Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space

I went to this movie with no expectations of any kind, except that it was Japanese and animated. What I saw was perplexing and at times disturbing, but completely engaging from beginning to end.

If you consider satire comic exaggeration with a moral punch, then this might be satire, though it's difficult to figure out what the moral is. The connections between the title character, Catty & Co., the Fritz Lang style 3-D artificial world, and Minerva are spotty. It would probably help to take notes during the rotting old professor cat's lecture, both at his slide show presentation, and during his confrontation with Michelangelo. For those who haven't seen it or read it elsewhere, these are all cartoon cats.

But this is a movie, and you shouldn't need to take notes to enjoy it, and I enjoyed it thoroughly as it was presented. I love the black and white, sharply detailed designs, the splashes of vivid color, especially that painting Tamala discovers in the basement of the museum. The violence gets pretty intense in places, but it works very well and doesn't seem gratuitous.

Tamala is worth a second look, but seems to be strictly short-run in most venues here in the U.S. DVDs are available from their website, but they're Region 2. It will probably be a long while before I see it again, but I anxiously await that chance.

I attended a screening of Tamala 2010 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The directors, t.o.L. (trees of Life), and animator were present for discussion after the film. It was two years ago, so my memory might be shaky, but I can fill in some information about the production of the film.

t.o.L. is an enigmatic multi-media creative duo (a man and a woman). While they work with animation, illustration, and graphic design, their primary focus seems to be music, and they composed and performed all of the music for the film.

All of the animation was done by one (!) man. He labored for nearly four years animating Tamala 2010. From his comments, it sounds like the directors fed him information about story and scenes, bit by bit, which he would use to animate segments. He usually did not know what was coming next while animating a segment. After the initial character design and style was established, he was left with complete control over his work.

Responding to a question from an audience member, the directors admitted that the idea for "Minerva" was based on "Tristero" from Pynchon's novel "The Crying of Lot 49".

The directors also indicated that they are very interesting in marketing merchandise based on Tamala 2010.

While the film is visually and conceptually interesting, it is disjointed, lacking a smooth flow. This is probably a result of the "make it up as you go" approach to direction and animation. The film could have been more satisfying if it had been planned out more carefully from the beginning.

The music provides continuity and holds the film together, which leads me to believe that music is t.o.L.'s primary interest.

A strange, wonderful, dark, cute movie. One of my favourites of all time.

Tamala 2010 is a joy to behold, and defies categorization.

If you want to go see something different, this is it.

Granted this is not for everyone since many have poor attention spans and cannot tolerate sub-captions but for the rest of us that appreciate good art no matter what country it is from this is the bee's knees! This jumps from rich animation in deep vivid color and detail and realism to black and white very simplistic 'hello kitty style animation with mouths and moving eyes. The music is pretty damn good as well. keep in mind this is not only done by Japanese it has never really been adapted to fit American culture so do not think this will have the same feel as other Animation titles such as Nausical or Pom Poko. This is the most unique piece of animation I have ever seen so far hands down. In a way it is an homage to classic animation and the modern age as the two differences in animation style constantly converge and diverge throughout. Some scenes are very Fantasia like. Tamala herself is very much a cat in the way she acts and subjects she speaks about. She comes off as cute but has a serious potty mouth at times and she smokes. it is like cute collided head on with reality. Imagine Dot Warner of Animaniacs smoking and letting out four letter expletives while going on freaky adventures. Well I hate to tell Dot Warner this but Tamala IS Cuter than she is! Sorry Dot... The story may come off as undirectional but keep this in mind, Japan is a country of coming to a point indirectly. This is one story that is about the subtleties, the art, the characters, and describes the human condition well in many of the smaller elements in it like references to human extinction and Catty and Co. running everything in an iron fisted monopoly. This is not for children as there is violence and sexual references. Also do not watch this one with huge expectations. It is a lite piece in comparison to say Akira nor is it as direct in story as Kiki's Delivery Service but it is different and for those that are into the different, bazaar, and strange (as well as the non-xenophobic viewers out there) this is a animation that needs to be in your collection. No serious collector of Japanese cinema or animation should be without this even if it is not only tough but expensive to get. I had to look HARD for this one but Yesasia came through for me! Try Amazon Japan as well. It can be had but you got to look. Even though it is my personal opinion I loved this animation and hope more comes from this studio! It was food for my mind!

Astro Boy style animation meets disturbing, incoherent surrealism in this odd project from a Japanese music duo called toL. I'm ready to try animation experiments anytime (most seem to come from Japan these days) so I was very interested in this film once I had heard of it.

The danger with artistic experiments is that the creators sometimes confuse self-indulgence with creativity and that seems to be on display here. Or perhaps the need to complete a 90 minute movie caused them to stretch out an hour of material past the breaking point. Regardless, I found between the snooze inducing boredom was a lot of brilliance . The perpetual grayness doesn't help as it (and the disjointed narrative) successfully simulates a disturbing dream.

If all was indeed created by only one animator, this person is due a reward. Visually excellent. The music and soundtrack are very good. The basic story, well, lets say it's been done before by Tezuka and other anime creators.

Worth a look if you are interested in the outer reaches of animation or a fan of trippy movies.