I’ve just discovered that The Secret of Kells is screening in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and other select cities. As Dave Letterman says, I just pray to God your city has been selected! Here’s a U.S. map from IMDb, showing screening locations as of April 4th, 2010. Check your local listings and go see this lovely film!

In Los Angeles, it is currently screening at The Landmark theater on Pico. This is a nice new theater with assigned seating. I personally prefer it over the Arclight in Hollywood, which is much-loved by many, but I find to be a bit of a clusterf**k. For some reason, however, local listings for The Landmark are often unreliable. Best to go directly to The Landmark site for times, tickets, and seat selections.

Click on “Press Conference” to start the video stream and skip ahead to 5:55 for the discussion. Most of it is spoken in English and those parts that aren’t have a live voice-over translation. Chomet talks about the origin of the project, correlations between Tati’s style of directing and directing for animation, possible advantages to producing the story a half-century after its conception, and the inspiration to set scenes in Scotland instead of Prague. If you’re anticipating this film as much as I am, this is definitely worth a viewing. Again, here’s the link.

I’m excited about The Illusionist, the latest animated feature from Sylvain Chomet (Triplets of Belleville), adapted from an unproduced script written by filmmaker, comedic actor, mime, performer savant Jacques Tati in 1956. I first learned of this project about six months back when I discovered a new title in Chomet’s filmography on IMDb, listing Chomet and Tati as co-writers. I was struck with confusion and elation, and immediately looked for more information about the film, only to find a little more backstory on the origin. The script was in the possession of Tati’s daughter, Sophie Tatischeff, and she specifically chose Chomet to create the film adaptation. She expressed her preference that the iconic image of her father be portrayed and performed on the screen by way of animation, as opposed to live-action. I think she found a sublime match.

As evidenced by its February screening at the Berlinale festival, the film is now complete and I’m antsy to see it arrive on screens in the United States. The stills and clips that are beginning to pop-up are intriguing.

Here is a clip (in German) containing footage from The Illusionist:

A trailer (with russian titles) can also be found here:
http://www.afisha.ru/movie/trailer/192512/

And for anyone who’s never seen Tati before, here is a short clip from Mon Oncle:

I would just like to give a quick report and say that the Academy’s Animated Feature Symposium was a great event. Wes Anderson was in London and couldn’t make it, but Henry Selick, John Musker, Ron Clements, Tomm Moore, and Pete Docter were all there. We saw clips from each of the films nominated for the Animated Feature Oscar for 2009 (2010 ceremony). I had already seen all the films, a few of them more than once, but it was a treat to see slices of them placed side-by-side on the big screen. It helped to remind me of each of their strengths.

As of this writing, the Oscars ceremony has already ended and we know that Up was the winner. A big “up” to Pete Docter and the many tremendous artists and technicians that went into its production. Watching the clips from Up on Thursday night reminded me yet again, just what a delightful film this is. I honestly do not say that to be popular, though I realize I’m in good company. One of the clips that was shown at the symposium was the sequence that takes us from Carl and Ellie as little kids to the beginning of Carl’s life as an elderly widower. It is such a profoundly well-crafted piece of film making and of animation. Anyone who disagrees, I’m inclined to set them up for an appointment at the nearest radiologist to see if they still have a heart.

However, I think perhaps the biggest winner in all of this is The Secret of Kells and its director Tomm Moore. I saw the film when it screened here as part of the Los Angeles Irish Film Festival and found it absolutely beautiful. Having visited Ireland for the first time only months prior and having had the opportunity to view the real Book of Kells in person certainly added a great deal to my experience of the film, as well. I’ve also had an appreciation for the Celtic Manuscripts since studying them in my college Art History class. But I think it makes an enjoyable film for anyone, regardless of their familiarity with Ireland or the Book of Kells. It is a visually rich and appealing experience. I loved the simplified, almost geometric designs tempered by fluid, expressive animation. I loved the warm-hearted, appealing characters. And I loved the playfulness with the picture plane and illusion of space. I do hope the nomination of The Secret of Kells brings it much-deserved attention and I hope we can get some more screenings of it in those big dark rooms we call theaters.

