Mamoru Hosoda & Satoko Okudera next great work?

The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki (2012)

"Hana is a 19 year old student who falls in a "fairy-tale like" love with a 'wolf man', over the course of the 13 year story Hana gives birth to two children - older sister Yuki, and younger brother Ame or 'Snow and Rain'. At first the family quietly lives in city trying to hide their wolf heritage, but when the 'wolf man' suddenly dies Hana makes the decision to move to a rural town, far from their previous city life."

-Via AnimeNewsNetwork 

As Mentioned In my previous post made by the same award winning director-writer duo who -to my surprise- have practically received the same core distinctions with both The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and it's successor Summer Wars which being 'Animation of the year' at the Japanese academy prize, Mainichi Film Awards and the Tokya Anime Award at the Tokyo Intenational Anime fair. I would like to specify that The Japanese Academy Award is one of the greatest national distinctions for both movies and animation films alike.

The same man who directed such works as Digiman Adventure and who was in charge of key animation for Dragon Ball Z before that and who became a great acknowledged director after joining Madhouse Studios which resulted in the first of the two - soon to be 3 - movies with the aid Satoko Okudera's , a respected screenplay writer for both live-action and animated films. The notion of the Mainichi Film Concours and the Japanese Academy Awards aren't strange to her after winning in the category of 'Best Screenplay' with"Ohikkoshi (moving)" in 1993  and "Gakkō no Kaidan"  in 1995 (Mainichi Film Concours and Japanese Academy Awards respectively) and her more recent film "Kaidan" was well received at the 29th Yokohama Film Festival and received a festival price for -yes,you might've guessed it- 'Best Screenplay'.
The result of a familiar collaboration of capable directors and writors is always astonishing as two minds are always better then one. Just like the ingenious  Takeshi Obata & Tsugumi Ohba well known for the widely acclaimed psychologic manga Death Note.




Expectation
*** 

Although I am absolutely sure that this will make a great movie for a younger demography, I still can't shake the feeling that it won't triumph it's predecessor in terms of dept and credibility. I will still watch it tough. Even though the wolf-children and the romantic concept isn't that appealing to me...

The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki ( Ōkami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki)  will be released on the 21th of July this year in Japan. 

*Did you know?

1. that Mamoru Hosoda was commissioned by Ghibli Studio in 2004 (prior to his career at Madhouse) to direct the award winning film "Howl's Moving Castle" ? Which he accepted but left during early stages of production forcing Hayao Miyazaki out of his retirement.
2. that Mamoru Hosoda Established 'Studio Chizu', a small anime studio that will co-produce along Madhouse Studios for this film?

M.

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Redline (2009/2010-japan), the Japanese Wacky Racer movie on Acid.

Directed by Takeshi Koike | Written by Katsuhito Ishii ( Known for' The Taste Of Tea', an all time favorite of mine)

Screenplay: Katsuhito Ishii - Yōji Enokido - Yoshiki Sakurai

Produced By: Madhouse

Awards

• Achievement Award; Newport Beach Film Festival

Source: IMDB

Kwenton Bellete of Twitch Film described this movie as "Speed Racer on crack", while the people that haven't seen this funky high definition marvel are scratching their heads to comprehend that one sentence or are utterly excited to watch this film (please be the latter) , will think back on that specific sentence and undoubtably think that THAT sentence, describes the movie to a T. Because that's what Redline is; A funky bright super-speed interstellar death race held every 5 years portrayed in a slightly mature and comic fashion with visual popping screenplay (and oh so funky !).

Sweet JP and his sweet comb

The main protagonist is Sweet JP a Retro greaser who refuses to mount guns and other arsenal on his car (hence the name "sweet" JP). But what he doesn't have in gear he makes up in skills as he is by far one of the greatest pilot due to his perseverance and ability. But then again those are much needed skills when you compete with a heavily modified TransAm against things that can only be called spacecrafts-on-wheels, yet even that feels like an understatement.
Sweet JP races while unknowing that his sole purpose is to lose at the end so that he and his auto-mechanic/Best friend Frisbee (who rigged it)  can pay-off some shady people, something that will last t'ill the beginning of the Redline causing distrust and suspense as the movie turns from good to extreme. Why? Because the hosting planet of the interstellar phenomena  Robotworld; a militarized cyborg planet with few low class inhabitants is threatening to hunt down any man who dares participating so to conceal their biologic weapon Funky Boy.
This is also the reason how Sweet JP, who lost due to the fact it was a fixed race (I'm unsure if he knew his best friend sabotaged his race. Mainly because he still tried to win the Yellowline and he almost did before his engine went 'Boom-chaka-laka'. It is still an enigma for me but there are events hinting to the fact that he knew )was able to participate because two racers withdrew from the competition. 

The turmoil between Robotworld's vast military forces and the insane racers is topped by the Racing Guru who won  5 consecutive times while becoming part of his enormous machine over time (fittingly named " Machine Head"). The death-race becomes a battlefield for victory and a challenge for Sweet JP and the beautiful Yellow Line winner by default  Sonoshee.

Local Inhabitants of the planet hosting the 'Yellowline', the less important competition before the 'Redline' (Note the sharp Visuals and the dark shadows emphasizing the lively colors in a contradictory fashion, a real Madhouse feature)

The Races are chaotic and  ordered at the same time as you feel the heat and suspense rise with every heartbeat. The stunning visuals change with the dramatic change of speed and so do the cars ( JP's Trans Am was able to spin so fast it could go over a large surface of water). Every car -with the exception of JP's- has gadgets and secondary capabilities which are revealed at a certain climax as you follow the protagonists.

