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Poupelle of Chimney Town – Conviction of things not seen

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“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, NRSV)

Faith in the unseen is the driving force in Yusuke Hirota’s animated film, Poupelle of Chimney Town. It is a faith that seems ridiculous to some and dangerous to others. But for the boy at the center of the story, it is so strong that he must find a way to show the world the truth that has been hidden for centuries.

Chimney Town is a town filled with smoke belching chimneys that run day and night so that the sky is nothing but dark smoke, Lubicci is a young chimney sweep without friends. He remembers that his father Bruno would tell stories about what was beyond the smoke—a sky filled with stars. But there is no one in all of Chimney Town that has ever seen such an unlikely thing.

A bright object falls through the clouds and land in a trash pile, and transforms into a creature made of garbage. Lubicci befriends him and names him Poupelle. Together they dream of seeing the stars that Bruno spoke of. But the authorities are on the look out for anyone who speaks of stars or anything beyond the smoke. Inquisitors are constantly seeking out heretics who do not accept the official belief system. When the Inquisitors start coming for Lubicci and Poupelle, Lubicci comes up with a plan that can show the world the truth.

Lubicci operates out of faith. He knows that there is nothing to prove that stars really exist. But there is also nothing to disprove their existence. But such open-mindedness is a threat to the tyrannical regime that has created the world of Chimney Town. The stability of the society is built on accepting the key dogma, “There is no outside world; there is only this world.” As Lubicci lives out his faith in the unseen stars, he challenges the very fabric of the society. As such the story serves as a fable about speaking truth to power.

Faith, as we see in this story, can be an oppressive force, as with the Inquisitors who seek heretics. It can also be a liberating force when it opens a world to new ideas that may not seem obvious. Within the political world, there is a constant struggle to find truth among the massive amounts of “smoke”. No doubt those who buy into QAnon believe that they know the stars are behind the smoke of mainstream media. Others will see the conspiracy theories of QAnon as the smoke we must get rid of.

We can see the same if we look at religious life. Dogmatism and the thought that one group has the truth are always divisive and destructive.  Evanglicalism and broad ecumenism seem hard to put together. Multi-culturalism and diversity may seem to be smoke or they may be the forces that prevent calcified belief systems from obscuring our view of the truth.

Lubicci didn’t just speak of his faith in starts; he acted out that faith. It was through his actions that the truth had a chance to be known by all. And by acting on his faith, he discovered new depths within himself that allowed him to expand his world.

Poupelle of Chimney Town is available on VOD and will soon be available digitally and on DVD.

Photos courtesy of 11 Arts.

The Bad Guys: Bad Guys Steals Your Heart

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The film may be called The Bad Guys, it’s definitely filled with good fun.

For many years, The Bad Guys have been the world’s most wanted criminals. Led by dashing pickpocket Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), the team is highly skilled and impossible to catch. However, when their biggest heist ever goes wrong and the team gets caught, Mr. Wolf concocts a new plan. In order to save them all from prison, this crew of Bad Guys promise to go good. Allowing themselves to be trained by the adorable guinea pig Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade), Mr. Wolf and his crew work towards redemption but also secretly intend on using their new reputations as heroes to their benefit as thieves. But will they be able to follow through with their plan? Or will these Bad Guys see the benefits of becoming good guys after all?

Directed by Pierre Perifel, The Bad Guys is a fast and furry-ous trip outside the law. Based on Aaron Blabey’s children’s books of the same name, Bad Guys pops with lovable characters, stunning animation and genuine fun. Pulling in the charm of the Ocean’s Eleven crew, this crew of misfits has some enjoyable chemistry and fun exploits on screen that invigorates the franchise with life. Featuring some solid voice work by Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson and more, the characters have an energy and likability about them that makes them endearing. This enthusiasm is especially noteworthy in Rockwell who seems to be having more fun than he’s had in years as the sly and scheming Mr. Wolf. (It’s also worth noting that any comparisons to the Ocean’s franchise are absolutely intentional. Not only was Aquafina involved in Ocean’s 8, Mr. Wolf’s attempt to charm the police chief is referred to as going “full Clooney“.) 

