In a mainframe, a series of punch cards are used to process data. One punch hole is bored. It decides to harass some of the other holes hoping that it would be more exciting. Can the other holes keep him in check?
Category: Animation
Author/illustrator Sanpei Shirato’s Ninja bugei-cho was a popular graphic novel serialized across Japan in the 1960s, well loved by students and leftist radicals for its tale of a young boy’s alliance with a band of ninja during a peasant uprising. Nagisa Oshima takes an experimental approach to adaptation; out of deep respect for Shirato’s artistry (and his usual cinematic prankishness), he films Shirato’s images as they appear on the page, like an anime version of Sans soleil, with the camera hovering and darting over each “scene” to provide movement and life. Adding voices, sound effects, and a narration that connects the plot’s myriad strands, Oshima intervenes in yet another unexpected genre to create a fascinating treatise on cinema, narrative, and action.
This black-and-white cartoon captures the last few moments of a prisoner arriving at the place of execution before the weapons roll. The darkness before death is preceded by the darkness of a blindfold that allows only two bands of light into the world. This is the last time the prisoner can see the nose of his shoes on the pavement.
An animated experimental short film using charcoal and pastels to create Cubist and Art Deco-inspired designs evoking the curiosity, grace and beauty of two cats in constant motion.
In this combined live-action and cartoon feature, Maurizio works with his brother at a movie-dubbing studio they own. His specialty is cartoon sound effects, and he travels all over Milan to capture special sounds on his tape recorder. While out and about, he encounters a delightfully kinky “social assistant” who is a kind of platonic love object for men with specialized sexual fixations. Maurizio is attracted to her, but after spending some time with her, he is shocked to see his hands turn into gloved cartoon hands that are outside his control.