There is a romance rooted deep withing the premise of this movie in which our racing nut JP falls for a talented girl who he knew in his childhood, of course the cliché has it that she does not remember. The romance worked but was plain and misplaced throughout the movie. Seriously all the dept was sucked up by the main event leaving the romantic side of this movies with scraps and bits. None the less it did not hinder the experience one bit but it did not change it either with the exception of the final quarter of the movie.

Rating:

**** Viewtiful Racing! A tripping death-race!

A movie with jaw dropping visuals known only to Madhouse. Al thought the movie did it's job as Interstellar death-race with a touch of originality weapon and car wise, it felt plain on the overall execution of the dialogues and dept of the story making it lose a star. Nonetheless a must  watch! Did you see it? Please comment about what you thought of it!

• This movie is not meant for children! Please take that into consideration.

M.

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Princess Mononoke (1997), reason why Hayao Miyazaki is awesome #1.

Seriously how did you not see this ?

Directed & Written by: Hayao Miyazaki and Produced by Ghibli Studios (Also known as the people who made My Neighbor Totoro

Awards

• Best Picture; The 21st Japanese Academy Awards
• Best Japanese Movie, Best Animation, and Japanese Movie Fans' Choice; The 52nd Mainichi Film Award
• Best Japanese Movie and Readers' Choice; Asahi Best Ten Film Festival
• Excellent Movie Award; The Agency for Cultural Affairs
• Grand Prize in Animation Division; 1st Japan Media Arts Festival (by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Ministry of Education)
• Best Director; Takasaki Film Festival
• Best Japanese Movie; The Association of Movie Viewing Groups
• Movie Award; The 39th Mainichi Art Award
• Best Director; Tokyo Sports Movie Award
• Nihon Keizai Shinbun Award for Excellency; Nikkei Awards for Excellent Products/Service (details)
• Theater Division Award; Asahi Digital Entertainment Award
• MMCA Special Award; Multimedia Grand Prix 1997
• Best Director and Yujiro Ishihara Award; Nikkan Sports Film Award
• Special Achievement Award; The Movie's Day
• Special Award; Hochi Film Award
• Special Award; Blue Ribbon Awards
• Special Award; Osaka Film Festival
• Special Award; Elandore Award
• Cultural Award; Fumiko Yamaji Award
• Grand Prize and Special Achievement Award; Golden Gross Award
• First Place, best films of the year; The 26th "Pia Ten"
• First Place; Japan Movie Pen Club, 1997 Best 5 Japanese Movies
• First Place; 1997 Kinema Junpo Japanese Movies Best 10 (Readers' Choice)
• Second Place; 1997 Kinema Junpo Japanese Movies Best 10 (Critics' Choice)
• Best Director; 1997 Kinema Junpo Japanese Movies (Readers' Choice)
• First Place; Best Comicker's Award
• First Place; CineFront Readers' Choice
• Nagaharu Yodogawa Award; RoadShow
• Best Composer and Best Album Production; 39th Japan Record Award
• Excellent Award; Yomiuri Award for Film/Theater Advertisement

source: wikipedia

You see the above ? That's called national success ! The well received Japanese animated movie 'Princess Mononoke'  is known by some as one of the greatest Japanese animated movies acknowledging Hayao Miyazaki as one of the greatest-if not THE greatest- animation director of his generation and was also one of the first to use 3D rendered effects (some where so obvious that i wondered who could POSSIBLY think that that looked real.). Admire a spectacular and magical story that took Hayao Miyazaki 16 long  years to fulfill.

Hayao Miyazaki

Yes, the man that has over 45 years of experience and still active at the age of 71 continue's to make master pieces such as , Spirited away, Ponyo, Arriety the borrower . For anyone who saw this HAND DRAWN movie you'll know that the diversity in animals and folklore outweighs the human protagonists focusing on a folkloric tale seen by a young man traveling from east to west to cure a curse that is growing from his right hand granting him strength surpassing human standard; some good, some ridiculously strong (like the time he couldn't control his strength and shot a head off using one arrow which is physically impossible if I may add.).

Princess Mononoke and Moro

The Antagonist is a young boy with skills beyond his age hinted to be the heir of a small tribe in the east (it's never actually told were) cursed after fighting a  Boar-like demon to protect his village (and a girl who tripped...classic). The initial plan quickly sidetracks to make place for explanation and character development ultimately revealing where that boar came from, the situation that caused it and if he should side with the humans or preserve the forest at the side of princess Mononoke, daughter of the wolf Moro (huuuuge wolf o.O) and the gathering tribes of animals. This Epic tail is a mix of Japanese mythology and  folklore unveiling more than actually lead to believe after reading the title and the synopsis of this fine animation.

Rating:
***** Watch-tastic! Shut up and take my money!
A movie that is worth ALL of it's praises and awards, I can only wish that I could of had the opportunity to watch this as a kid, just like I enjoyed Spirited Away on TV and a more Action-racing and vulgar oriented movie Redline which I watched recently. Enjoy and thank me later as you gaze at a animated master piece  :). 

Do comment about the greatness of this movie.

M.

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