Unraveling like the pages of a children’s book at story time, the variety and style of the visuals also gives Bad Guys an extra pop that makes it feel different than other current animated fare. Like other companies such as Pixar and Illumination, the film makes use of CGI animation yet the style feels entirely unique. At times, Bad Guys feels like a water colour illustration. However, in other moments, the film exhibits wildly different influences, ranging from anime to stop-motion animation. 

At its heart, The Bad Guys is [obviously] a film about what it means to be a good guy. As the film begins, we know instantly that these are expert thieves who are the top of their craft. Even so, as the crew attempt to manipulate the public by convincing them that they’ve changed their ways, they begin to discover the joys of helping people. The shivers down their spine that they experience when they do good deeds reveals an almost physical joy that comes from putting your own needs aside to help others. Hated for their appearance, they decide that, if everyone thinks they’re bad, they might as well be.

Interestingly, Bad Guys also recognizes that toxicity of stereotyping (and, potentially, even racially profiling) others. While these Bad Guys definitely do bad things, they do so almost as a result of the expectations of others. Hated by the general public simply for being a wolf, snake, spider and more, they begin to lean into the characters created for them by others. 

After all, a wolf must mean that he’s big and bad, right? 

Though they start out by trying to make friends, public perception presses these characters down until they believe they can be nothing less than villains. In fact, it’s only as others begin to feed positive messages into their heart that they realize that they can live up to their potential. In this way, Bad Guys demonstrates the power of encouraging and supportive voices to those in need, especially when others are doing the opposite. 

Fueled by stunning animation and fun characters, Bad Guys pops with the energy of the best of heist films. More importantly though, the film carries an important message about looking past our perceptions so that we can bring out the best in people. As a result, Bad Guys is one animated adventure that is worth opening your wallet for (if they don’t steal it first).

The Bad Guys is available in theatres on Friday, April 22nd, 2022.

Poupelle of Chimney Town: Keep Looking Up

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Sometimes, when you can’t see beyond, it’s only the belief in something more that keeps you going.

Directed by Yuusuke Hirota, Poupelle of Chimney Town takes place in a city covered by a thick layer of black smoke that has prevented its population from ever seeing the sky. Though the people have accepted the darkness, young Lubicchi (Antonio Raul Corbo) clings to the stories of stars told to him by his late father, Bruno (Stephen Root). Working as a chimney sweep in order to care for his sick mother, Lola (Misty Lee), Lubicchi has become a social outcast and struggles to connect with other kids. However, his life changes when a man made of garbage stumbles out of the night. Naming his new friend ‘Poupelle’ (Tony Hale), Lubicchi accepts this ‘monster’ when others won’t and the two begin to look for the stars together.

Featuring stunning animation and the purest of hearts, Poupelle of Chimney Town is an absolute joy from start to finish. Based on the children’s book by Akihiro Nishino, Poupelle looks and feels like a bedtime story. Bursting with colour, the film seamlessly fuses 2D animation with 3D rendering in a unique and stylized manner that gives every scene an artistic aura. First time director Hirota has created a world that consists of both incredible beauty and dark oppression and the blend of visuals absolutely pop onscreen. 

While voice work can be forgettable in animated projects, most of the cast seems fully engaged with their characters, especially its leads. Young star Antonio Raul Corbo gives an emotionally engaging performance as the over-burdened but hopeful Lubicchi. At the same time, Root and Lee provide solid supporting work as his parents. However, the standout here is Hale who turns in some remarkable work here as Poupelle. Best known for his work as more manic characters such as Arrested Development’s Buster Bluth or the existential toy Forky from Toy Story 4, Hale is an absolute joy as the mysterious ‘garbage man’. As Poupelle, Hale infuses his character with innocence, humility and even an aura of wisdom. In the midst of a chaotic world, Poupelle becomes an anchor of love and support for the young Lubicchi and, as a result, Hale becomes the soul of the film.

And there is a remarkable amount of soul within this Chimney Town.

With a number of different lenses through which to examine its story, Poupelle of Chimney Town manages to work on multiple levels. For example, the film explores a number of social issues, especially through the relationship between economics and power. Without giving any spoilers, the greatest problem within this particular world is that it remains rooted in the acquisition of money. Whether it’s economic disparity between social classes or the power dynamics that create those divisions, Poupelle shows the damage that can be done when money is given priority over the people and their well-being.

