The Mountain Head

This should have gotten the Oscar. It was dreamy, meditative, and surreal. I absolutely loved it. The narration was sort of chanted or sung, like it was in imitation of some Japanese traditional performance that I (in my cultural myopia) wasn't familiar with. But I got very caught up in it. See it in a theater if you can--it works great if you feel surrounded by it. Funny, weird stuff.

I fell in love with this film the first time I saw it, and it remains one of my absolute favorite animated shorts. I can entirely understand why a lot of people dislike Atama Yama - it's slow-paced, eccentric, and the story is kinda nonsensical. But for me it works. Amazingly so.

The art is very original. Its unique design is quite different from the typical anime style, and much more expressive. The animation is very lively as well. Though rough, it has a wonderful sense of weight, space, and movement. Complementing the visuals is a narration sung by a minstrel, who also plays the shamisen.

When it all comes together, the result is beautiful. For me, Yamamura creates an evocative, humorous mood in every scene. Can't wait to see what he does next.

This has as absurd a premise as one can imagine. A stingy man feels he will be wasteful if doesn't eat the cherry pits along with the cherries. Soon a cherry tree begins growing out of his head. This leads to some social missteps and some pretty weird responses to the cruelty of people.

Here's a feast for the eyes that will give you indigestion. Once in a while a work of art will come along that is so appealing to the senses, yet its theme is flawed. Let's talk about the flaws first.

The story attempts to tell a moral tale of greed and its hazards; however it fails to distinguish between "greed" and "economy". The protagonist of the story is an economical man; he saves everything; he finds value in other people's trash; he recycles things that everyone else throws away. He despises waste and tries to find a use for everything. I equate this to the Native American Indian who kills an animal and finds a use for every last bone & sinew. Or, perhaps less noble but equally economical: the dumpster diver.

The fable then focuses on the greedy; those who rape & ravage for their selfish and wasteful purposes. I would equate this to the modern American hunter who kills a deer, takes the tender meat and dumps the majority of the carcass on the side of the road (try driving through Montana, and you'll see what I mean).

This film fails to make the important distinction between the two. Both the former and the latter are lumped into the same category. And as a result, the central theme is invalid.

The protagonist's only flaw (the act for which he is punished) occurs in the very beginning when he gathers cherries from the sidewalk and eats them. Not wishing to waste the seeds, he eats them too. Folks, is this "greed"? Far from it. But apparently the writer thinks it is. Apparently the writer feels that we should waste fallen cherries and instead go buy them at the supermarket. And we should trash everything but the savory part. I wonder how the writer would feel about recycling aluminum, paper and plastic.

OK, that's the philosophical critique. Now on to the artistic. From the opening scenes this blew me away. The style is unlike any other animation I've seen. The artist/director paid close attention to perspective, perception and visual angles. The result is that the viewer is truly drawn into this cartoon world as if it were reality. There's nothing bubble-gummy about this. You feel like you're standing right inside the room with the man (and often you are placed within the eyes of the man himself).

The music (traditional Japanese) is quite good, but you must have a taste for this "weird" sort of stuff. Be prepared to hear the narrator sing his lines with thick tenor vibrato whilst accompanied by a twangy instrument that sounds something like a banjo with 3 strings. Personally I loved it.

I am extremely impressed with the artistic side, but that only intensifies my disgust at the rather vapid and undevelopped theme underneath it. As a result I must average my artistic rating (10 stars) with my thematic rating (4 stars) and give it an overall 7.

Watch it if you get a chance. Then post back whether you agree or disagree with what I've said here.

Atama-yama (2003)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Japanese film received an Oscar-nomination for Best Animated Short and in my opinion it should have won. We meet an elderly miser who is so cheap that he prefers to fill up his house with various garbage he can get for free in the streets. One day he picks up a bunch of cherries and decides to eat the pits since he doesn't want to get rid of something free. Soon a tree begins to grow from the top of his head. The idea of a tree growing from someone's head is silly but this film is so incredibly smart and well-drawn that you'll overlook that minor plot detail. I was really surprised at how effective this film was and the majority of the credit has to go to director Yamamura who really adds some great stuff. Having the start of the film being shown from the point-of-view of the man was a great touch as was one of the final scenes in the film where we see the same image just repeating itself to great effect. It should go without saying that this short is 100% Japanese with its look and style. It's doubtful American kids would know what to make of the images here but some of them are very dark and moody, which will sit a lot better with adults.