I should have guessed long ago that something marvelous was happening in the French cartoon world. After all, it recently brought forth two opposite feature masterpieces, Sylvain Chomet's zany "The Triplets of Belleville" (above) and Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's tragicomic "Persepolis." This year Francois Alaux and Herve de Crecy's headlong satiric thrillride, "Logorama," built entirely on commercial trademark characters and logos, beat out Nick Park's latest Wallace and Gromit adventure at the Academy Awards for best short animated film. (It was my #2 choice, after Park's superb comic neo-noir.)
The organizers of a French animation festival at MICA say these triumphs are only the tip of the renaissance -- and the shorts they've picked from student productions at the French animation school Supinfocom back up their claim. I'll be writing more about them and the talented MICA shorts also on the program this Friday, the day the program kicks off. In the meantime, I looked up what Chomet has been doing since "The Triplets of Belleville."
The good news: Chomet's new film, "The Illusionist," will hit theaters June 16. The bad news: that date is set only for its commercial opening in France and for its opening-night presentation at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Let's hope Americans won't have to wait long to see this movie about an Edinburgh magician, based on an unproduced script by a live-action master of French comedy, Jacques Tati.
In the meantime, you can slake your thirst for Chomet's work by rewatching "The Triplets of Belleville" on DVD. I thought this tale about the French wine Mafia, an indomitable, clubfooted grandmother, her bike-riding grandson, his ever-hungry dog, and a scat-singing trio was a mood-boosting adventure. It's fitting that Chomet's new cartoon comedy chronicles the life of a magician. Of "Belleville" I wrote, "Director Chomet empties his mind the way an old-fashioned magician would his top hat and tails."
If you haven't seen it, give it a try and tell me what you think.
(photo courtesy Sony Pictures Classics)