NYICFF ’10: In the Attic

It is not exactly the ash-heap of history, but it is close enough. One Czech family’s attic is filled with castoff items, including a variety of old toys and a military bust leftover from the Communist era. Yet even in mothballs, their fundamental natures remain the same in Jiří Barta’s stop-motion animated feature In the Attic or Who Has a Birthday Today? (trailer here), which screens during the 2010 New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Even though they have been discarded by humanity, life is pleasant for an enclave of old toys. Every day Buttercup, a girly girl’s doll, bakes a cake for a teddy bear, a marionette knight, and a silly-putty man, who roll a special birthday die for the daily honors. Yet, danger lurks in the far reaches of the attic.

Head, a surviving piece of Communist statuary, covets Buttercup, and enlists his insect minions (nature’s collectivists) and the house cat (who is just plain evil) to kidnap her. Of course, the squabbling toys launch a rescue mission with the help of the rest of the toy community and a sympathetic rat, but the terrain of Head’s Land of Evil is forbidding and he maintains absolute control through his cult of personality.

While the quest story, co-written by Barta and Edgar Dutka, might not hold a lot of surprises per se, it is the visually dazzling journey that counts. Rendered without the aid of computers, Barta creates a richly detailed, fully realized world, filled with winningly eccentric flourishes. Head (the flesh-and-blood head of Czech actor Jiří Labus rendered through Barta’s animation process) also makes a thoroughly creepy screen villain, effectively channeling fallen Communist icons and dystopian Big Brother archetypes (if there is any difference between the two).

Considered an animator’s animator, Barta’s style is perfectly suited to Attic’s familiar yet mysterious setting and fable like story. Though some scenes with Head are undeniably intense, the festival program frankly makes it sound much darker than it really is. It is a magical story that should enchant youngster, while fascinating their parents with its shrewd commentary. Enthusiastically recommended, it screens again next Sunday (3/14) at the IFC Center, as the NYICFF continues through March 21st (but never on school nights).

NYICFF ’10: Little White Lies

If Michael Haneke had made his Oscar nominated The White Ribbon for young adult audiences, it would probably look a lot like this. Indeed, young German school children again prove only too willing to turn on each other for murky reasons in Marcus Rosenmüller’s Little White Lies (a.k.a. Die Perlmutterfarbe, trailer here), which screens during the 2010 New York International Children’s Film Festival.

In 1931 Germany, Alexander’s school is divided into the A class and the B class. What started as an arbitrary administrational division has established two fairly rigid cliques. One fateful day an older student joins A class. The son of the local absentee industrialist, Langer Gruber is definitely trouble. Though wary of him, Alexander finds himself manipulated by the older boy. Through his own lies and cowardice, Alexander has victimized B-Karli, a fellow student from his rival class, partly through Gruber’s instigation. As a result, Alexander meekly submits when his sinister classmate organizes the A’s into a fascist gang. Wearing brown scarves instead of brown shirts, it is obvious what Gruber’s anti-B campaign represents. (In this context, Gruber’s name is actually an odd distraction, being a relatively common Jewish surname.)

Unlike Haneke’s film, Lies is indeed a children’s film. It is told from Alexander’s perspective, focusing almost exclusively on its juvenile characters. With the exception of his mother Klari, the adults of Lies are almost entirely caricatures of academic authority figures, like the disembodied voices of Charlie Brown’s teachers. However, the underlying themes are quite adult and sophisticated, even though plot points involving the boy genius experiments of Alexander’s estranged friend Maulwurf often give the film a slightly Goonies-like vibe.

Still, Rosenmüller handles the film’s evolution in tone from realistic coming-of-age story to cerebral fable surprisingly smoothly. Yet, the rather strange fusion of mature allegory and kid-friendly slapstick action might well be seen by American distributors as neither fish nor fowl, likely limiting domestic screening opportunities to the festival circuit. That would be unfortunate though, because there is some worthy substance to Lies. It vividly dramatizes how one deceit can snowball out of control, offering an efficacious vehicle for parents to discuss tolerance and personal responsibility.

Though often dark, Lies has a consistently classy sheen thanks to the artful contributions of cinematographer Torsten Breuer and composer Gerd Baumann. It also features some very strong work from its youthful cast, particularly Markus Krojer as the tormented Alexander. Among the adults, Brigitte Hobmeier easily takes the honors, portraying Klari as a loving but realistically flawed mother.