Furthermore, the film works as an exploration of the nature of friendship. Broken by the sudden loss of his father over a year ago, Lubicchi and his mother are struggling to get by. Forced to support his family financially, he lives in a world of adulthood and responsibility. As a result, Lubicchi has closed himself off to friendship and pulled away from those his own age. However, with the arrival of Poupelle, his hardened heart begins to show signs of cracking. Even though others view him as a ‘monster’ and Lubicchi initially tries to push him away, Poupelle’s undeniable love and grace begins to get through. Their relationship may be imperfect but Poupelle’s commitment to the young man never fades. Even though he is hunted by the villainous Inquisitors, Poupelle constantly looks for ways to support Lubicchi and remind him of how much he matters.

No matter what oppression Poupelle faces, he never ceases to be loving. 

Similarly, Poupelle also becomes a film about the relationship between hope and belief. Covered by ‘black smokey smoke‘, Chimney Town lives under a blanket of darkness. Having never seen anything other than the congested pollution above, the people of Chimney Town cannot fathom anything larger than their own experience. (In fact, they feel threatened by it.) However, Lubicchi refuses to believes that that’s all that there is to the world. Having been told stories of wonder by his father, he believes that there is more above the clouds. Although the world around him attempts to squash his faith in the stars, he can’t help but believe there’s something more. Just like his father before him, Lubicchi cannot help but ‘keep looking up’. (He even takes a job as a chimney sweep so he can get closer to the mystery of the skies.) To Lubicchi, the mystery beyond is of greater significance than the world in front of him. Though others struggle to accept his stories, his belief in the unseen gives him purpose and restores life to his soul. 

With its emphasis on seeing beyond what’s in front of us, Poupelle of Chimney Town is a bright light in a time marred by an endless pandemic. This is a film that serves as a reminder of the power of love, friendship and believing that things can be better than they are. As Poupelle and Lubicchi work together to pierce the darkness, so too do they spark hope to those that have none. 

All because they choose to ‘keep looking up’.

Poupelle of Chimney Town is available in select theatres now on Friday, December 17th, 2021. Click here for available showings.

To hear our interview with star Tony Hale, click here (YouTube) or here (audio).

To hear our interview with star Misty and Antonio, click here (YouTube) or here (audio)

Poupelle of Chimney Town is nominated at the 2022 Annie Awards for ‘Best Music Feature’.

7.14 Creating Kumandra in RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON

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With their latest animated tale Raya and the Last Dragon, Disney transports the viewer to Kumandra, a nation that has remained divided for centuries. However, when an attempt at reconciliation goes horribly wrong, it falls on Raya, princess of the Heart region, to embark on a quest to find the mythological last dragon and restore peace to the world. This week, we form our own Fellowship of Butt-kickery as Jolie Featherstone and Miriam Ibrahim assemble to talk about the evolution of the Disney Princess, the meaning of Kumandra and the power of soup.

You can stream the episode on podomatic, Alexa (via Stitcher), Spotify or Amazon Podcasts! Or, you can download the ep on Apple Podcasts!

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

7.14 Raya and the Last DragonDownload

Reporting from Slamdance – Animated Shorts

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The Slamdance Film Festival has a section set aside for animated shorts. (Some of the films is other sections are also animated, but this report will focus on the Animated Shorts Section. There are a wide variety of styles and approaches represented. Some of these films are art school projects. Some strike me as somewhat experimental with the form. Here are some of my impressions.

Bad Mood. (10 minutes, directed by Loris Giuseppi Nese) A recounting by a girl/woman at ages 11, 16, and 21 of her mother working as a domestic worker taking care of dying people for €5/hour. She must deal with getting attached to patients, then losing them. As the girl grows older, she too must go to work.

Friend of a Friend. (15 minutes, directed by Zachary Zezima) A story of a sexual assault, revenge, and sexual ambivalence.

Knife Hanging From a Tree. (4 minutes, directed by JiHee Nam) This is a piece that is really more about experiencing the art and sound, rather than a traditional telling of a story.

