10 Notable Female Animators

Outside of acting, relatively few women get recognized for their efforts in the film industry. This is particularly noticeable in the animation field. While things have certainly improved since the earlier half of the 20th century (where a women had little hope of doing anything but inking, painting, or in-betweening), it is still far more common for female animators and directors to work independently, rather than within the studio system. Female comic book artists are also more common, perhaps for the same reason. Many of them (such as Kaja Foglio [Girl Genius], Kate Beaton [Hark! A Vagrant], and Tracy J. Butler [Lackadaisy]) have met great success 'publishing' on the internet. While women still aren't nearly as common as male cartoonists, they have began to appear in larger numbers in recent years. Below is a list of the ten notable female animators that helped pave way for other artists in the field.

1. Lotte Reiniger

Reiniger's complex stop-motion technique is based on Chinese shadow puppets.

Lotte Reiniger is commonly acknowledged not only as the first significant female animator, but also as a pioneering stop-motion animator. Lotte grew up in Berlin and first became fascinated with film after seeing the works of Georges Melies. In 1918, she was assigned her first major job, animating the wooden rats created for the intertitles for Paul Wegener's The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Shortly after, Reiniger began directing her own short films in her trademark silhouette cutout fashion. She directed seven shorts between 1919 and 1922, which were produced and photographed by her husband, Carl Koch.

After three years of hard work, her feature length film The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) was finally released, beating out Snow White by over a decade. The film was loosely based on One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, and met enough success to allow Lotte to direct a second feature, Doctor Dolittle and his Animals, in 1928. Unfortunately, Lotte and her family were forced to flee Germany after the Nazi regime took control. She lived out the rest of her years in Paris and in London, were she continued to make short fairytale films for advertising companies, BBC, and Telecasting America.

Prince Achmed is the oldest surviving animated film.

2. Lillian Friedman Astor

Friedman was one the first women to work at a major animation studio.

When Lillian Friedman Astor was rejected by Disney, she was not deterred. Instead, she applied to rival studio Fleisher Brothers in 1930 at the age of 19. Within three years, she was 'secretly' promoted from the lowly rank of inker to head animator by Shamus Culhane. She was responsible for animating many key scenes in the popular Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons, as well as several Comicolor titles. Her work includes: "Can You Take It?" (1934), "Betty Boop's Prize Show" (1934), "Be Human" (1936), "Hawaiian Birds" (1936), "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" (1936) and "Pudgy and the Lost Kitten" (1938).

Although she didn't always receive screen credit and was paid considerably less than her male counterparts, Friedman was apparently very pleased to have a job at Fleisher. So much so in fact, she was rumored to have named her dog Popeye! In 1939, Freedman retired from animating in order to raise her family. Despite her short career, she inspired several others to follow her footsteps and not to be afraid to showcase their talents in a traditionally male run profession.

The classic cartoon "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor".

3. Mary Blair

While technically not an animator, Mary Blair hugely influenced the look of many classic Disney films. 

Perhaps no other women at Disney was as well recognized as Mary Blair. She first began working at Disney in 1940 alongside her husband Lee Blair, after previously working at Ub Iwerks Studio and Harman-Ising Studios. Unlike other female employees at Disney at the time (such as Retta Scott and Retta Davidson), Mary Blair was a concept artist and a scenery designer. Blair's art is characterized by her bold use of colors, angular forms, patterns, and simplified shapes. Her style was heavily influenced by her 1941 trip to various South American countries with other Disney artists, as part of Roosevelt's 'Good Neighbor Policy.'

Her designs and storyboards were crucial in the process of creating several animated features including: The Three Caballeros (1944), Song of the South (1946), Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953). After briefly resigning from Disney after Peter Pan and working as a childern's book illustrator, Mary Blair helped create the It's a Small World attraction for Disneyland in 1964. Additionally, she created several murals for the theme park up until 1971. For those interested, much of Blair's artwork can be viewed here.

A sampling of Blair's unique concept art.

4. Faith Hubley

Faith and her husband, John, reviving an oscar in 1966. 

