<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; ">Venice just announced their line-up for the next festival, and three Japanese films are in competition: Takeshi Kitano's "Achilles and the Tortoise," Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo in the Cliff by the Sea," and Mamoru Oshii's "The Sky Crawlers." The new triumvirate to replace Mizoguchi/Ozu/Kurosawa!</span><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">I'm just back from Japan, a busy trip where I managed to see only one film—Ponyo. The theater was packed and filled with energy, a nice change from the empty theaters I usually see in Japan. This film felt like a return to roots for Miyazaki. I won't go into the (green, and somewhat incoherent) narrative here, excepty to say that this is more Totoro than Mononoke. Kids will love it, and the audience in Tokyo cheered and clapped when it was over. But a word on the style. What CG he's used is pretty well hidden and seamless, while most cel-animation films these days are aesthetically schizophrenic. I appreciated that. The opening scene must have sucked up half the budget; set deep in the ocean, there are thousands of hand-drawn bubbles and stunning splashes of color. It subsequently settles into a less flashy style. The figures are fairly simple, often set in occasionally awkward movement through limited animation. Backgrounds are pretty pastel drawing that evoke picture books for young Japanese children. However, half-way through the film, a storm whips the animation into pure spectacle, the proportions of which few artists besides Miyazaki could achieve. It's a truly stunning sequence, and probably pretty scary for small children. The bright pastel palette of the backgrounds, turns dark; where they were frozen backdrops before, the ocean and trees begin to move and whip into a frenzy. It's masterful stuff. Finally, I'd note that the darkness of the storm is filled with subtle detail that will be lost on a television screen. Many scenes feature tiny animated objects that will probably fuzz into cloud, even on an HD monitor. I often found myself admiring an animator that is conceptualizing his film, start to finish, for the big screen. Be sure to see it in a theater. </span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">Now has anyone seen the other two films?</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">Markus</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br></span></font></div><div><br></div><div><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br></span></font><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>A. M. Nornes</div><div>Professor</div><div>Department of Screen Arts & Cultures</div><div>Department of Asian Languages & Cultures</div><div>University of Michigan</div><div>Department of Asian Languages and Cultures</div><div>Suite 6111, 202 South Thayer Street</div><div>Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608 </div><div>Phone: (734) 647-2094; FAX: x0157</div><div>Homepage: <a href="http://www.umich.edu/~amnornes">www.umich.edu/~amnornes</a></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></div></div></div></body></html>