Lizard Ladder.(6 minutes, directed by Ted Wiggins) Another that isn’t so much about story, but the artwork around the dog, lizard, and snake that are in the film is interesting.

Molly Dane. (7 minutes, directed by Ida Lasic). A cocktail party fundraiser and a death occurs. Not really fond of the artwork in this one.

Opera. (9 minutes, directed by Erick Oh) A mesmerizing world of tiny people in a pyramidal hierarchy. Each little section is busy with its own activity. There’s working, worship, war, and rebirth. What a pleasure to explore!

Papa Sun. (7 minutes, directed by Noah Gallagher) Music and poetry mixed with some interesting art work. A bit uneven.

Poise. (8 minutes, directed by Luis Soares). What to do with a handful of flies? As a man tries to decide, the whole world is set in indecision.

Return to the Peach Blossom Wonderland. (19 minutes, directed by Haoman Peng, Yue Huang, and Yuchao Luo). This harkens back to a 1600 year old Chinese fable of a utopian vision. It contrasts that with modern life in China (or an any modern city). Interesting view of modern life.

Something to Treasure. (3 minutes, directed by Annapurna Kumar). This has an experimental form and is an experiential piece. It’s the kind of thing I wouldn’t be surprised to see as a visual installation in a museum of modern art.

The Land of Whim. (9 minutes, directed by Bettina Bozek). This is an animated world of Dali-esque surrealism. Objects shift and evolve in bizarre ways. It has a very pleasant visual style and energy.

Urges. (2 minutes, directed by Angela Stemple). Bright, colorful pop-art style of animation seeking to visualize sensual pleasures and desire.

White Horse. (8 minutes, directed by Yujie Xu). A dreamlike world in which a man follows a horse through a maze, then they transform and really can’t get together.

Among this section of shorts, my absolute favorite is Opera. Others that I found especially enjoyable (for reasons I can’t quite explain) are Lizard Ladder and Return to the Peach Blossom Wonderland.

The Little Prince – The Value of Childhood

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littleprince2“Growing up isn’t the problem. Forgetting is.”

Childhood is meant to be a magical time when play and exploration are the “work” a child should be about. But more and more, some children are being pushed to achieve just as adults are. In The Little Prince a girl who is being groomed for the “right” school by her mother is living a very organized and regimented existence—until her possibly mentally unbalanced neighbor opens her eyes and her heart to another way of seeing things.

If the title sounds familiar, it’s because this is an adaptation (or sorts) of the well-loved children’s book Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. However, the Saint-Exupéry story is a story within the bigger story in this film. But it is also the engine that drives the larger story.

The world of this story is one of efficiency where everything is valued according to what it can add to the bottom line. It is a very mathematics oriented world. We hear news in the background that is all in some way about numbers and productivity. That seems the only thing that matters in the world—what can be seen and measured. Even when The Girl (voiced by Mackenzie Foy) is doing her constant studying it is always some form of math. She is being prepared to be another cog in the machine of this world.

But her house is next door to an old, wildly-bearded Aviator (Jeff Bridges). One day he sends her a paper airplane with the beginning of his story about The Little Prince who came to earth from an asteroid and taught The Aviator the importance of things that cannot be seen. (Fans of the Saint-Exupéry story may know that Saint-Exupéry was an aviator.) Slowly The Girl warms towards him and begins a friendship that leads her away from her books and into a world of imagination. Essentially she is being lured away from business school to instead study the humanities. (That is a tension that is very real—not only in higher education, but even in the ways we approach childhood education.)

Stylistically the film is divided by two forms of animation. The story of The Girl and The Aviator is done in CG animation, while the story of The Little Prince (which comes from the original book) is done in stop-motion animation. That works very well to remind us of the two worlds the film is living in.

What matters in this film are relationships: The Girl and The Aviator, The Aviator and The Little Prince, The Little Prince and a fox, The Little Prince and a rose. These relationships are based not in what one can get from another, but the joy and love that can be shared—not in anything that can be measured, but that only be seen with the heart. As we learn at one point, “It is only with the heart that we can see rightly.”