Faith Hubley began working in the film industry at only 15, when she left home to work in a theater. She made her way to Hollywood three years later. Her first job was as a messenger for Columbia Pictures. Later, Faith worked at Republic Pictures, where she became a music editor and scripts clerk. In 1955, she married animator John Hubley, who had previously worked for Disney and UPA. Soon after, they founded their own independent company, Storyboard Studios. The goal of the studio was to produce one film per year. Both Faith and John made a total of 20 shorts together, between 1957 to 1977.

These films met much acclaim due to their free-form visuals and use of dialogue from actual childern (usually their own), as opposed to using adult actors. Indeed, much of the dialogue in their shorts is nonlinear in nature, and often focuses on relishing things in life that some might consider mundane. The best known shorts the two made are arguably "Moonbird" (1959), "The Hole" (1962), "A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature" (1966), and "Windy Day", all of which won or received Oscar nominations. When John died in 1977, Faith continued to make films on her own up until her own death in 2001. (It should also be noted that Tissa David [who was the second female animator to direct a feature film, and animated the female lead in Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure] frequently worked with the Hubleys.)

A still from "Windy Day" (1967) demonstrating the Hubleys' minimalist style. 

5. Sally Cruikshank

Quite possibly the most abstract animator on this list, Cruikshank's films are like no other.

Sally Cruikshank's work is undeniably weird, but extremely creative and mesmerizing. She was drawn to animation at a young age, citing the surreal 1930s shorts of the Fleisher Brothers, Bob Clampett, and Carl Barks's comics as influences. After completing her education at Smith College and thoroughly studying an animation book by Preston Blair, Cruikshank released her first piece in 1971, the three minute "Ducky". Encouraged by feedback from her peers, Cruikshank enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute. After graduating, she produced her most well known short, "Quasi at the Quackadero" (1975), which features two of Cruikshank's reoccurring characters, the infantile Quasi and the temperamental Anita. In 2009, "Quasi" was added to the National Film Registry, and it was voted #46 in the 1994 book, The Fifty Greatest Cartoons.

Cruikshank produced several other surreal short films during the 1970s and 1980s, including "Make Me Psychic" (1978) and "Face Like A Frog" (1988). In 1980, she proposed an animated feature about her duck-like character entitled Quasi's Cabaret, but the project was ultimately abandoned due to funding issues. However, Cruikshank is fondly remembered by many Gen X'ers for an entirely different reason: she animated several segments for the program Sesame Street.

Cruikshank explains her animation process.

6. Ellen Woodbury

Woodbury working at Disney Studios.

Ellen Woodbury made history in 1994, when she became the first woman animator at Disney to supervise a major character. When Woodbury first entered the field of animation, things looked pretty grim. In the early 1980s, very few studios produced films or television series beyond simplistic children's entertainment. Thus, Woodbury was stuck at the uninspiring Filmation. In 1985, her talent was noticed, and Woodbury moved to Disney. She started as a cleanup artist on The Great Mouse Detective, and eventually was promoted to animator on Oliver and Company and The Little Mermaid. Soon after, she animated several iconic Disney characters including Abu (Aladdin, 1992), Zazu (The Lion King, 1994), and Pegasus (Hercules, 1998). In 2005, Woodbury left Disney and became a full time sculptor. She currently teaches character animation at the Art Institute of Colorado. (Anyone who would like to read more about Woodbury can visit the blog, The 50 Most Influential Disney animators, here.)

A model sheet of Abu for Aladdin. 

7. Suzie Templeton

Never heard of her? She's one of the most talented stop-motion artists around.

Perhaps no other career is as time consuming as being a stop-motion animator. Up until a few years ago (thanks to the invention of 3D printers), the average stop-motion film took around five years to make. For this very reason, the technique is less commonly used than other forms of animation. Yet a handful of artists have perfected the craft. One of them is Suzie Templeton.

Interestingly enough, Templeton was not originally inserted in becoming an animator. Although she helped her brothers make several homemade movies during her childhood, Templeton graduated in sciences and held odd jobs in different countries for several years. Dissatisfied, she went back to school and switched to humanities. It was only after seeing Wallace and Gromit, that Templeton entered the realm of animation.

