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shadowkatBoth have been nominated for the Oscars, and have garnered multiple awards between them. Flee is short listed for an Oscar in the Documentary Film, International Film and Animated Film categories.
As an aside? I don't think they are comparable in the least. Outside of both being animated films, they've nothing in common. Comparing the two is akin to comparing an apple to a banana, both are fruit, both peelable, and both make great pies. Or comparing tennis to golf.
I'm not even certain which I liked better, I liked them for different reasons and had issues with them for different reasons.
1. Flee (currently available on Hulu on VOD)
I had to be in the right frame of mind for Flee. I tried to watch it last night and dozed off during it. Today, however, I was riveted. It's that kind of film.
It's subject matter is not easy. It's a documentary about a man whose family fled Afghanistan after Russia pulled out. So this was pre-21st Century Afghanistan - or around the early to mid-1980s. His family fled to Russia, and then, was forced to flee Russia separately. Russia was the only country would take them in on a tourist visa, but refused to let them go anywhere else - and extorted money from them with the threat of sending them back to Afghanistan, or the mess Russia created. The only way out of Russia - was by paying off human traffickers to smuggle them out of the country. The human traffickers charged exorbiant fees and were unkind. The more expensive the trafficker, the kinder and less psychotic they were.
The film has an interesting and fluid animation style - which jumps between documentary style film footage, abstract animation, and realistic animation similar to King of the Hill or Bojack Horseman, where the people move somewhat stiffly but are realistically drawn. It's all painted cell animation or hand drawn as opposed to three dimensional computer animation.
It's also not detail, the animation suggests things to the eye, with minute details required. A face, a scruff of beard, or a beard, eyes colored brown, brown hair, some cloths, a tapestry behind.
The film itself isn't busy - and it's simply told - the focus is entirely on Amin, the man being interviewed and his family. We never leave his point of view. The interviewer - we get very little of, and Jasper his partner, even less. Also, we only know what he tells us - which is the story of his family fleeing Afghanistan and Moscow, and being a gay man. We don't really know what he does or what his doctoral work is in - just that he's studying and highly educated.
Nicolas Costa-Waldo and Riz Ahmed are the two main voices, and executive producers, along with Amin. And the story is depicted as entirely true and presented in a documentary style - Amin is being interviewed, except it is animated, along with the flashbacks.
I've not seen a documentary done quite like this before - although it does remind me a little of Persepolis (except I liked it better.)
Very moving, and sad. I had chills afterwards.
2. Mitchells vs. the Machines - this is a film directed towards kids and families, not single women in their fifties. So wrong demographic. The humor is well, American Situation Comedy. (So again wrong demographic).
At one point they state they are the weirdest family in America and not normal. And ...I'm thinking, no, you are like every single sitcom family that I've seen on television over the past ten-twenty years, and therefore I can't relate to you at all. My father wasn't a big dumb doofus who wanted to live in the woods. And we did not own dogs, nor was my brother ever into dinosaurs - Van Helan, Heavy Metal, and girls - yes, Dinosaurs, no.
So relatable - it wasn't.
It was however entertaining in its own way. Also possibly the most detailed animated film I've seen in my life. It was the exact opposite of Flee in that regard. Utilizing more than one animation style throughout (reminding me a little of Into the Spiderverse in that regard, although it's nowhere near as good as Into the Spiderverse.) It's computer three dimensional computer animation. The characters are kind of "cartoonish" as opposed to "realistic". People do kind of look alike, except for the central family.
The story is kind of fun. We have a tech genius similar to Steve Jobs or Bestos who creates a new AI technology that goes haywire and attempts to take over the world and send all the pesky humans into space. It's leader, the forsaken cell phone or Pal who has hotwired all the robots and AI's to follow its direction - can't find a single reason to save the human race. In Olivia Coleman's voice - she keeps asking "provide me with one reason to save humanity, on thing!" And keeps coming up empty. Got to admit I'm drawing a blank.
Also there's some neat teaches. Clearly the writers and animators saw Gremlins - because we have the attack of the Furbies. Also robo vacuums fall down an escalator.
In addition - there's Mrs. Mitchell's envy and desire to show up the perfect neighbors on Instagram. Who always post perfect family photos.
It makes nice little digs at our society and our reliance on technology.
But there's nothing new here, and outside of the incredible details in the animation - that was flawlessly rendered, I was kind of unimpressed.