That means not only love, but also faith. When The Aviator speaks of what became of The Little Prince, The Girl wants to know how he knows The Prince is among the stars. How can he be sure? He responds, “It would comfort me very much to know for sure. But I choose to believe that he’s up there.” That, for me, speaks far more clearly than the historical creeds of the church.

This is a film that speaks of many deep things: the bottom line and its immeasurable spiritual cost, love and loss, the joy of childhood that we so often forget, and life and death and life after death. Yes, it’s a children’s story. Yes, it’s animated. And yes, it may make you want to be a child again. Hopefully, you’ll remember how to do that.

The Blu-ray edition includes the making of featurette and the music video of “Turnaround” by Camille. 

Soul – Pixar’s Holiday Present (but…)

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“You can’t crush a soul here; that’s what life on earth is for.”

Since Pixar’s Soul is coming to us on Christmas Day, I can’t help but compare it to a present. This is the largest present under the tree. It has the most amazing wrapping paper and beautiful ribbons. We can hardly wait to get to it, but when we open it up . . . we discover it has clothes from Grandma. It’s not shabby clothes, but still ….

This really is a big package, as are all Pixar films. Not only is it Pixar, but it’s Pete Docter, who co-directs along with Kemp Powers, and co-writes with Powers and Mike Jones. Docter’s writing and directing credits include some of Pixar’s best: Toy Story, WALL-E, Inside Out, Monsters Inc, and Up. Originally slated for a summer theatrical release, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed it into the Christmas slot with in home viewing on Disney+ streaming service.

As to the amazing wrapping, Pixar always brings its A-game to animation. The animation here is a mixture of its familiar round seeming three-dimensional characters, astonishing realistic renderings of cities and nature, with some Picasso-esque art thrown in. Add to this the music. Jazz is integral to the story line, and it adds life, joy, and anguish to the film.

That gets us to the content.

Here is the story of Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a middle school band teacher, who has struggled for years to be a jazz musician. The same day he gets an offer to make his teaching job full time, he gets a call from a former student who now plays drums for a well-known jazz quartet that needs a pianist to sit in with them. On his way home from a successful audition, there is an accident, and Joe wakes up as a sort of peanut shaped being on a conveyor belt headed to a bright light—The Great Beyond. Not ready to go there, he tries running back, but ends up falling through a strange vortex into The Great Before—a park-like setting filled with new souls waiting to get their personalities, and most importantly their “spark”, before they go to earth.

The counselors of the camp assume he has been sent there to mentor a soul. He is assigned Number 22 (Tina Fey), a cynical soul who has burned through a plethora of mentors—some pretty big names among them: Gandhi, Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Copernicus, Marie Antoinette, and Mohammed Ali. 22 just isn’t interested in living. And as her failures to find her spark accumulate, she has settled into being a loner who will never go to earth.

Joe’s plan is to help her find her spark, then steal her ticket to earth and use it to get his life back and begin his career as a jazz pianist. But when the two of them get past the barriers between the worlds, 22 ends up in Joe’s body, while Joe is in the body of a cat. They can speak to each other, but naturally no one else knows that the cat is speaking. He must try to shepherd 22 though the streets of New York to try to find a way back to Before and set things aright. That process gives them both new understandings that tell us all that every moment of life is worth cherishing.

So what makes this clothes from Grandma? First of all is that there are a whole lot of concepts that won’t be understood by many of the children who see it. But that really is only a minor problem since I don’t think Pixar makes movies for kids. Pixar makes movies that will draw kids into the theaters (or in this case to Disney+). The real audience for Pixar films ais the adults who bring the kids. Since it seems like a kids’ movie, adults watch with their defenses down. We often pay more attention to what we overhear than what is said directly to us. Pixar makes movies that adults will overhear.

In this case, however, there really isn’t that much to overhear. Here the film is clearly aimed at adults. We see a character facing a midlife crisis. In one scene Joe tells his mother, “I’m just afraid that if I died today, my life would have amounted to nothing.” Some of the language may even be over the head of many adult viewers. For example, 22 explains that “I was a theoretical construct existing in a hypothetical waystation between life and death.” The only real façade of this being for kids is that it is animated. The usual multi-layered humor that is a hallmark of Pixar films is missing. I wouldn’t be surprised if children came away deeply disappointed in the film. There really isn’t that much here for them.