Although she originally planned to work for commercial studios like Aardman, Templeton found the studio model incompatible with her style. So she decided to work independently on more personal projects, than to appeal to the masses. (Perhaps this is because her films tend to deal with dense subjects, such as unhappy marriage, loneliness, and death.) Templeton completed two short films at her university, the Royal College of Art, "Stanley" (1999) and "Dog" (2001), which met much acclaim. In 2006, Templeton released her take on "Peter and the Wolf", a half an hour testament of her skill. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Currently, Templeton is working on an undisclosed feature film.

All of Templeton's puppets are extremely detailed.

8. Nina Paley

Independent animator, cartoonist, and free culture activist.

Nina Paley is one of the most active female animators today. She made several short films starting at the age of 13, but did not really begin experimenting with animation until 1998, after she published two moderately successful comic strips, Nina's Adventures and Fluff. Some of her shorts made during this period include: "Pandorama" (1999), the world's first camera-less IMAX film, "Fetch!" (2001), a humorous take on optical illusions, and "The Stork" (2002), a commentary about overpopulation and consumerism.

In 2008, Paley generated much attention for her first feature film, Sita Sings the Blues, which interprets the Indian epic The Ramayana from Sita's perspective and compares it to Paley's own marriage struggles. Due to issues with clearing rights for the film's soundtrack, Paley has often criticized the inefficiency of copyright laws. (Perhaps this best demonstrated by her short, "Copying is Not Theft" [2009]). Currently, Paley writes the comic-strip Mimi and Eunice, and is working on a second film entitled Seder Masochism.

In order to fiancee her projects, Paley works as freelance artist. Notably, she designed the Cruzio Wireless cat logo. Paley is entirely self taught. Although she studied art at the University of Illinois, she never took any formal animation classes. Her work may seem simplistic from a technical standpoint, but her attention to detail and sense of composition makes up for it. Paley boldly tackles many controversial topics that many other animators and directors tend to gloss over or avoid, but she does so without being overly mean spirited and with a good dosage of humor.  

Sita Sings the Blues proves that even Flash animation can be used creatively.

9. Brenda Chapman

Chapman is likely the best known female animator today, thanks to Brave (and the controversy surrounding it).

Brenda Chapman has certainly been in the news a lot lately, but her career in film stretches back to 1989, when she worked as a story trainee on Disney's The Little Mermaid after graduating from CalArts with BFA in character animation. Chapman served as a writer and storyboard artist for many renaissance films, such as Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Lion King (1994), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). She also worked on several DreamWorks films and co-diercted The Prince of Egypt (1997), making her the first woman to direct an animated feature at a major studio.

In 2003, Brenda moved to Pixar. Five years later, it was announced that she was to direct the company's first fairytale film, The Bear and the Bow, which eventually was renamed Brave. However, Chapman was removed as director due to creative disagreements, and replaced by Mark Andrews. Despite her dissatisfaction with her removal (and move to LucasArts), Brenda was happy with the film's results, and how it remained loyal to the mother-daughter relationship she wanted to portray.

Some impressive concept art for Brave.

10. Lauren MacMullan

Lauren Macmullan (right) with producer Dorothy McKim (left) at the D23 expo. 

Macmullan has directed and storyboarded for several companies over the years. Her speciality seems to be writing for television shows, as she has worked on The Critic, The Simpsons, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, which are some of the most widely acclaimed animated series ever made. Her first venture into film was The Simpsons Movie (2007), where she served as the feature's sequence director.

In 2009, Lauren began creating storyboards for the proposed Pixar film, Newt. Unfortunately, Newt never saw the light of day, due to concerns about its plot being too similar to two other animated films coming out the same year. Lauren Macmullan now seems to be content working at Disney for the time being. She storyboarded Wreck it Ralph (2012), and recently directed a short film starring Mickey Mouse, "Get a Horse!"

