Animation First ’20: Marona’s Fantastic Tale

Your dogs better understand life than you do, so just scratch them behind the ears and toss them a ball. That is definitely the message of recent films like A Dog’s Purpose and Art of Racing in the Rain and this animated feature definitely concurs. According to the puppy who comes into the world as “Nine,” it is a dog’s life when you are dog, but hers will be even doggier. Yet, there will be grace notes too in Anca Damian’s Marona’s Fantastic Tale, which screens today as part of this year’s Animation First.

As is often the case for strays, “Nine” was the product of an unplanned pregnancy. Her mother is warm and sheltering, but she will not remain in her care long. Instead, she is given to the owners of the pure bread who was tomcatting with her mother, but they abandon her shortly thereafter. She will subsequently live with three owners, who call her Ana, Sara, and finally Marona (or Miruna, in the case of the family’s grouchy grandpa).

It is a sad tale, but Marona still loves the owners who showed her love in return. Burly Itzvan, the well-meaning construction worker is probably the best of the lot, but his shallow wife is another story. Isn’t that always the way for a dog? It certainly is for Nine/Sara/Marona.

Marona’s Tale is definitely a dog story for adults. There is absolutely no mature subject matter, but the new agey fable-like story will be too sad and Damian’s style of animation will be too abstract for younger children. In fact, most viewers will need a little time to acclimate to the wavy collage-like swirl Damian’s visuals, rendered in collaboration with artist Brecht Evens. Utilizing 2D, 3D, and old school Reiniger-esque cut-out, Damian creates an immersive and disorienting world, convincingly approximating a dog’s eye view on life.

Of course, it is all necessarily a bit of a downer, since the story unfolds in media res, after Marona/Nine is hit by a car, prompting her life to flashback before her eyes. You really have to look for those grace notes, but that is the whole point of Anghel Damian’s screenplay. Somehow, the film makes its point without belaboring it. Of course, the charm of the titular dog helps a lot.

Animation First ’20: The County Fair (short)

Forget about Seth MacFarlane’s Ted. These Belgian plastic figurines had perfected the foul-mouthed toy shtick long before he ever came along. Actually, they keep it relatively clean during their latest misadventure, but Cowboy and Indian are just as stupid, self-centered, and offensive as they ever were in Vincent Patar & Stephane Aubier’s latest short film in the A Town Called Panic universe, The County Fair, which screens as part of a showcase for the production company Autour de Minuit, during this year’s Animation First Festival.

Fans will not be surprised when Cowboy and Indian tank their latest test at school. Horse, their mature guardian is so disgusted he threatens to withhold the tickets he bought for this year’s county fair. This will be sufficient motivation for the two dim-witted toys to knuckle down and ace the make-up test. However, when events conspire to still prevent them from attending the fair, they do what any wildly irresponsible cartoon character would do. First, they try stealing tickets, then they resort to time travel to avoid the obstacles in their way.

Animation First ’20: The Swallow of Kabul

Yasmina Khadra ran for the presidency of his native Algeria (not so impressively), but his most celebrated novel (written in French) tells of life in Afghanistan under the Taliban. The truth isn’t pretty, but the animated film adaptation is strikingly beautiful. Islamist extremism deepens and compounds a freak tragedy in Zabou Breitman & Elea Gobbe-Mevellec’s The Swallows of Kabul which screens during the Alliance Française’s 2020 Animation First Festival, in New York.

Mohsen and Zunaira Ramat were a modern educated couple. Now she must wear a burqa and must be accompanied by her husband whenever she leaves the house. Despite his reasonableness, Mohsen gets caught up in the mania of the moment and joins the fatal stoning of a convicted prostitute (whether she truly was one is anyone’s guess). Zunaira does not take his confession well. Rather fatefully, it causes an argument that leads to a horrible accident that Zunaira will be harshly punished for.

She will be the latest captive in the prison Atiq Shaukat oversees. In fact, she is the only prisoner, because the others have already been put to death. If Shaukat was ever troubled by the torture and executions, he is numb to it all now—at least until he spies Zunaira. Of course, he was not supposed to. This is not a Sybil Danning women-in-prison movie. Only female trustees should ever see a women prisoner without her hazmat suit. Sadly, she just doesn’t care anymore, but the pathos of her situation just might stir some feelings in Shaukat. Ironically, his terminally ill wife Mussarat is happy instead of jealous at the prospect of Shaukat’s emotional re-awakening, because it alleviates some of the guilt she feels for the way his life ended up. Nevertheless, Ramat is due to be executed as part of a Taliban public extravaganza, so Shaukat’s questions only bring anger and suspicion upon himself.

Thematically, Swallows is quite similar to Nora Twomey’s The Breadwinner, but its lush, watercolor-like animation is even more elegant, whereas the GKIDS release is probably somewhat more emotionally involving. Swallows still packs quite a punch. The adaptation credited to Breitman, Patricia Mortagne, and Sebastien Tavel maybe slightly softens Khadra’s ending, but the tragic inevitability of it all will definitely haunt viewers.

Animation First ’20: The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily

For decades, Sicily was a stronghold for Italian monarchist politics. It must have been because of the bears. According to Dino Buzzati’s 1945 children’s book, the bruin-kind were once in charge here. In fact, the bear king was rather popular, until his administration fell victim to the sort of jealousies and shortsightedness that are typically the specialty of mortal men. Lorenzo Mattotti adapted Buzzati’s epic fable, The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily as a French-Italian animated co-production, which screens as the opening night feature of the Alliance Française’s 2020 Animation First Festival, in New York.

This will be a tale told by Gedeone the troubadour, wisely selected to appeal to the bear, whose lair he entered uninvited. Leonce was a wise bear king, but he slides into a funk of depression when his beloved son Tonio is abducted by hunters. His brooding inaction even jeopardizes the survival of the bearsfolk, since winter is fast approaching. Fortunately, a sage elder bear convinces him to invade the Grand Duchy of Sicily, in the hope of finding both food and Tonio. It will be a pitched battle, with momentum swinging from the bears to the tyrannical Grand Duke and back again. The wildcard will be the court sorcerer De Ambrosiis, who was never fully appreciated by his corrupt boss.

Eventually, the bears defeat the Duke, largely because the humans are well ready to be rid of him—De Ambrossiis first and foremost. However, Gedeone’s attentive audience has the second part of the story. Alas, Leonce won the war, but it turns out he lost the peace, largely because when the bears accepted the mantel of human power, they started exhibiting human corruption, arrogance, and ambition. Turns out Lord Acton’s dictum and Public Choice Economic Theory apply just as much to bears in power as they do to men.