I also note in my Christmas present analogy that these aren’t shabby clothes. There are times when the message about the importance of enjoying the life we have comes through. Sometimes it’s when Joe is told that he is important to students. He doesn’t really seem to appreciate that, but we do. Perhaps my favorite scene in the film is when Joe (inhabited by 22) goes to the barber. The barber tells of his dreams that didn’t play out, but the happiness he has as a barber. It is something Joe needs to understand in his own life. But that revelation is actually countered in a scene about rescuing a lost soul—an account manager who is stuck in his job without having any joy. The key should not be escaping your life, but rather finding joy in it. In the end, we have hope that both 22 and Joe will have a chance to live life more fully than either ever imagined.

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But the best thing in the box is the concept of the “spark”. Joe and 22 mistakenly think that the spark is a purpose that animates your life, as music does for Joe. But it turns out the spark is really more akin to Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount: “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” The spark is the light we share in the world to light the way for other. Maybe Joe will share that spark through his music, or maybe through his teaching, or finding a way for both. But he now knows that taking that spark into the world is the real purpose in his life.

And yes, I suppose I should write Grandma a thank you note for the clothes. They are, after all, very nice and I need them. It’s just not what I really hoped for or expected.

To hear our conversation with director Pete Docter and producer Dana Murray, click here.

Photos courtesy of Pixar.

Saturday at AFIFest 2020

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Going to festivals often results in a bit of emotional whiplash. My Saturday viewing at AFIFest 2020 Presented by Audi is an example of that. From stories about executions to animated folklore to the angst of a recovering addict heavy metal drummer who suddenly loses his hearing. It is a day of very strong reactions.

The Iranian film There Is No Evil won the Golden Bear for Best Film and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Berlin Film Festival. Director Mohammed Rasoulof has recently been sentenced to prison and banned from making films in Iran. This is a series of vignettes that eventually ask the question “What kind of animal could execute someone?” We meet a family man doing his daily routines. We see a soldier who struggles with having the job of executing a criminal. We meet another soldier on his way to celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday who finds the house in mourning. We see a young woman who has come back to Iran to visit her uncle and aunt, only to discover an amazing secret.

The beautiful cinematography and the excellent stories show us a very human view of these people who all in some way are touched by capital punishment. The stories evolve to our discovery of a twist we probably didn’t expect. At the heart of the film is the question of what kind of effect capital punishment has on those who must carry it out. A powerful film that is very deserving of the accolades it has garnered.

The film I most anticipated coming into the festival was Wolfwalkers, directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart. This is the third animated film based in Irish folklore from Cartoon Saloon. Like the previous films, Secret of the Kells and Song of the Sea, the hand animation is beautiful, drawing on the art history of the time period being portrayed. The story involves a young girl, Robyn Goodfellow, sent to Ireland with her hunter father. Her father is tasked with ridding the woods of wolves. Robyn wants to hunt with him, but her father forbids it. She doesn’t mind. In the woods, she comes across another young girl, Mebh, who has more lupine than human behavior. Mebh is a wolfwalker, she is a human when awake, but when asleep, her spirit takes the body of a wolf. She also has magical healing powers. Her mother, the head wolfwalker, has been asleep for a long time.

As Robyn tries to help Mebh, she discovers that because of a bite from Mebh, Robin is now a wolfwalker as well. Meanwhile Robin’s father and the Lord Protector are trying to wipe out the wolf pack. The folkloric stories that Cartoon Saloon has brought us all have an environmental message in that our efforts to conquer the natural world has had a terrible price. Like those who created such tales, we need to live more in harmony with the world around us.

Riz Ahmed as Ruben in SOUND OF METAL Courtesy of Amazon Studios

In Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, we encounter a man who seems to lose everything in his life, but may indeed find true peace. Ruben (Riz Ahmed) is a heavy metal drummer who plays with his girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke). When he suddenly loses most of his hearing, he wants to push forward with cochlear implants, but the cost is prohibitive, and as a recovering addict, he is struggling. He reluctantly joins a community of deaf recovering addicts. He rebels against his deafness, but slowly begins to fit in with others with hearing impairments. When he sells all he has for his surgery, he may be back into addiction behavior (addiction to hearing or past life?).