Macmullan is known for her use of dramatic lighting and complex facial expressions, two aspects which can often get overlooked in TV animation. Coincidentally, there are two other recent female animators of note that go by the name of Lauren: Lauren Montgomery (Avatar: The Last Airbender, Wonder Woman) and Lauren Faust (The Powerpuff Girls, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic).

This Mickey Mouse short will screen alongside Frozen in November.

Busy, Busy, Busy

First off, I would like to apologize for the lack of posts this month. I have had my hands full finishing up a summer internship, visiting family, and getting settled back at college. I might be able to post an article I have been working on over the past few weeks, but I probably won't be back to my regular schedule until mid October. In the meantime, have a great fall season!

Hitchcock (Review)

Director: Sacha Gervasi

Company: The Montecito Picture Company, Cold Spring Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures

Year: 2012

Country: USA

Despite the talent involved, this biopic proves to be a mixed bag.

Perhaps no other 20th century filmmaker is as well known as Alferd Hitchcock. Often dubbed 'the master of suspense' Hitchcock is remembered for using twist endings and various macguffins as plot devices. His filmography, spanning from 1925 to 1976, includes Rebecca (1940), Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), and of course, Psycho (1960). Given how famous Alferd Hitchcock is it is not surprising that he would be chosen as the subject of a biographical movie (Indeed, the same year another film about Hitchcock, The Girl, was released by HBO and BBC.) I am sorry to say, however, that there are far better biopics out there than this one.

Director Sacha Gervasi focuses on the filming of Psycho and its troubled production. While narrowing the scope of a film can be beneficial in some cases. Hitchcock's plot feels a bit over stretched. The film opens with Alferd Hitchcock being congratulated for the success of his North by Northwest. However, Hitchcock is concerned that many of his peers are suggesting that he should retire. Not to be deterred, Hitchcock chooses to adapt something rather unsettling and unorthodox in order to prove them wrong. The book is Psycho, a horror novel based upon the crimes of serial killer Ed Gein. The project is an ambitious one, and puts tremendous strain on Hitchcock's already rocky relationship with his wife, Alma Reville. On top of this, Hitchcock must also try to get his controversial film approved by the Motion Picture Production Code, and deal with his own stress related vices (i.e. binge eating, flirting with other women).

Hitchcock the workaholic.

The movie's biggest flaw is that it does not tell us anything that we haven't already heard before. It feels half baked. Hitchcock's intended audience is likely not the casual movie goer, but rather avid film buffs and movie historians. However, Hitchcock spends most of its time explaining minute details, such as the lay out of sets, to fill up spare time. Perhaps, the film would have worked better if it were to encompass more of Alfred Hitchcock's career rather than just the filming of Psycho. Better yet, Hitchcock could have focused more on how the cast's relationships with one another and their obsessive director affected the overall direction of Psycho. Everyone gets some screen time, but a lot of it feels superficial. Certain scenes simply seem to drag on for too long. Other sequences, like Hitchcock's imaginary conversations with Ed Gein, are interesting but are tied into the plot clumsily, disrupting its narrative flow.

Sacha Gervasi took great lengths to recreate Psycho's sets, but didn't spend much time fleshing out all of Hitchcock's characters.

On the plus side, Hitchcock's acting is quite good. Its cast includes Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh (who sadly does not get enough screen time to fully develop her role), and Danny Huston as Whitfield Cook (a writer who tries to persuade Alma Reville to have an extra-material affair). Anthony Hopkin's role as Alfred Hitchcock and Helen Mirren's portrayal of Alma Reville are the best of the lot, which is fortunate since their presence practically holds this film together. The two have many great conversations together, often laden with wit, affectionate banter, and biting irony. Their realistic acting makes Hitchcock's and Mirren's marriage very relatable. Hitchcock and Mirren barely manage to hang onto their marriage, before they realize that they do, in fact, actually need each other.

Anthony Hopkin's and Helen Mirren's performances manage to make this film more enjoyable than it should be.

