The Mountain Head

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.

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.

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.

This short, done with rough hand-drawn animation and with sung and spoken narration (a musical form of entertainment, the Japanese equivalent of the Western minstrel/bard), tells the story of an old man so parsimonious that he couldn't bear throwing away the pits from some old, discarded cherries, which he ate rather than discard. What follows is true, quite poetic, justice. As the old saying goes, true justice is something most of us would actually be happier without. An Academy Award nominee for Animated Short in a very good year. It bears repeated viewing and is an excellent piece of work. Hopefully, it will see print sometime soon, as it deserves a wider audience. It is part of Shorts Program 115 on the Sundance Channel as well as part of the program for the first year of The Animation Show, still showing in some locations. Give it a look-well worth seeing. Most highly recommended.