Through it all the leader of the deaf community tries to get him to stop trying to fix things (mostly his deafness). He urges him to try to just sit—to find stillness. He tells Ruben that moments of stillness are the “place of the Kingdom of God.” I should point out that this is an emotionally exhausting story. I don’t mean that to discourage anyone from seeing it. That emotional involvement in the story should be a key goal of all filmmakers. Darius Marder, in his first feature narrative film manages to summon our emotions for Ruben’s search for happiness and life.

I should also comment on a short that I’ve seen. Shorts are always an important part of AFIFest. In A 1984 Period Piece in Present Day from Sean Glass, we meet a couple who check into a somewhat spooky motel for the night. There they watch an old episode of “Creepshow”. It is one that the man remembers fondly, but when looked at from the present day, there are serious issues with it. Has the show become outdated, have we grown as a culture, or is it just as spooky to consider as it was then?

Building a Snowman: 1on1 with Joe Izzo (ABOMINABLE)

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Dreamworks’ Abominable tells the story of young Yi (Chloe Bennet) who inadvertently discovers a yeti on her rooftop. Naming him Everest after the famed mountain region that he calls home, Yi and her two friends embark on an epic quest to reunite the magical creature with his family. However, along the course of the perilous journey, the young adventurers must also be on their guard to protect Everest from a wealthy financier and a determined zoologist who will stop at nothing to capture the beast for their own gain. As a member of the production team (and the voice of Everest), actor Joe Izzo was thrilled to have been part of the film’s development from the very beginning.

“We’re super proud of the picture, especially with the character design. Everything about it is so sweet and beautiful,” he beams. “I worked on the movie in a production role very, very early on, [maybe as far] back [as] 2013. I was a production supervisor, so I was alongside the director as we were getting the first version of movie up. Some things changed over the years and… I came back to help out with some voice work.” 

“I worked at Dreamworks and I worked on the first version of the story. So, I had a super behind the scenes and close look at the very beginning stages of it. Honestly, when I first read the script, I just I fell in love with story. It was always that good from the beginning.” 

Having also been involved in other high-profile projects such as How to Train Your Dragon and Boss Baby, Izzo maintains that his joy in animation stems out of his love of collaboration.

“I think you feel more involved in animation because the process takes a lot longer,” he explains. “You get to see all of the stages and, literally, the characters and the story comes to life, not just through animation, but through writing and voice work and all the different artists that bring it together. I did a little bit of a work in live action but nothing gets you as involved… as animation. It’s really inspiring.”

Since he was involved from the beginning of the film, Izzo remains excited about how Everest developed over time in the hands of an amazing director and incredibly talented crew of animators. Asked how he developed the voice of Everest, he claims that the sounds of the lovable yeti came directly out of the character design. 

“I think it goes back to the design,” Izzo reflects. “We had so many great storyboard artists that that drew the character and, in a way for me, I just felt like, ‘Oh, this is how he has to sound.’ The way they made him act, move and some of the mannerisms just made it easier. Jill [Culton]’s just a great director so, just being at her side, and kind of playing around with how playful he can be and how much of an animal he can be. [It was] just kind of a fun process that way.” 

Throughout the film, Everest’s playful energy pops off the screen but also connects deeply with the youth who are changed by their relationship with him, especially Yi. Similarly, Izzo also notes that Everest’s journey home parallels Yi’s emotional arc as well.

Says Izzo, “I think they’re both [beginning to] understand what home is. I think that’s the big overlying theme of the movie. Home just means something a little different as they’re going on a journey. It’s what they need and [it’s about] how they find it through each other. There’s a sense of growing and maturity that they kind of find with each other too in the sense of… his ultimate sense of purity. He’s just good. He’s like nature. Sometimes he can look a little scary, but ultimately he’s good and necessary and we don’t necessarily understand him.” 

Interestingly, Abominable is actually the 3rd animated film to feature the yeti in the last two years*. While each film is entirely different in tone and style, Izzo believes that they are also similar in their desire to instill a sense of wonder into their audience.

