Animation Snob Thread (no Disney, no Pixar, no mainstream anime, mention Family Guy and you get kicked out a window), puppet films are allowed

Mind Game is one of my favorite movies, and the director, Masaaki Yuasa released a Kickstarter-funded short last year that I love: Kick Heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MPe7E1YrY4

Is Akira a fit for this thread?

I really like the bit where one of the characters is using their weird psychic powers, and the way it's shown is a sort of invisible sphere radiates from them and crushes out the concrete wall around them - so perfectly drawn. And the city feels so thick and oppressive and realised.

And maybe 'The Thing' if we extend animation to include puppetry.

What I want to know is has anyone been making stop motion stuff since 2000?

Henry Selick

The Thing? I assume you aren't talking about Carpentar's film?

I think Akira and any other Otomo projects should be fine for this thread. Steamboy does kind of veer into the kid/family territory like Miyazaki (I'm just a bit wary of more conventional stuff flooding the artier stuff).
Ralph Bakshi might have to be squeezed in this thread too.

Fear(s) Of The Dark had some good stuff but I'm lukewarm about the film in general.

I saw Wings of Honneamise when I was something like 11 or 12 and it flew in the face of what I wanted at the time. Apart from the chase scene and the fight where he barfs on someone's face, it is a very very quiet film. In retrospect it seems a lot more interesting, I can still remember the low key mood of it.

Redline is a bit different, but I thought it was a mistake to have the film so story orientated. I think they should have cut the story and just kept more crazy race stuff. Now that I think about it, I was just like Wacky Races, but not quite enough.

Secret Adventures Of Tom Thumb seems like an obvious one for this thread too. It's quite depressing though.

BELLADONNA OF SADNESS
A Japanese classic that still hasn't had a proper western dvd release yet. It has very little in common with most anime, it has a sort of 70s psychedelic fashion illustration look with thin lines and watercolours. Kind of feminist fable of a once ordinary woman in medieval times who becomes empowered and oppressed at various points in the story but eventually becomes a martyr for womankind. Some really graphic stuff in there. There was quite a few bits I didn't understand the message but I'd recommend it a lot.

watched don hertzfeldt's "it's such a beautiful day" yesterday, kinda like "synechdoche new york" but done w/ stick figures and brakhage-ish camera effects — really wonderful

― clouds, Sunday, April 27, 2014 4:27 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this film rules

i think goku could totally beat akira

Anyone who cares about stop motion should wait for Hoffmaniada, which is an attempt to return to the glory days of Russian animation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MPe7E1YrY4

― james lipton and his francs (darraghmac), Sunday, April 27, 2014 6:38 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ken Ashcorp
3 weeks ago

UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ
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watched patlabor 2 for the first time in quite a while and was really impressed. love how the sustained muted, kinda flat tone and the music's great too.

http://youtu.be/1dmlwhaEEgE

I can't even tell you how disappointed I was at the lack of action when I bought it sight unseen as a teenager!

millennium actress is v beautiful, I think. definitely my favorite kon.

My favourite non-mainstream animation is probably The Illusionist, by the guy who did Les Triplettes de Belleville, based on an unproduced Jacques Tati script and set in Edinburgh.

does oskar fischinger count here?

would like to point out that a second series of Mushishi is airing at the moment, 8 years after the first series and so far has been just as brilliant.

I had never heard of Oskar Fischinger. From a brief search it seems to fit in fine. Isn't Stan Brakhage really animation?

Just dropping in to say that Mind Game is also one of my all-timers and I'll be watching the short later for sure, ty Dan I

Didn't realise Mushishi was back, that's great news.

I generally preferred Oshii's earlier films (Beautiful Dreamer, Angel's Egg, Patlabor 2) to his post-GitS stuff. Jin-Roh: the Wolf Brigade (which he wrote, but didn't direct) was excellent, though.

Dreamer has an awesome moment when the characters board a harrier and see their city closed off on the back of a giant turtle; that's tied with the "Unnatural City" sequence as the best Oshii sequence

Robert, just in case i'm the only one who flag posted you after the first sentence, it was me who flag posted you after the first sentence. cheers.

I love Angel's Egg.

Noodle Vague- why flag post?

tbf it was halfway thru the title. tbh, i think your premise is reductive, silly and distasteful. i celebrate yr right to disagree. the fp button is just underneath this post.