While not an awful film, Hitchcock is a rather disappointing attempt to explain the history behind one of cinema's most influential movies. The film simply drags on too long. Its focus is not were it should be all of the time, and it lacks insight. The acting is enough to save Hitchcock from being a complete waste of time, but it's not one that I will be pulling off the shelf very often.

Admit it, The Birds reference at the end was kind of clever.

Rating: 3/5

Photographs from My Vacation

Earlier this month, my family and I took our weekly annual vacation up to the Inyo National forest area, between Yosemite and Mono Lake. The elevation where we were staying in the Sierras was at about 10,000 feet, which takes some time getting used to (and often gives me nose bleeds...). Within five days, my family and I hiked over thirty miles throughout the forest. We visited locations such as the Saddlebag Lakes / 20 Lakes Basin and Lundy Canyon. Below are a some pictures I snapped. Hopefully, the fires that have been threatening Yosemite will be contained soon; the dry weather has been very concerning.

One of the many lakes along the Saddlebag loop.

A gorgeous view down Lundy Canyon. 

Wildflowers such as mountain daises and lupin lined the trials.

A beaver left his mark here.

One of the many waterfalls of Lundy Canyon.

My sister enjoying the view.

Five Anime Productions that Never Saw the Light of Day

There is no questioning the ever growing appeal of anime in the West. The medium was popularized not only due to audiences being curious about alternatives to Saturday morning cartoons, but also due to the combined talents of pioneers such as Osamu Tezuka, Hayao Miyazaki, Rintaro, Shinichiro Watanabe, and Hideaki Anno, just to name a few. However, as with the case of several American studios, some projects by famous directors never made it past the drawing boards or were put on indefinite hiatus. Producing high quality animation is certainly not cheap. Below is a small glimpse at what could have been.

 Miyazaki's and Takahada's Pippi Longstocking 

Production art for for the proposed film.

One hardly needs an introduction to Studio Ghibli founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahada. Their impressive filmography includes the likes of Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), Grave of Fireflies (1988), Only Yesterday (1990), Princess Mononoke (1997), and Spirited Away (2001). However, the two had just started out in the early 1970s and were relatively unknown. Takahada's and Miyazaki's efforts on ambitious projects, such as Horus: Prince of the Sun (1968) and the original Lupin III series (1971-1972), were shunned and ignored for several years, as they were ahead of their time.

In 1971, Miyazaki and Takahada approached Pippi Longstocking's author, Astrid Lindgren, expressing intrest in adapting the property into an animated feature entitled Pippi Longstocking: The Strongest Girl in the World (Nagakutsushita No Pippi: Sekai Ichi Tsuyoi Onna No Ko). They even traveled around Sweden, making observations for their proposed film. However, Lindgren was not keen on the idea. This was likely due to her unhappiness with the 1949 film adaptation of her book. All that remains of Miyazaki's and Takahada's project are some proposed watercolor storyboards.

Miyazaki and Takahada compromised by creating an original project featuring a young, feisty redhead in pigtails, Panda Kopanda. The two films, Panda Kopanda (1972) and The Rainy Day Circus (1973) run at about half an hour each. They follow a girl named Mimiko, who is left to take care of the house when her grandmother is away. But when she returns home from the station she finds herself in charge of two unusual guests, a large Panda and his son. Keen eyed fans will notice that Papa Panda bares an uncanny resemblance to Totoro. Indeed, the Panda Kopanda shorts were training grounds for the relatively new filmmakers, and they greatly influenced the direction of Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro (1988). So in other words, if Miyazaki and Takahada had actually managed to obtain Pippi Longstocking's copyrights, there likely would never even been a My Neighbor Totoro!  

Storyboards for Pippi Longstockings vs Panda Kopanda.

Rintaro's Lupin VIII 

 

A still from the pilot, "A Man from the Past."

After having three television series and three feature films, American producers began to notice the immense success of the Lupin III franchise in Japan. Thus, the French company DiC (which previously collaborated on anime-like projects, Ulysses 31 [1981] and The Mysterious Cities of Gold [1982-1983]) and TMS, decided to adapt Lupin III to suit American tastes. In 1982, production began under legendary director Rintaro (Galaxy Express 999 [1979], Metropolis [2001]), who was given a large budget to work with.