“With most animated movies, there’s that sense of wonder and sense of something that you don’t quite understand,” argues Izzo. “There’s something really neat about the whole thing that there’s something else, you know? I think all those movies still try to do the same thing. They relay that he’s a good person or a good character, you know? He’s not a monster.”

One of the most beautiful aspects of Abominable stems from its celebration of the power of music. Brought together from the relationship between Yi and Everest, music is shown to contain a live-giving quality that offers healing and hope to those around them. 

“I that was something that Jill, the director, had in very first draft of the script very early on its something she held on to,” he recalls. “I think music is just very important to her. I think the violin was always… something that we tried to bring to life. You don’t necessarily have to know how to play music or know what the song means or really understand the history behind certain things, but there’s a sense of power behind it. There’s the sense of beauty and wonder. It’s something that we can all be united for that.” 

In light of this, the film also contains a powerful message of hope through the emotional journey of its characters

“[I think that hope is] that sense of the future, especially as they’re younger characters,” Izzo believes. “It’s something to look forward to as they saw themselves grow and mature and saw the change in the villain, in the sense of the end. Just knowing that they have [made an] impact [and] to be part of that change.” 

For full audio of our interview with Joe Izzo, click here.

Abominable thunders onto 4K and Blu-Ray on December 17th, 2019 and is available on VOD now.

*Smallfoot (2018) and Missing Link (2019)

Why Live Action Remakes?

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Often when we grow up, we look back at our parents’ lives and think that we can do things better than they did. Sometimes we are right, but not always. New technologies lead to different ways of telling stories. My parents listened to radio. I had TV. My sons had video games (hooked up to a TV). My grandson has all kinds of things I’ll never grasp on a handheld device. What is better and most imaginative? It’s a matter of perspective, I think.

But when a big media company grows up, it may think its technology outshines what has come before it. The Walt Disney Studios are currently working on a number of live action remakes of earlier animated features. They have already done Beauty and the Beast¸ Jungle Book (really more computer animation than live action), Dumbo, Aladdin, and currently the Lion King (also computer animation). In the pipeline in various stages of development or discussion are live action remakes of Mulan (coming next March), The Little Mermaid (currently getting a lot of buzz from casting Halle Bailey as Ariel, causing some racist backlash), Winnie the Pooh, Pinocchio, The Sword in the Stone, and a number of spinoffs from Disney cartoons, such as a Tinkerbell film.

My question is whether or not this is a good thing. The cynic in me might say, Disney just wants the money that comes with a ready-made audience. But actually, I think that that is not enough of an answer. I think that the extent of this live action remake trend reminds me of those generational difference I note above. It’s like my thinking TV is better than radio, or my grandson thinking his tablet is better than my TV.

I don’t think I’m just being a grumpy old guy. I liked the live action Dumbo better than most reviewers. I think Mulan could be an intriguing remake that works especially well in live action. And I expect Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alan Menken will make some wonderful songs to enhance The Little Mermaid. But overall, I think Disney is making a mistake in making all these remakes. The underlying premise to these remakes is that live action (or in the cases of Jungle Book and The Lion King, computer animation) is intrinsically better than the animation of the originals. I find it only slightly ironic that the studio that bears Walt Disney’s name, no longer makes any of the kind of animation that Walt Disney was the master of. The new versions of animated classics essentially diminish the originals. They say by their very existence that those older versions are not good enough for today’s world. I dissent.

Animation—both computer and hand-drawn—makes for an excellent medium for storytelling. Many of the original Disney classics were based on fairytales or other stories that were especially conducive to the use of animation: Snow White, Cinderella, Pinocchio, Peter Pan. Each of these could easily have been made as live action films at the time, but the choice was made to do it with animation. And I believe that was the best choice. These stories and the magic they weave for the audience is enhanced by being told through animation.

Of course the studio continues to tell stories with animation under both the Disney and Pixar names. These are almost always well received and of great quality. (Although I personally mourn their decision to rely entirely on computer animation. I still love to see traditional animation as we get from Studio Ghibli and Cartoon Saloon.) This format is still an important tool in the studio’s storytelling. But just as I’d hate to see Disney’s classic Old Yeller made into an animated feature, I wish that they would respect the animated gems of past generations enough to let them be the wonders that they are.