The Secret of Kells

i couldn't give a flying fuck about the premise so long as i pick up some tasty leads itt

Yep, same here

the new series based on the "Ping Pong" manga is worth checking out (there was also a 2002 live action film)
artstyle is kinda ugly but really expressive, directed by Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, Kaiba, Tatami Galaxy)

http://i.imgur.com/Gp6t8JL.gif

the yuasa short upthread was cool, if not in the same league as mind game

i think we had an animation thread a while back, but i totally agree with the sentiment in the original post. animation's been hijacked for exclusively kid and family movies, when it has so much more potential.

remake jaws as an animated film, plz.

great animated films that aren't necessarily for kids

Noodle Vague- I'd prefer you disagreed with me in detail. I said I enjoyed many Disney films and Pixar films are generally good, so unless you work on Family guy(which just like many sitcoms, I still find a quarter of the jokes funny enough) or some associated cartoon, I don't know why you are offended. Surely not by my belief that animation has been neglected as a powerful expressive medium?

Maybe you are a 3d animator? I'm willing to be proved wrong about the possibilities of that style but from what I have seen so far, I think the strength of cgi is for rich colour and more abstract things, but I've always found character animation to be lacking. But I've been moved all the same by Pixar films.
I said I'm not completely against uniformity in animation because Simpson's, Futurama and South Park at their best work just fine.
I just think it's sad that the medium isn't really associated much with ambitious animation techniques.

I hesitated before creating the title because I don't find offending people constructive but since the word "snob" was jokingly in the title (who honestly calls themself a snob?), I thought it would be obvious that I wasn't being an elitist drawing a line in the sand by the end of the first post.

So what part of my premise was objectionable?

I mentioned it on the Adventure Time thread, but Masaaki Yuasa is directing an Adventure Time episode, too!

I just think it's sad that the medium isn't really associated much with ambitious animation techniques.

do you not think that this is tantamount to saying that writing isn't associated with ambitious techniques because the bulk of what's read isn't "ambitious"? by definition, within any medium, the less popular stuff is less popular.

i was just mildly snarking tbh but really, you can have an "i love this" thread without defining it in opposition to all that tawdry mainstream "that" that you don't dig. and it will probably make your appreciation all the stronger.

also you dismissed several nations' worth of animation in yr first two sentences which is like, gtfo

title wld've been fine with just the first three words, parenthetical and tbh 1st post just makes yr thread sound rockist son

but i guess you're guitarist from pink floyd right i guess i shouldn't expect more

and it is just silly to associate 'ambitious animation style' w/non-mnstrm stuff, have you seen One Piece that shit's ambitious as h*ck, and bigger studios have more freedom and currency to experiment on a big stage

and then 'letting in' miyazaki and akira cause you feel like it, come on. this is just taste, don't try to project all this other mnstrm/non-mnstrm stuff

but otherwise cool thread look forward to recs

Again, I think my elaboration shows that I don't at all mean to completely dismiss major animation houses, America or Japan. But I don't think it's totally crazy to say that a lot of their output is very poor and that there might be legitimate things in them to object to. A lot of Japanese animators are totally scathing about the general animated output of their country.

I'm guilty as charged that I made a sensational title to get attention and I probably shouldn't have because it is a rampant problem on the internet that I'm not proud to take part in but again, I thought there was enough in the first post to backpedal from the oppositional element.

The oppositional gut feelings come easy when you're bombarded by something that you think has significant or even major problems while so many great things are marginalized. Particularly when it comes to comics. I'm sure most people here have called things "total shit" that in a fairer, more constructive mood they would admit to having some good qualities. Ideally I'd like to criticize everything as if I were talking to the creators face to face in the most constructive, bluntly honest but encouraging way I could.
I'll often say I hate Friends, Big Bang Theory and Family Guy but a quarter of the jokes do make me laugh and some other things work occasionally.
I often get angered by superhero comics and movies but I have genuinely enjoyed them on occasion.

I like to try and be reasonable as possible but then I remember the time I tried to talk about wonderful animation and its potential, with people responding "no I don't like Family Guy, Pixar, Avatar or anime", RAAAAAAAAAGE!
I don't like snobbery and elitism because I think it is anti-intellectual in the way those things make people oversimplify, when the fact is that almost nothing can really be reasonably summed up as trash or shit. But if you really seriously care about culture, have starry eyed dreams about people believing in aspiring to greatness and raising standards, you'll know how easy it is to fall into dismissively oversimplifying things.

