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Ten films every animated fan should know.
Here are two films that should destroy the myth that animated films can't be just as deep or intellectually rich as their more "realistic" brethren. This list is in no particular order, and all comments are in my far-from-humble opinion. 4) Grave of the Fireflies (1988, dir: Isaio Takahata): "September 21, 1945 . . . that was the night I died." So begins Grave of the Fireflies, possibly one of the saddest movies ever made in any genre. The story of two Japanese children, orphaned towards the end of World War II, it shows the human cost of war on innocents and innocence. Teenager Seita and his 4-year-old sister Setsuko are forced to fend for themselves after their mother is killed during a bombing raid, and their trusted aunt betrays them. Like many other Studio Ghibli productions, Grave of the Fireflies has a haunting, dreamlike quality that makes the eventual tragedy all the more poignant. This is not anti-American propaganda: Grave of the Fireflies shows that the true victims of war are those who share no blame for its cause. It is a timeless film that should be required viewing for those who view war and violence as something glorious. Background: This movie is based on the 1967 novel by Akiyuki Nosaka, who lost his younger sister to malnutrition during World War II. 3) Waking Life (2001, dir: Richard Linklater): This movie toys with the concept of 'lucid dreaming,' the notion that the dreamer is aware that he is in this state, but is powerless to escape it. Waking Life follows a young man (Wiley Wiggins) as he interacts with various people in a dreamlike world, asking and answering philosophical questions about life and existence. To give this flick a surreal quality, Linklater filmed the scenes using a hand-held camera then rotoscoped the images using an Apple G4 computer. Fans of blow-things-up-real-good moviemaking will snooze, but more thoughtful viewers will find a movie worth watching again and again. This is truly adult (as opposed to "adult") animated filmmaking. Fun fact: director Linklater (Slackers, Dazed & Confused) makes cameo appearances twice in the movie: once in the boat-car sequence, and later as the person who shows Wiggens the way out of his waking dream.
The copyright of the article Ten Essential Movies (4 of 5) in Animated Films is owned by Dominic von Riedemann. Permission to republish Ten Essential Movies (4 of 5) in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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