But, making Lupin appeal to Westerners proved to be difficult. The Japanese series was aimed at a more adult audience, featuring frequent gunplay and innuendos. Since cartoons in America were deemed as 'kid's stuff' throughout the '70s and '80s (save for a few wild cards like Ralph Bakshi), Lupin's occupation as a master thief and his criminal outings were deemed unsuitable for childern. The series had to undergo a major makeover.

This whole scene explains why Lupin had to be changed for American audiences....

Lupin VIII is set in the 22nd century. It follows the descendant of Lupin III, who is a freelance detective that pilots a spaceship. Since smoking and guns were a big 'no no' for American cartoons, Jigen's trademark cigarette and pistol were replaced with a lollipop and a laser gun. Goemon's samurai sword was changed into a ... lightsaber sword. And Fujiko's sexuality was toned down considerably. Because Lupin VIII is not a criminal, Inspector Zenigata's descendent simply chases him based on past family history.

A promotional poster for Lupin VIII. 

The series did manage to produce a pilot episode, "A Man From the Past,". Although the episode's animation and sound effects were completed, the project fell through before dialogue could be recorded. Apparently, a second episode was scripted, but it has yet to emerge on the internet. Lupin VIII failed to get off the ground due to copyright issues surrounding the Arsene Lupin name. Despite that Rintaro was set to direct the series, it probably relieved many anime fans that the show was canceled. Lupin VIII had changed so much from its original incarnation it wasn't even Lupin III anymore! DiC seems to have realized this though. It came up with a compromise about another (but rather clumsy) detective, Inspector Gadget.  

So instead of a wily thief, we got an incompetent inspector. Great. 

Miyazaki's and Takahada's Little Nemo

The 1985 pilot for Little Nemo by Yoshifumi Kondo.

 TMS is one of the the oldest and most successful anime studios. Not only did it bring us Lupin III, but also Rose of Versailles (1979-1980), Sherlock Hound (1984-1985), Akira (1989), and Detective Conan (1996-present). In order to try and expand its international market, the studio decided to try and make a feature length production that would transcend cultural boundaries. In 1977 producer Yutaka Fujioka flew over to Monterey, California to negotiate with Winsor McCay's family. He wanted to create a Japanese / American coproduction of McCay's comic strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland.

The project grew to be very ambitious and expensive. Perhaps a bit too ambitious and expensive. Fujioka approached both George Lucas and Chuck Jones to help with the film, but both declined, noting Little Nemo was plagued with story problems. Fujioka did manage to gather many other talented people for the production, including Ray Bradbury, the French comic artist Moebius, several Disney animators, Brian Froud, and the Sherman Brothers. Both Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahada were brought on board in the early 1980s as well. Their longtime friend and animator director, Yoshifumi Kondo, managed to create a short pilot trailer for the film, before they all left the seemingly doomed production and established Studio Ghibli.

Beautiful concept art for Nemo by Moebius.  

But despite this blowing loss, Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland continued to clunk along. Osamu Dezaki managed to create a second pilot and Sadao Tsukioka created a third, now seemingly lost, pilot. Dezaki's pilot is considerably closer to the finalized version of Nemo, but still bares more resemblance to an anime movie than a Disney cartoon. In 1988, Yutaka Fujioka appointed Masami Hata and William Hurtz as the film's directors. The film was finally released in 1989, after twelve years in production.

Even though Little Nemo holds the distinction of being the first anime film to receive national release in the United States, it flopped. Nemo only earned 10 million for its 35 million budget. It failed to connect with both Japanese and Western audiences, in spite of all its superb animation and inspired visuals. There were simply too many artists with differing opinions involved, which the movie's storyline obviously suffers from.

Akira Kurosawa's The Masque of Black Death

Kurosawa doing what he does best. 

Akira Kurosawa was one of Japan's most important and influential directors. His contributions to Asian cinema include Stray Dog (1949), Rashomon (1950), Seven Samurai (1954), and Ran (1985). Kurosawa not only directed, but also often wrote and edited his own films. His work ranged from historical epics to noir-like dramas.