I assumed flagging posts was reserved for serious transgressions like horrendous racism, sexism, violent threats and legal boundaries being crossed. Not passionate disagreements about culture.

aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh nvm

Zachlyon says "bigger studios have more freedom and currency to experiment on a big stage"

Examples? Fantasia is the only time I can think of a major studio being really experimental. But there is loads and loads of low budget avant garde animation. A lot of people decide to avoid or leave big animation studios because lack of freedom. The big companies have the resources but how could they compare in this way with Piotr Kamler and Gyorgy Kovasznai?

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding you.

Forgot to mention Watership Down and Plague Dogs. They are quite special to me.

^^^these are incredible and their making is also p incredible, michael rosen was a true one-off. watership down also one of my favourite films ever

am cool with this thread coz RAG seems to have a not dissimilar taste to me, lol

MARTIN rosen, even. michael rosen's the shitty kids' poet

Thanks for the link to the other thread Daniel Esq 2, I had forgotten Starewicz too until reading that thread.

There is a Japanese short piece that floats around on YouTube a lot called Mr Ando Of The Forest. It's quite funny and strange. When that thread came up about humanism being looked down upon, I think of that animation and the funny way a fish says "humanism".

anyone ever see lullaby to the big sleep (nido to mezamenu komori uta)? totally wild and amazing short from harada hiroshi. deals with bullying, the construction of an airport, lefty anti-govt views, and other stuff I'm probably forgetting. this is one ANGRY movie. greeeeeeeat soundtrack too.

possibly drawn by one person? is that even possible? I read it was intense labor of love (hate?) but I never really found concrete info on it, so don't take my word for it.

hiroshi also did an adaptation of suehiro maruo's midori freak show manga. he's the guy zorn used for all the naked city art. haven't worked myself up to watch that one yet, sounds brutal.

Robert the flag post is sort of for serious transgressions and sort of - because the system means nobody ever really suffers for it - a way for inveterate drunks like myself to let off steam when I violently disagree with a premise, or because somebody likes something terrible, or because i have a toothache. so it's kind of a joke really and i look forward to reading all the posi contributions to yr thread as long as i can ignore the specious "art vs vulgar commerce" distinctions

peace

oh and i flagged imago while i'm on for dissing Michael Rosen

I've no beef with this thread really but it's funny that we've just had a period of particularly thoughtful & intelligent threads about mainstream animation and suddenly BUN DISNEY pops up in new answers

I've been enjoying the Disney threads, I should have thought how this might have seemed like a reaction against them. I'll go over and apologize.
Sorry to Noodle Vague for my dismissive oversimplifications.

flag posted everyone on this thread for experimental reasons.

i watched Street of Crocodiles yesterday for the first time and loved it! its atmosphere is similar to Eraserhead and especially David Lynch's earlier shorts, like The Grandmother.

Robert no worries, to be clear my tongue was halfway in my cheek thru-out

Thanks

i sent the schonbein delivery puppet to my pregnant friend who found it amusing

Thankyou again Jonathan Hellion Mumble, I just finished it and that was really something

Rune Spaans/Dave Cooper. It's remarkable just how close they got to the look of Cooper's paintings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG4oGh8yXJE

The House is on Netflix (UK at least), and looks pretty good.

I thought it was very good! Loved the Busby Berkeley bugs

The ex USSR channel relocates again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videos

hxxps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeRw_wlOI-V7wXhws4ygx-w/videos

Don't know why the channel links don't work but replace hxxps with https

Found this again, always loved Akexander Gradsky's singing in this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbNas0oe9G4

Alexander Gradsky

Cartoons today vs cartoons when I was a kid: pic.twitter.com/0AUESWVaoq

— Alasdair Beckett-King (@MisterABK) March 23, 2022

I thought he was going to compare it to the lessons at the end of He-Man. I certainly prefer the aesthetics of 80s american/japanese cartoons

I prefer not to have to wear sunglasses when I watch animation too.

