Film Review: When The Wind Blows (1986)

When the Wind Blows is a 1986 British animated drama film directed by Jimmy Murakami based on Raymond Briggs' graphic novel by the same name. Raymond Briggs is an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author who has achieved popular success among adults and children, especially with his most famous work, The Snowman, which was also worked on by Murakami. When the Wind Blows is a mix of drawn animation and stop-motion animation, with the two main characters being based on Briggs' own parents.

When The Wind Blows follows an old married couple living in the country named James and Hilda Bloggs. After hearing on the radio that the threat of nuclear war with the Russians is increasing at a fast rate, James goes about preparing his home for a nuclear attack. Finally it is announced that a missile has been launched, giving James only three days to finish his house protection using a government pamphlet which he religiously follows.

After viewing When The Wind Blows I experienced mixed feelings about the film. The use of hybrid animation definitely gives the film a unique quality and shows the amount of effort that went into creating the animation. Furthermore I thought the portrayal of the two main characters was spot-on; many times throughout the film I was reminded of my grandparents whether it be following rules exactly as they were given, or making sure the house is clean and tidy just in case someone comes over, even if there's been a nuclear strike. This making you feel closer to the characters and able to relate to them. However, the overall outcome of the film was a much more glum affair. To me, watching an hour and a half film about an elderly couple, that reminds you of your grandparents, slowly deteriorate through nuclear radiation is not my kind of entertainment. You keep watching, expecting the mood to pick up but it never does and just continues into more misery making the film very hard to watch.

Film Review: Belleville Rendezvous (2003)

The Triplets of Belleville, also known as Belleville Rendezvous in the UK, is a 2003 animated comedy film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. Chomet is a French comic writer, animator and film director, although he has directed many other animation shorts, Belleville Rendezvous was his first feature-length film. Belleville Rendezvous is mainly considered a French film but was also co-produced in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Canada. After large success the film was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for "Belleville Rendez-vous".

The film follows a French cyclist training for the Tour de France until he is kidnapped by the French Mafia in the actual competition. It is then up to his grandmother, Madame Souza and her beloved dog Bruno to find and rescue the kidnapped cyclist. On her journey she is accompanied and helped by the Belleville sisters, an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire. The film is predominately silent with no main dialogue, relying solely on the animation of the film.

The factor that immediately stands out in this film is the animation technique used. The whole film is created using a very strong caricature style including stick thin cyclists with tree trunk legs and obese dogs whose legs shouldn't physically be able to support the weight it is carrying. This technique offers a very fresh and stand out piece of animation, moving away from more popular animation where everything is in the correct proportions. Although missing a main dialogue, the film is very easy to follow and easily recognizable as French, including the Tour de France, frogs for dinner and huge noses. 

Film Review: Waltz With Bashir (2008)

Waltz with Bashir is an Israeli animated war documentary film written and directed by Ari Folman in 2008. The film is very unique due to the fact that it was the first fully animated feature length film released in Israel for over 40 years and since its release has won awards such as a Golden Globe and nominations from BAFTA and the Academy Awards. Waltz With Bashir has also been banned in many Arab countries including Lebanon due to its graphic depiction of the dark Lebanon war.

The film follows Folman retracing his lost memory of the Lebanon war when he was a young infantry soldier. He visits old friends and fellow soldiers in order to remember specific events that took place in the dark time of his early life. As the film plays out more and more flashbacks and visions become clearer as well as showing interviews with other veterans of the war helping Forman to reconstruct his memory.

Although Waltz With Bashir shows us the very harrowing and grim events of the Lebanon War, the animation technique used creates a very beautiful feature. The thick black outlines paired with bold singular colours produces very vivid eye-catching scenes, making the whole film seem as though a comic book has come to life. However, there is something about how the film is presented that seems unnecessary. This is the idea that Folman is trying to remember the events of the war. In my opinion this factor didn't really need to be included and that the film would have been just as good if the plot had just been a linear timeline of the young soldier Folman fighting through the war without the need to cut to scenes of veterans been interviewed. This is because I thought that the scenes that showed memories of the war created immense intensity, and then all of a sudden that excitement is dropped back down to zero when the film cuts to an interview, making the feature seem staggered and stuttered. Apart from a small issue with the plot, I thought Waltz With Bashir was a very invigorating and eye opening piece of film making and animation. 