In 1998, Kurosawa surprised everyone when he announced that he had written a screenplay for the short Edgar Allen Poe story, "The Masque of Red Death." The film was going to be his first animated feature. However,  Kurosawa died on September 6th that year of a stroke. Renewed interest in the project occured in 2008, and Kurosawa Production planned to have the film completed by 2010, in honor of Kurosawa's 100th birthday. That deadline has long since passed, and The Masque of Red Death remains in hiatus. Very little information is known about what the initial production would have been like, as no animated stills from the film have been leaked online.

Satoshi Kon's The Dreaming Machine

 

Promotional art for the film.

Outside of Studio Ghibli, perhaps no other anime director has met as wide acclaim as Satoshi Kon at studio Madhouse. His movies are often realistically animated, and deal with complex issues such as social inequality, homelessness, and exploitation in modern Japan. Satoshi Kon frequently used female characters as his leads, who often dealt with keeping grasp with reality. His best known works are Perfect Blue (1998), Millennium Actress (2001), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), and Paprika (2006).

In 2010, Kon announced that he would make a fantasy-adventure movie targeted for family audiences entitled The Dreaming Machine (Yume-Miru Kikai). The Dreaming Machine was to feature no human characters, and instead star only robots. The plot was to center around three robots (Ririco, Robin, and King) as they embark on some sort of road trip.

Tragically, Satoshi Kon was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. His health rapidly deteriorated and he passed away on August 24, 2010. Before he died, Kon did manage to get all of The Dreaming Machine's storyboards complete and asked his studio to finish his film for him as a last request. Madhouse put character designer and chief animator, Yoshimi Itazu, in charge of directing. As of 2011, 600 out of 1500 of The Dreaming Machine's shots were completed. The production was put on hold and its website was taken down. When asked about progress earlier this year, Madhouse still cites that finacial issues are keeping The Dreaming Machine from being completed.

A model sheet for the female lead.

Nu Pogodi! (Review)

Directors: Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin (episodes 1-16), Vladimir Tarasov (episodes 17 & 18), Aleksey Kotyonochkin (episodes 19 & 20)

Company: Soyuzmultfilm

Year: 1969 - 2005

Country: Russia (Soviet Union)

What happens when a Western style chase cartoon meets local culture?

For over forty years, Nu Pogodi! ('Well, Just You Wait!') has entertained families throughout Russia and Eastern Europe. It is indisputably the most popular cartoon series in that region. There are Nu Pogodi! plush toys, Nu Pogodi! bottle openers, Nu Pogodi! statues in public parks, and even Nu Pogodi! video games. The reason for its appeal is simple. Nu Pogodi! is a funny animal cartoon filled with many sites gags and humor, very much in vein of Tom and Jerry or Looney Tunes's Willy Coyote and Roadrunner shorts. Despite that Nu Pogodi! is quite similar to many slapstick Western cartoons (It's about an ever persistent wolf trying to catch a hare.), Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin claimed to have never seen in any American cartoons outside of Disney, until his son bought a VCR in 1987.

The series follows the various exploits of Volk (Wolf) and Zayats (Hare). Each episode takes place in an unique setting, where Volk chases Zayats while trying to avoid various obstacles while at the beach, skiing, or on passenger ship, etc. Some of these surroundings are distinctively Russian. For instance, episode 16 takes place in a land comprised of various folktales, and episode 20 is set in a dacha community. An another notable aspect of this show is that it contains very little dialogue, aside from the two characters saying each other's names and Volk uttering his trademark threat to Zayats, "Nu Pogodi!" Much more emphasis is thus able to placed on physical interactions between Volk and Zayats, their environment, and the occasional side character they encounter (such as a magician cat, an angry hippo, or a large female pig).

