![]() ![]() ![]() It's a variation on the old theme of a boy finding parallels between the characters populating his fantastic experiences and his humdrum life back home. Captain Morten is less a coming-of-age tale than a lesson in confidence and compassion, with echoes of Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland thrown into the mix. But the cast is all Irish, and the film was the first stop motion feature with animation produced in Ireland, by Galway-based studio, Telegael. Captain Morten and the Spider Queen was directed by Estonian filmmaker, Kaspar Jancis, with partners in Belgium and the UK. It’s not unusual for animated films made in Europe to become international co-productions. But it is a fascinating experiment in what animation can do. ![]() The subject matter is not for the faint of heart either. Jones says working with children was a “stylistic decision.” Being the work of child artists and a small indie crew, The Green Marker Scare isn’t the most polished animated film ever made, and it can sometimes be difficult to follow what’s going on. A disclaimer at the front of the film stresses that none of the children knew that they were working on a horror picture. Jones had the entire film done as green lines on white, and everything in it was drawn by children. It’s a grisly and rather pulpy story, but that’s not what’s remarkable about the film. In 2012, he wrote and directed The Green Marker Scare, a psychological horror film about a young woman who investigates her father’s murder and finds a diabolical cult at the center of it all. The independent director, Graham Jones, has made several films on contemporary subjects concerning Irish youth. There is more to Irish animation than Cartoon Saloon – more than the output of an organized studio. The Breadwinner isn’t the type of story usually told in animation, but Twomey’s careful pacing and a brilliant voice cast helps it deliver a powerful experience through the form. But fantasy can’t bleed into reality here to survive, Parvana must rely on her wits, her talents, and a few very good friends. The look of the characters is in the same general design family as the studio’s Irish tales, and a story-within-the-story done in a cut-out style offers the heroine, Parvana, some relief from the harsh world around her. It’s a sobering look at the plight of one family under the Taliban’s Afghanistan before the outbreak of war in 2001. But Cartoon Saloon’s Nora Twomey served as director. Technically, the film was a co-production with Canada’s Aircraft Pictures and Luxembourg’s Melusine Productions, with Angelina Jolie as an executive producer. On the other end of the Cartoon Saloon spectrum lies The Breadwinner, based on a novel of the same name by Deborah Ellis. It’s Ben’s slow acceptance of his sister through their mystical adventure that opens the door to a healthy acceptance of that grief and provides the heart of an often melancholy but beautiful film. And there’s an initial bitterness to the story of Song of the Sea that isn’t in the other two Moore films the disappearance of the family matriarch, Bronagh, on the night of childbirth leaves her husband broken, and drives her oldest child Ben to take out his grief and rage on his little sister, Saoirse. Instead, there’s an emphasis on the qualities of watercolor, artfully manipulated with modern technology. It’s a different visual experience, not as intricate as Kells or as sketchy as Wolfwalkers. It’s the only one with a relatively contemporary setting (the 1980s). But Song of the Sea is in some ways the most unique of the three. Besides their shared cultural tradition, the three films feature young people with close bonds to supernatural beings, well-meaning but harmful father figures, and the music of Bruno Coulais and folk group, Kíla. The Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers mark the beginning and end of a loose trilogy from writer/director, Tomm Moore, with each entry drawing on elements of Irish folklore. ![]()
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