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.
Category: Animation
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.
Uncle Remus draws upon his tales of Brer Rabbit to help little Johnny deal his confusion over his parents’ separation as well as his new life on the plantation. The tales: The Briar Patch, The Tar Baby and Brer Rabbit’s Laughing place.
Because he has missed the annual migration, Howard the duck spends the winter in New York City. Based on the book “Howard” by James Stevenson.
Excellent stop-motion animation film from one of the best Czech filmmakers, Jirí Trnka. It tells the ancient story of Czechoslovakia, how it was founded by Czech, the Forefather, and a series of legendary episodes of heroes, queens and kings, inspired in a book by Alois Jirásek compiling the Czech myths.