Interestingly enough, Volk, rather than Zayats, is the more developed character, despite being the antagonist. Zayats is very cute and young. He is naturally curious, but seemly ignorant about many dangerous situations. He often gets away from Volk just by mere luck and he rarely fights back. Volk, on the other hand, is actually more easy to relate to, as he gets far more screen time. Volk is a hooligan who constantly breaks laws, taunts police, smokes, and bears a large beer gut. His relationship with Zayats is rather obsessive. Volk is willing to seek work at a construction site, sneak into museums, and even enroll in the Olympics in order to capture Zayats. But despite that he is a constant trouble maker and often quite cocky (not to mention a bit of a coward), Volk is equally goofy and fun loving. He is also quite talented, being able to play the guitar, figure skate, and engages in the fine arts.

To keep things fresh, Volk and Zayats are occasionally shown to work together against a greater force or Zayats will save Volk from danger, only to be chased again. This is particular noticeable in episode seven where Volk and Zayats must plug a hole they made in the hull of a ship, and in episode 18 where Zayats lights a cigarette for Volk when the wolf is trapped in a large safe. Their relationship can even resemble that of a friendship, on occasion. This has led to a lot of confusion and fan speculation surrounding the show. Zayats is commonly mistaken as girl due to his long eyelashes and high voice. Volk often wears various shades of purple and pink. In episode 14, Volk visits Zayats in fancy clothes. He gives him flowers and brings a bottle of cider to share. Although this may seem like Volk is courting Zayats, giving flowers to another man in Russia is not unheard of. It is often done as sign of friendship and goodwill.

People are likely to take this frame out of context....It doesn't help that Volk is wearing a purple jacket.

While Nu Pogodi's creators were often scoffed at by fellow animators at Soymuzltfilm, it is still an enjoyable enough program. Sure, Nu Pogodi! isn't at the same level as Yuri Norstein's work or Roman Kachanov's films, but there is nothing wrong with that. Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin simply strove to create a series that entertained, to make people forget their troubles and laugh. Each installment of the series is self contained and can be watched in any order. Their is no effort to develop the characters any further than their ten minute run time will allow. Many of the episodes end rather abruptly, with Volk being carried away or separated from Zayats, vowing to capture the hare one day. The art direction and animation of the show is a bit privative by today's standards, but it manages to hold up will enough, thanks to the timeless character designs of the two leads. Nu Pogodi's use of music also helps add to its appeal. It features many popular Russian and Eastern European songs from the 1960s-80s throughout, often in synchronization with the animation. 

Volk and Zayats as they appear in the pilot and the first episode.

Unfortunately, the later episodes of the series are not as good as Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin's original sixteen installments. Vladimir Tarasov directed the next two episodes in 1994 and 1995, after the fall of the Soviet Union. Their budget woes are very apparent. The characters are frequently off model, the shorts' scores are less refined, and both of them are filled with excessive production placement from Nokia and AMT. Aleksey Kotyonochkin also took a crack at reviving his father's series in 2005, but his efforts manage to be even more offensive than Tarasov's attempt. His take on Nu Pogodi! is very juvenile. It is crammed with loud, obnoxious pop music and lacks narrative flow. It is also stiffly colored and rendered in Flash (which is a shame since the original pencil tests looked rather nice). Not to mention, Aleksey removed Volk's trademark cigaret and replaced with a more 'politically correct' lollipop!

All in all, Nu Pogodi! is light hearted fun fare. It is nothing ground breaking, but the series holds great appeal for many people who grew up in the Soviet Union. Nu Pogodi! is escapist entertainment, which is perfectly ok. So go ahead and watch the original series. If you are fan of American theatrical cartoons or animation about humanoid animals, chances are you will love it, just avoid the rather lackluster later episodes.

A typical Nu Pogodi! cartoon.

Rating: 3.5

Movie Night: Rusalochka

As always, whenever I review an obscure work, I post it here on the blog if it is available from Youtube. Tonight's offering is the half an hour Russian film, Rusalochka (aka 'The Little Mermaid') from 1968. Dark, heartfelt, and expertly crafted, Rusalochka is quite unlike any other fairytale adaptation that you are ever likely to see. It is presented below in Russian audio with English subtitles.