Not nearly as ominous as White Ribbon, Lies actually finds some measure of hope for humanity. Still, it makes an intriguing companion piece to Haneke’s (hopefully Oscar-winning) film. While parents and children might be watching it on different levels, both should find it quite a satisfying film experience. It screens again Sunday after next (3/21) at the IFC Center, as the NYICFF continues over the next two weekends.

NYICFF ’10: Fantastic Planet

It was an award winner at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival that was distributed in America by schlock master Roger Corman. While it might sound like oddly sophisticated fare for the low budget mogul, he knew a trippy property when he saw one. A surreal animated classic, René Laloux’s Fantastic Planet (trailer here) might play to more boomers in the audience than young viewers when it has a special repertory screening at the 2010 New York International Children’s Film Festival as part of this year’s celebration of “The Animauteurs: 50 Years of French Animation.”

The Traags (a.k.a. Draags) are big-headed, blue giants who rule their planet through their superior technology and long life spans. Humans, known as “Oms” (based on “hommes” the French word for “Men”) are either kept as pets or exterminated like vermin. However, deliverance might be coming for the oms when Terr, an orphaned house pet, starts learning the knowledge of the Traags through his young mistress’s telepathically imparted lessons. Blending archetypes from the Prometheus legend and the Book of Exodus, Planet is a genuine science fiction fable, memorably brought to life through the mind-altering animation of Laloux’s French and Czech production team.

Though the animation renders characters somewhat stiff and inexpressive, it truly transports viewers to a different world. Indeed, Planet de-emphasizes characterization in favor of its otherworldly imagery of lush fauna and Dali-like landscapes. The psychedelic vibe is further heightened by a distinctive proggy jazz fusion soundtrack by Alain Goraguer, which is very cool, but definitely a product of its time.

While certainly a stylistic triumph of French (and Czech) animation, it is a bit of an odd choice for the NYICFF. Though never risqué, Planet features frequent National Geographic-style animated nudity, which parents should be aware of going in. Also, the opening sequence showing an om woman with child being tormented by Traag children might be too intense for young viewers (frankly, I still find it disturbing).

Over thirty-five years after it won the special jury prize at Cannes, Planet is still one strange trip. Recommended more for adults than children, it screens next Saturday (3/13) at Symphony Space as part of NYICFF’s French animation celebration. Those interested in seeing it on a big screen with an appreciative audience should bear in mind NYICFF is a festival that often sells out and even adds screenings.

NYICFF ’10: Runaway (animated short)

Of the surviving five Oscar nominees for the best animated short, the best is also the most commercially prominent, Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death, which had its U.S. premiere at last year’s New York International Children’s Film Festival. However, the two best films on the original shortlist did not make the cut. Sadly, this includes Cordell Barker’s Runaway (trailer here). Again showing superior programming taste, this year’s NYICFF includes the sly Runaway in one of its several blocks of short films.

The Canadian Barker’s animation might look light-hearted and whimsical, but at its core, Runaway is a gleefully subversive gem of a film. Nine minutes of madcap humor, Runaway involves a cow, an out of control train, a little fur ball of a dog, and an engineer’s assistant trying desperately to save the day.

It all hurtles down the track to the propulsive rhythm of Benoit Charest’s soundtrack. Best known for the score of Silvain Chomet’s The Triplets of Belleville, Charest’s music for Runaway has a similar spirit, sounding something like a mutated form of early hot jazz on some serious acid. Charest also brought in many of the same jazz musicians who recorded Triplets, including the drummer Jim Doxas and his saxophonist brother Chet, both of whom have played with the highly regarded Canadian jazz pianist Oliver Jones.

Runaway is an inspired act of lunacy, rendered in sophisticated style. It screens the next three successive Saturdays (3/6, 3/13, and 3/20) as part of “Short Films One.” NYICFF seems to have a knack for selected interesting shorts, with Runaway certainly being a case in point.

Other short film highlights include the Oscar nominated French Roast, whose homeless-man-teaches-uptight-businessman-a-lesson-in-living storyline is more than a little trite, but at least it also boasts a pleasing soundtrack, composed by Olivier Llioutry and featuring the flute of jazz musician Bobby Rangell. Jake Armstrong’s Terrible Thing from Alpha 9 is quite notable as well for probably the most macabre closing titles you are likely to see at a children’s film festival anytime soon. Now underway, the NYICFF will screen several short programming blocks throughout the festival, which continues through March 21st.