I have a great deal of admiration for all the directors who participated in the Symposium (and also for Wes Anderson). Henry Selick is a madman and a genius, whose happiest place is in the middle of production. When posed the first question of how the Coraline project began, he was quick to point out that someone (Neil Gaiman) actually looked in the credits of a Nightmare Before Christmas and saw that it was not directed by Tim Burton. John Musker and Ron Clements made a comic duo as they jokingly bickered about whether or not they bickered as co-directors.

I could go on, but I’ll try to cut this short. I’ll just say that it was a pleasure getting to see all of these guys together in person. Listening to their stories, perspectives, advice, opinions, etc., was inspiring. Thanks to the Academy for organizing events like this one and making them available to the public.

…sounds like a bizarro law firm.

I’ll be attending this event Thursday evening, March 4th 2010, at the Sam Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Schedules permitting, these guys (pictured below) will be there to talk about the big movies they made that are up for Oscars this weekend.

Tickets can be purchased here for the low low low price of $5, but don’t wait. it’s sure to be a hot ticket. If you see me there, please feel free to say hello.

Events like this are enough to make me post this classic from Randy Newman:

“Don’t startle ‘im, Joe — it’s almost full.”

In my previous post, I focused somewhat on the drawing, which I do think is great and the above image is a terrific example, but how about the comedy! The drawing really sells the joke with composition, expression, staging, environment, etc., and all that stuff that contributes to the tone, but if you just strip it down to the basic joke, it’s still a great cartoon and that’s really his genius, I think. Many of his cartoons don’t really make light of a bad situation, so much as they find the comedy amidst a miserable situation. It could also be said that some of the jokes are really low-brow… but they are played so smartly. There is a real joy in that sort of humor.

“Just give me the aspirin. I already got a Purple Heart.”

Why is it I never heard of this guy before? I’m seeing a strong stylistic resemblance to Will Eisner, who I also love. Check out the expressive lines. When I see how a squiggly line can just so perfectly describe something. It blows my mind. I love the rhythmic flow throughout and the mix of realism and caricature/cartoon — a mix of the tragic and the comic. Really fun stuff. I like his approach to the subject matter, too. I’m not big into war stories, per se, but I get the feeling that doesn’t matter in this case. He’s getting to the humanity of things — not glorifying the military industrial complex — and he was there. This isn’t some fantasy fan-boy stuff. He was cartooning about his own reality and of those around him. His honesty landed him a reprimanding or two from General Patton himself. Reading about Bill Mauldin here, here, and here. I’m going to enjoy looking into this further.

Trailer is available here: http://www.aerialcontrivanceworkshop.com/projects.html
Jim Capobianco has also kept a blog about the film making process here: http://leoanimation.blogspot.com

This screening was to qualify the film for Oscar consideration and so I also wish it the greatest success in that endeavor.

BEFORE

AFTER

In the spirit of fresh starts, I’ve revamped the ol’ bloggy-blog, peoples. In case you find yourself missing the old design, I’ve archived it at:
http://blog.artandstory.com/2008-prior

However, if you wish to see new posts, they will only appear here. I upgraded Wordpress 2.0.1 to 2.7 and gave the thing a makeover. I did a little custom stylesheet I like to call ‘Skine’ — perhaps for obvious reasons. I felt like the old design was getting pretty bland and oh so Bush-era. It’s time now to celebrate diversity and smarts and the arts. I got a little creative. I hope you like it.

Your friend,

Lee-Roy

p.s. Here’s the sketch I used to create the new header image:

So please, if you are going to be there, look for me and come up and say hello. Here’s what I look like:

Oops! Wrong picture. This one’s a little more accurate:

My wife Jamie will be there with me.

I realize this is very last minute, quite literally. It is almost 7pm now, but I figured I’d give it a shot anyway. Bye for now!

—Lee-Roy

I gave this as a housewarming gift to my friends Chris and Lindsey. It’s approximately 3 by 4 inches, or 2.75 x 3.75, if cropped to the pencil line.

Ink on Bristol.

Here I am traveling through time and space and thought.

Drawn with Photoshop on Cintiq.