp that has a message. Like a genre movie with a message, every single one. Then get that going. In the old days if you saw an RKO film or an MGM film you knew what you were gonna see; now it’s all a big blur because the brands are all the same and I’d like this to  have its own brand and then build up to where I get to do some bigger movies on my own, like doing MacBeth with motorcycles, things like that.

-There are those who call you the DigiVangelist. Why digital?

Because I have embraced digital completely. Back in 1998 a film that I made was completely destroyed. The negative was destroyed, and I was definitely a film snob then but I became a real believer in digital because it’s saved my films, so I’ve embraced it completely. I’ve embraced the fact that it’s the great equalizer; anybody can get cameras and software and actually make some movies. But I also think more than that I think they call me DigiVangelist because I really do digitally empower people from PAH. I get people not to be afraid of digital, but actually make it a tool rather than just being plugged into it because a lot of people just use digital as a controlling thing, playing games and being plugged in and what I like to do…I mean, new school could care less about old school and old school is afraid of new school and I try to blend the two, bring those generations together with digital. For example, if there’s a bunch of teenagers that have no idea what their elders feel or think, there’s a real disconnect there. You give these kids a cell phone that hass used video you create a contest making them go up to the hill and go where the elders are (I’m giving you kind of a Native American thing here) the Native Americans used to have the highest rate of suicide because there’s a real disconnect with their elders and that’s a spiritual society and most of the kids feel they’re nobodies because they don’t have a lot of money, but if you give them a cell phone they think they’re somebody because of the materialistic nature of our society – you give them a cellphone and say, “look, go up on the hill and do a little piece on the elders and you’ll win a prize,” so they’re all excited about having a cell phone, they go up on the hill and they do a piece and they make a connection, they’re making a connection with their elder, and it just so happens there’s a piece afterward that they both can look at, so I think that’s why a lot of people call me a DigiVangelist, because I feel digital can bring us together, and unfortunately a lot of what’s happening with digital is it’s separating us even more, so that’s part of it.

-So what are some of the possible cons of digital filmmaking?

Well, there really isn’t. I don’t see any cons. I do see, in terms of the accessibility of being there, that there’s gonna be a lot of stuff made in the same idea of, Hey! If I make a low-budget George Lucas movie maybe I’ll get a bigger movie, and there’s going to be a lot of junk made, and it’s gonna be a huge glut, and it’s going to be harder to get things seen because there’s so much out there, but I think that completely is lesser concerned than the fact that people, if they’re true to themselves, can use digital technology to keep developing their craft and their voice. Again, they can do it very cheaply, but take it seriously like you are doing a big budget movie, and to me that’s amazing. To me, if you can get everybody to use this latest technology that is all around the world, to share their creative process that’s unique to them, I think that’s a good thing. It’s like MacBeth (I bring this up a lot) a great Shakespeare modern play, he’s an awesome warrior and then when he’s forced to be king everybody loses. The whole community dies. So be who you are, be yourself, and that’s a major positive of digital because it’s the big art form now, it’s the big communicator, and now everybody has the chance to tap into it, whereas before, they didn’t. I mean, from a Hollywood standpoint, for a person that is making their business in the Hollywood way, it’s a problem because there’s going to be a glut, but Hollywood’s changing, it’s all changing and it is becoming a new media, and in the long run it’s going to be great to have new voices.

-Who would you consider your biggest influences on your career and art?

Well I don’t really have completely…I mean I have influences. I would say my music teacher, Dr. Bernie Childs who was Aaron Copeland’s main pupil, he was an influence because he basically said, write what you like. Be who you are. And he opened up that for me. I think also George Putchar* who was my film teacher up in San Fransisco. He influenced me in that he made everybody feel like a star. He would take a street person off and put lipstick on her and make her look like Marilyn Monroe in a funny little movie and that person felt like a star. So that’s kind of like what I’m doing. In terms of things I like to listen to that get me excited: Stravinsky, as a kid I would listen to Stravinsky a lot. I liked the intensity and that percussiveness. In terms of movies that I like to look at over and over again, I would say Fellini’s La Strada because it’s really moving and there’s a sense that there’s more to it. There’s something really sublime about it. I remember somebody asking me if Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ really brought me closer to God, and I said absolutely not. Look at La Strada, look at To Kill a Mockingbird at the end when Gregory Peck is talking about justice and race, and it’s moving. And that kind of filmmaking and storytelling, which is kind of really sincere, is what brings me closer to God. So I would say films like that that I still look at. And then I have fun looking at Attack of the Giant Leeches, I enjoy that. What I enjoy about that is that there’s nothing pretentious about it and you can just kind of enjoy yourself with a beer looking at these movies, and I think that’s important as well. So, I would say the whole drive-in movie concept is an influence, and then these A-movies that go right to your heart are also an influence, and maybe I try to combine those two.

-What are you most proud of from your career so far?

Oh, that’s a big one. That I haven’t changed. That I just do what I do, that I’m known as somebody that just does what he does and a lot of people are scared of me. Like when I was directing America’s Most Wanted I would really get creative and really push the envelope a little bit and after a while they started getting mad at me and saying to reel it in, then I said, “What difference does it make if you’re catching the criminal?” Might as well be creative and have some fun and I’m not doing it to be silly I’m doing it because I think it makes sense. An example would be we had to do one on a mafia Paul Leguza* in New York, and how they were using little kids to rob banks so that they wouldn’t go to jail because they were kids, and I found that really despicable, but also they were using me because of the fact that I’m related to the guy that made The Godfather so they were trying to advertise that to get more viewers, but what I did, I really thought about it, and I would have little things like when they gave out the guns they used a booster seat, they would bring it up on the table and have all the guns in it. Obviously, they didn’t do that, but that was symbolic to the kids. During the big shoot-out, I had desks, old desks, student desks that the kids would hide behind. Obviously, the desks weren’t there, but symbolically it still said, hey, these are kids. Most importantely, what really bothered them was when they were figuring out the whole bankrobbery, the next big bankrobbery, they bring a pizza out at the end with bullet and gun parts for toppings, so that really bothered them. Nobody eats bullets. Why would you do that? And I said, “Well, look, you only have seventy seconds to make a visual statement.” That statement was killing somebody is like eating a slice of pizza. They could care less. So obviously, I don’t just do this stuff to be weird. I’m looking for imagery and ideas that sell the point through and I never stop doing that. I’ve always done that and that has bothered a lot of people. I did a lot of kid shows and the producer really loved what I was doing if I was really creative and entertaining, but the big studio was afraid because they thought I was somebody you couldn’t control and tell you what to do their way, and there’s some truth to that, and I would keep saying, “As long as it’s entertaining, I can be myself and grow my voice and I’m happy.” So I think I’m most proud that I stayed true to myself. I’ve done what I’ve wanted to do and I’m still here doing it. I haven’t given up.

*Spelling may be incorrect