Pompo: A Cinéfila

A miracle testament to the compulsion, craft, and sacrifice required in meaningful creative expression. Articulate, specific, and deeply felt while simultaneously concise and wholly unpretentious.

Actors, directors, editors, producers, even financiers are shown to be roles with potentials for excellence and passion in their own ways which deeply affect the subsequent work (srsly what portraits of creativity give credit to the financiers that take the leaps of faith that let the things get made in the first place). Accident and spontaneity are shown as inseparable parts of the creative process. Introspection and personal insights are shown to be the key to resonant art. These are very astute observations about filmmaking that I have heard echoed many times in interviews with my favorite artists, and to see them reflected in this random anime movie is so crazy to me. That's to say nothing of the tour de force the editing segment of this film is, which has a specificity that I could not be more grateful for.

For all the beautiful and astute things it has to say, it really is the energy and enthusiasm of this film that makes it so infectious and inspiring. Crazy what happens when you abandon ego and actually put unabashed artistry ahead of your own petty hangups (this being made in the same industry that produced Belle is some twist). Of course this all got wasted on animefan mouthbreathers, but this is the type of thing to blow the right minds in the coming years.

IN A NUTSHELL: Pompo is a talented and gutsy producer in "Nyallywood," the movie-making capital of the world. Although she's known for B-movies, Pompo tells her movie-loving but apprehensive assistant Gene that he will direct her next script: a delicate drama about a tormented artistic genius, starring the legendary and Brando-esque actor Martin Braddock, and a young actress seeking her first break. But when the production heads towards chaos, can Gene rise to Pompo's challenge, and succeed as a first-time director?

It's both a satirical look at Hollywood's filmmaking industry, as well as a tribute to the magic of motion pictures. For anyone who absolutely loves movies as I do, this is a must-see. It's already been nominated for "Best Animated Feature" at the Fantasia Film Festival and the Annie Awards. The director and screenwriter are both Takayuki Hirao. This is the debut feature of the animation studio CLAP, well deserving of applause.

Welcome to the world of dreams and madness! (Pompo)

THINGS I LIKED: I watched the Japanese version, although an English-language version is also available. I absolutely loved loved loved it and it reminded me why I love movies so much.

Super clever transitions I love the use of actual film to draw borders and images in various frames.

I thought it was interesting when Pompo tried to teach Gene how to create a movie trailer. She explained that he needed to include a misleading image to provide intrigue. Do you think that was good advice or do you think audiences get angry when a trailer is misleading? Comment down below!

The animation is extremely creative and entertaining.

It's fascinating to watch a film being made right before our eyes.

The insights into filmmaking and life are inspiring and entertaining.

If you're not used to watching Japanese Anime, you're in for a treat. While the people look Caucasian and are generally considered to be American, you'll see the gentle, sweet nature of the Japanese in their mannerisms. I had the immense pleasure of going to Japan a few years ago and was so impressed with the kind, respectful people we met there.

Fun fact: Hollywood is called "Nyallywood" in the movie. The "nyaa" part is the sound that the Japanese use to represent a cat's meow. Because of that, you see a lot of cat symbols when the characters are in Nyallywood. The statues of the "Oscar" awards are even in the shape of cats. Super cute.

I love the scene that showed Gene typing madly on his computer just like a pianist would play an aria.

Keep watching during the rolling credits to see images of what happens next and some "outtakes".

The audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is an impressive 100%!

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Pompo's name is on the title of the film, but the movie is really about Gene, her assistant.

Some viewers might not catch all of the sarcasm.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: One of the characters is a sexy female actress who wears a bikini and other revealing clothing. We often see close-ups of her scantily-clad body.

1 word of profanity (D-word).

THEMES: Filmmaking Pursue your dreams Collaboration and teamwork Building confidence The creative process Mentors Vision Trust Power in memories Getting your break to prove yourself

YouTube channel.

Whoa a movie about cinephiles. Cinema Paradiso! Really need to watch it.

As an anime, the animation was amazing as expected. The transitions were smooth and cool. The part where Gene edited the movie was pretty dope, and it was the most exciting part of the story.

As a story tho, although I get the passion, I did not agree with all the messages. There's a discussion on the length of a movie between Gene and Pompo that I for sure do not agree. This point became significant later, and it annoyed be a bit.

I also found the message pretty surface-level. It's not a whole lot different from other movies about passion for something. This made the plot fairly predictable.

Overall, it's an okay and easy to digest anime. 6/10.

You got this stunning shots and timelapse from Shinkai's studio. You got nice and so clean character understanding. You got this experience of film making industry you wouldn't ever think you will get in anime. You got hot turn of drama and bloodboiling turnouts of events even if you already know that they will success.

In this movie, you got introduced by talented, and professional people doing what they wanted to do. Then, we got introduced to people who has the passion but never tried before, challenging their passion to get what they wanted.

It is a beautiful animated work with no e OSTs and neat fun music scores, followed by what sometimes you need to do to chase your passion.

I hate giving out 10/10 all Willy nilly and my opinion might lower in the future but for now I LOVE this movie. Idk I tried going into it unbiased and knowing minimal about this really only knowing the plot. But I got this feeling which I've gotten occasionally with other films like Tick Tick Boom & The Road To El Dorado where I knew personally I was gonna love this movie. And I did idk I just really really like this movie let me get into why. Ok so if nothing even if the plot was horrible I'd still recommend this movie for the visuals alone. This movie is a wonder to look at the animation is so fluid and the colors and characters are so pretty. And idk how they do it but they have this attention to detail with character design having characters whose eye sparkle and those who don't and some who get em later to spark like it's hard to explain without spoiling but it's great. The movie is also kinda meta considering this is a movie about making a movie and this movie had to get made ya know like it gets really meta when you think about it but I lowkey really like that about it like the fact this is movie literally ends 90 mins on the dot is actually wild you'll understand if you watch like it's absolutely great it gets its message across in that time like idk it shows how it's not hypocritical like it's just one of those things you have to watch to understand it's amazing. I also just connect with Gene as an artist and someone who wants to create for a living in the future like idk it's so hard to put into words just what this movie gets across to the viewer and it's lowkey really beautiful to me. So if your a creator in anyway shape or form I do recommend giving this movie a shot. But even aside from that it's such a quick watch and it's so pretty where anyone and everyone should give this movie a try even if you're just someone who likes movies.