The Animation Activist

Theater of Mr. and Mrs. Kabal: “Mr. and Mrs. Kabal seem to be the only human characters inhabiting a sparse, wastelandish environment, along with various small reptilian and aardvark-like creatures, antiquated phonographs and nickelodeons. The film unfolds as a series of loosely related vignettes ostensibly performed by the Kabals for the benefit of the director and audience. After an introductory framing conversation between Madame Kabal and a collaged-in live-action Walerian Borowczyk (director), there is no further dialogue. Much situational comedy is pulled from the contrasting characters of the bulky, beak-nosed, vain and aggressive Madame Kabal and her squat, mild-mannered, pinup girl-ogling (yet dedicated) husband: who is so at odds with nature as to shoot butterflies with firearms. The couple resemble the last man and woman on Earth, improvising a make-do existence among the relics of an expired industrial civilization.

Noteworthy are the numerous gags exemplifying that formal, cognitive humor particular to cartoon narratives, rooted in the dissonance of our simultaneously perceiving a display of artificial drawn objects while imagining these to be autonomous, living figures. For instance, when Madame Kabal’s body is first sketched onto the screen, she starts walking across the blank background by the simple device of alternately raising, advancing and lowering her stick-legs within the confines of a long skirt, alongside an imagined-to-be-dollying camera. The illusion is immediately broken in dry comedy with the addition of a low horizon to the composition, revealing her really to be walking in place.

The use of sound is also wonderful, including fake diegetic sound for various effects. Sunbathing at the beach, Kabal plays with bouncing an inflated ball into the air above him, and the synching of the ball’s slow rise and fall with its sound hitting his shoetip feels completely real. Next, a series of butterflies crosses the screen, making different sounds as each brushes against the ball, depending on its speed and size.

Borowczyk’s first feature (and his longest animation) is a domestic allegory of change and decay that emphasises the transformative essence of the surrealist position. The titular couple - crude but evocative in their drawn outlines - choose a range of heads, wander dunes and run a foundry to stockpile armaments. Images of freedom repeat in wing motifs, which pitch in against totalitarian excess. The drawing itself drives the work as much as anything in the narrative: objects are alive and constantly mutate; live action inserts underscore the dysfunction. Relentlessly inventive, Borowczyk’s is a singular vision, and his imagination is genuinely fecund, responsive to the century at both its creative and nihilistic edges. Sudden cuts (or rather clashing encounters), attention to textures and the latent violence of the whole enterprise all command attention.”

The Legend of Sirius / Sea Prince and the Fire Child: “Years after the war between the Children of Water and the Children of Fire, Oceanus, a god of the sea, presents Prince Sirius with the eye of Algarock, thereby putting him in charge of those that dwell under the waves. But when Sirius encounters a beautiful Fire Child named Malta (the daughter of the Queen of Fire), he is lost in love and defies the law that states that Children of Water and Children of Fire must forever remain separate to prevent war from breaking out once more. Sirius and Malta struggle to be together while running into obstacles and suffering great losses along the way. But in the end, are the echoes of history too loud to overcome, or can the two lovers be united and bring peace to the land?”

The Rain Children: “Featuring character and set design by renowned French comics artist Philippe Cazaumayou (Caza). The world has been divided into two parts: the land of fire - a vast desert inhabited by the Pyross race - and the land of water - inhabited by the Hydross race. For the Pyross, who worship the sun, water means only death and desolation. It erodes like acid. The rainy season also announces the awakening of dragons that pursue the Pyross deep into their city, Orfalaise. Every day during the rainy season, the Pyross await signs announcing the return of the dry season. When the sun finally rises high above their heads, the Pyross set off on a crusade across deserts until they come to Amphibole - the city of the Hydross  - the people that they hold responsible for their misfortune. The Hydross are the Rain Children. If they are destroyed, apparently a better world will arise, one without rain and free of the wandering dragons.

For the Hydross, the cycle is reversed: the sun’s fire transforms them into statues. Only rain can bring them back to life. Throughout the dry season, their petrified bodies are at the mercy of their enemies.

Peace between Hydross and Pyross seems impossible, but two young people - a Pyross named Skan and a Hydross named Kallisto - meet one another in improbable circumstances and try desperately to stop the eternal war.”

Aida of the Trees: “Arborea is the realm of the great forest - a place of beautiful clearings flooded with light - here a peaceful people has built wooden homes in the trees. But the peaceful life of the kingdom is disturbed more and more often by the violent raids of soldiers from Petra - the realm of hard rock - who come in search of slaves.

Aida is the beautiful and fearless daughter of Amonasro, the King of Arborea. Her greatest joy is galloping on her sweet-hearted mare - Goa - through her verdant land.

Over the city of Petra looms the temple of Satam - the god of war - and amidst the colonnades of the temple wanders a sinister figure: Ramfis - the High Priest - who plots evil intrigues to trigger off a war between Petra and Arborea. 

Aida is captured by Petran soldiers and is taken to Petra to become a servant of Princess Amneris and King Diaspron.

Aida of the Trees tells the love story between Aida, brave daughter of the king of Arborea and Radames, the son of Moud - the General of the Army of Petra. Their love is opposed by Ramfis, the high priest of Petra, who is trying to take over power of Petra by getting his son Kak on the throne.

Will Radames, the son of the General of Petra’s army and the enslaved Princess Aida together be able to end the war between these opposing worlds?”

This film was the most expensive Italian animated feature ever made at the time of its release. The film is a musical. It was scored by famed Italian composer Ennio Morricone. 

theairtightgarage:

Another Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland sketch, this one of Flip.

The Rabbi’s Cat: “Based on the bestselling graphic novel by Joann Sfar - one of France’s most celebrated comic artists - this film tells the story of a sharp-tongued feline philosopher brimming with scathing humor. Algeria in the 1930s is an intersection of Jewish, Arab and French culture. A cat belonging to a widowed rabbi and his beautiful daughter eats the family parrot and miraculously gains the ability to speak. Along with the power of speech comes unparalleled sardonic wit, and the cat spares no group or individual as it skewers faith, tradition and authority in a provocative exploration of God, death, lust and the search for truth. Rich with the colors, textures, flavors and music of Mediterranean Africa, the film embarks on a cross-continent comedic adventure through colonial Algiers and under vast Saharan skies in search of a lost Ethiopian city.”