Again, I'm not sure I'm the target audience for this film.
As an aside? I don't think they are comparable in the least. Outside of both being animated films, they've nothing in common. Comparing the two is akin to comparing an apple to a banana, both are fruit, both peelable, and both make great pies. Or comparing tennis to golf.
I'm not even certain which I liked better, I liked them for different reasons and had issues with them for different reasons.
1. Flee (currently available on Hulu on VOD)
I had to be in the right frame of mind for Flee. I tried to watch it last night and dozed off during it. Today, however, I was riveted. It's that kind of film.
It's subject matter is not easy. It's a documentary about a man whose family fled Afghanistan after Russia pulled out. So this was pre-21st Century Afghanistan - or around the early to mid-1980s. His family fled to Russia, and then, was forced to flee Russia separately. Russia was the only country would take them in on a tourist visa, but refused to let them go anywhere else - and extorted money from them with the threat of sending them back to Afghanistan, or the mess Russia created. The only way out of Russia - was by paying off human traffickers to smuggle them out of the country. The human traffickers charged exorbiant fees and were unkind. The more expensive the trafficker, the kinder and less psychotic they were.
The film has an interesting and fluid animation style - which jumps between documentary style film footage, abstract animation, and realistic animation similar to King of the Hill or Bojack Horseman, where the people move somewhat stiffly but are realistically drawn. It's all painted cell animation or hand drawn as opposed to three dimensional computer animation.
It's also not detail, the animation suggests things to the eye, with minute details required. A face, a scruff of beard, or a beard, eyes colored brown, brown hair, some cloths, a tapestry behind.
The film itself isn't busy - and it's simply told - the focus is entirely on Amin, the man being interviewed and his family. We never leave his point of view. The interviewer - we get very little of, and Jasper his partner, even less. Also, we only know what he tells us - which is the story of his family fleeing Afghanistan and Moscow, and being a gay man. We don't really know what he does or what his doctoral work is in - just that he's studying and highly educated.
Nicolas Costa-Waldo and Riz Ahmed are the two main voices, and executive producers, along with Amin. And the story is depicted as entirely true and presented in a documentary style - Amin is being interviewed, except it is animated, along with the flashbacks.
I've not seen a documentary done quite like this before - although it does remind me a little of Persepolis (except I liked it better.)
Very moving, and sad. I had chills afterwards.
2. Mitchells vs. the Machines - this is a film directed towards kids and families, not single women in their fifties. So wrong demographic. The humor is well, American Situation Comedy. (So again wrong demographic).
At one point they state they are the weirdest family in America and not normal. And ...I'm thinking, no, you are like every single sitcom family that I've seen on television over the past ten-twenty years, and therefore I can't relate to you at all. My father wasn't a big dumb doofus who wanted to live in the woods. And we did not own dogs, nor was my brother ever into dinosaurs - Van Helan, Heavy Metal, and girls - yes, Dinosaurs, no.
So relatable - it wasn't.
It was however entertaining in its own way. Also possibly the most detailed animated film I've seen in my life. It was the exact opposite of Flee in that regard. Utilizing more than one animation style throughout (reminding me a little of Into the Spiderverse in that regard, although it's nowhere near as good as Into the Spiderverse.) It's computer three dimensional computer animation. The characters are kind of "cartoonish" as opposed to "realistic". People do kind of look alike, except for the central family.
The story is kind of fun. We have a tech genius similar to Steve Jobs or Bestos who creates a new AI technology that goes haywire and attempts to take over the world and send all the pesky humans into space. It's leader, the forsaken cell phone or Pal who has hotwired all the robots and AI's to follow its direction - can't find a single reason to save the human race. In Olivia Coleman's voice - she keeps asking "provide me with one reason to save humanity, on thing!" And keeps coming up empty. Got to admit I'm drawing a blank.
Also there's some neat teaches. Clearly the writers and animators saw Gremlins - because we have the attack of the Furbies. Also robo vacuums fall down an escalator.
In addition - there's Mrs. Mitchell's envy and desire to show up the perfect neighbors on Instagram. Who always post perfect family photos.
It makes nice little digs at our society and our reliance on technology.
But there's nothing new here, and outside of the incredible details in the animation - that was flawlessly rendered, I was kind of unimpressed.
Again, I'm not sure I'm the target audience for this film.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-28 06:00 pm (UTC)