Burning Buddha Man and Violence Voyager - The artist/director of these said the tv version of Cat-Eyed Boy and the music video for Denki Groove's Mononoke Dance inspired him to make paper puppet films. I preferred Burning Buddha Man because the ideas seemed wilder and the drawings rendered more beautifully (in a very grotesque way). Violence Voyager is heavily inspired by american films (Westworld and Jurassic Park were mentioned) and it's perhaps that because it seems so much like a children's film that the ruthless violence seems all the more surprising (even after the title prepared me for lots of violence). There's a few short films too. A nice mixture of horror and humor, very much looking forward to more of Ujicha's films or even any visual art he makes. So I guess he's my favorite japanese animator after Keita Kurosaka.

Here's the Denki Groove video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPUyybTsnRg

Eduard Belyahev
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_vDF284HOU

All 4 of those Pictures Of Old videos are worth watching. Here's another by the same guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMkdBt3XnGw

Clip from Aleksandr Petrov's My Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVx53tTJMdQ

Eureka bluray of Son Of The White Mare coming, very exciting

awesome, a definite buy

It's got a bunch of short films too

whenever they announce something like this, a 2K Blu-ray remastered from a new 4K source, do you feel like waiting for a possible 4K UHD release?

(geez, i need to check my bookmarks more often)

I'm not really invested in 4K but I'd be surprised if it came, though some 4K releases have surprised me.

the thing is in these cases, you know off the bat there is a 4K master sitting on a hard drive somewhere, ready to go, since they used it to make the 2K version. that doesn't mean there will be a physical release, of course, but it usually means it will at least go to cable/streaming at some point in the future

Another trailer for Seed In The Sand. Voice acting by Gitane Demone and Suzy Gardner!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh2X8uraXnA

Completely blanking on the name of an animator who did really quiet noir-ish, realistic but vague stories in maybe pastels (lots of vivid red), maybe the 80s and 90s but that's not much help. Hope I find him again because I didn't have the patience for his films when I discovered them, some of them were quite long but never feature length.

isao takahata movies are great and much better than miyazaki ones

there are moments where i too like grilled cheese sandwiches more than i like springtime boat trips

Richard Williams is new to me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OALIUJ-yie0
This one is quite brutal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E11d5H9ca4

https://www.awn.com/news/restored-1987-romanian-animated-sci-fi-son-stars-coming-blu-ray

Hey @Kickstarter can I get a retweet for my brutal stop motion horror film I’m finding on your benevolent platform? Here’s the trailer! https://t.co/E4K2aoF05G pic.twitter.com/e4XBsWPNU2

— the art of Skinner (@SKINNER) March 13, 2023

Son of the Stars sounds intriguing.

upcoming release from Deaf Crocodile, looks incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_Al2hDDoVQ

Nice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITstgdnmp6Y

Today at the ICA:

https://www.ica.art/films/jirtdan

Animation seems like the most depressing creative industry there is. From all the behind the scenes talk I've heard, japanese industry is almost always exploitive or people are working on something they don't care for at all.

― Robert Adam Gilmour

i was just watching some videos about minky momo, there are people who say that the episode where she becomes an animator is the bleakest episode in the series, which is impressive given that there's an earlier episode where she gets HIT BY A TRUCK AND KILLED.

i'm increasingly into mirai mizue. "dreamland" is the closest representation i've seen to what the world looks like to me as an autistic/adhd person.

https://vimeo.com/273493052

also, have the little nemo pilot films from the '80s been posted here? amazing stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51iTj6Jbgt8

This survivor's reign series is frustratingly both cheap and expensive-looking; really great and uncanny visuals sabotaged by spoken dialogue that conjures voice actors cycling through multiple takes emoting in a booth (though to be fair that's true of most "adult" animation):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWQH8cMpWTU

Pinchliffe Grand Prix apparently still holds the record for highest box office of all time in Norway; it is shown every Christmas Day. Available via Apple in the UK. All I can say is: Wes Anderson could never.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUuQwPOfQ1M

insisting that yorkshire television made the only good TV ever would be a solid and possibly a sustainable bit (bit tougher with kids TV maybe)

― mark s, Tuesday, 9 January 2024 20:39 (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yorkshire Television produced Doris (created by Hilary Hayton, who also made Hilary Hayton), someone has recently uploaded several episodes to youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lf7vJTQnYo