Film Review: Paprika (2006)

Paprika is a Japanese Anime film directed by Satoshi Kon in 2006 and is based on a novel written by Yasutaka Tsutsui which goes by the same name. Kon started out as a manga artist, creating work such as Toriko (1984), it was not until 1997 until he made his directional debut with Perfect Blue. Since then he has directed many other anime films and has won awards such as the Public’s Choice Award at the Montréal Festival for Paprika. Kon also likes to use the female gender as a theme in his works, he stated that female characters were easier to write because he is not able to know the character in the same way as a male character.

The plot of Paprika is centered around a group of therapists and a device called the DC Mini that allows other people to see your own dreams. However, when this device is stolen chaos ensues as the thief starts to enter other peoples dreams and wreaks havok on the public's psyche's. It is then a race against time to stop the thief before the dream state and reality merge into a mixture of conscious and unconscious. 

For a newcomer to anime, Paprika is a very hard animation to follow. From psychedelic dreams containing marching musical frogs to other scenes of characters merging into huge golden robots, Paprika tries to create a theory around dreams and reality. It is difficult to understand when you are viewing reality from a dream, and also who Paprika actually is and where she came from. Personally I have never had a dream quite as psychedelic as the ones shown in this film but nonetheless the animation of the film is very visually striking. The bright bold colours and amazing transformation scenes create a very eye-catching piece of work. Although a beginner to the anime genre, I'm sure more viewing of this particular style will open up the wonder that is the anime world.

Film Review: Mary and Max (2009)

Mary and Max is a claymation film directed by Adam Elliot and produced by Melanie Coombs in 2009. Elliot was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1972 and has created 5 notable claymation works, winning hundreds of awards including an Oscar for Harvey Krumpet and the Annecy Cristal for Mary and Max. Elliot says that most of his films have a bittersweet nature to them and more often than not are loosely based on his personal life widely revolving around family and friends. Mary and Max also uses highly recognized actors and actresses to voice the characters in the film including the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Eric Bana and Barry Humphries.

Mary and Max follows the story of 8 year old Mary Daisy Dinkle living in Australia and her 44 year old New Yorker pen pal, Max Jerry Horrowitz. After finding Max's address in the phone book Mary and Max become great friends through helping each other with similar problems such as bullying and discussing common interests such as chocolate. The film shows Mary as she grows up into an adult and the strength of the two pen pals friendship ever increasing.

I believe that Mary and Max sets out to present the message that friendship can come in all shapes and sizes. Just because someone is a particular age, in a particular place, or even in a particular state of mental health does not mean they have to have friends of a similar nature; Mary and Max shows this through similar problems and interests even though they are on the other side of the globe and have a large age difference. The film uses two main colour themes,browns and greys. these two colours help distinguish between the countries. The brown to represent the desert and sands of Australia and the grey to represent the concrete buildings and skyscrapers of New York. The tone and emotion of Mary and Max is wildly altered throughout the film showing scenes of silly humour immediately switching to a scene of impending gloom. However this all adds to the success and originality of the film.

The Hero's Journey - Narrative

 For this study I have chosen to use Jonathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs.


Ordinary World - Clarice is a training FBI agent trying to compete with her male colleagues.

Call to Adventure - The FBI are struggling to solve a case revolving around the serial killer Buffalo Bill. Clarice's boss (Crawford) asks for her help on the case.

Refusal to Call - Clarice goes to Hannibal for help with the case but he refuses' to help her. However he changes his mind after Clarice is polite to him and gets semen thrown at her by another inmate.

Meeting the Mentor - The mentor in this film could be meeting Hannibal or Clarice's boss, Crawford, who she met when she joined the FBI.

Crossing the Threshold - Solving a clue given to her by Hannibal, Clarice discovers one of Buffalo Bill's murder victims.

Tests, Allies and Enemies - Hannibal, Crawford, Buffalo Bill

Approach - Clarice goes back and forth between Hannibal and the FBI in order to solve the case.

The Ordeal - Clarice reveals a story about her past to Hannibal about the screaming lambs.

The Reward - The reward of the telling the story could be the compassion Hannibal shows towards Clarice and helps her with the case more. Reward could also be Hannibal escaping.

The Road Back - Clarice is determined to solve the case in order to stop the screaming of the lambs in her dreams.

Resurrection -  Clarice enters the house of Jack Gordon and discovers that he is the serial killer, Buffalo Bill.

Return with Elixir -  Clarice shoots and kills Buffalo Bill and gains her FBI badge.