The Red Turtle
(France/Belgium/Japan,
80 min.)
Dir. Michael Dudok de Wit, Writ. Michael
Dudok de Wit, Pascal Ferran
 |
| Sony Pictures Classics |
The
Red Turtle is a masterful example of how less can be more. This Academy
Award nominee for Best Animated Feature and new Studio Ghibli film—the first
international co-production from the Japanese animation empire—takes a very
simple story and delivers it with breathtaking modesty. Director Michael Dudok
de Wit unfurls a timeless fable in which a young man finds himself shipwrecked
and stranded on an island—and nary a word of dialogue aside from a “Hey!” and a
mumble here or there. Without anyone to help him until a large mythical red
turtle comes ashore, the man is left to survive without so much as a volleyball
named Wilson. The Red Turtle is
storytelling in its purest and most basic form.
The scope of The Red Turtle resembles a short film with its concision and effortlessness, yet the canvas is admirably grand. The animation boasts a handsome palette of colours and old-school textures, so Studio Ghibli fans will undoubtedly see the continuity in style and aesthetics between The Red Turtle and the studio’s exclusively Japanese works. The film also brings a measured pace that’s far more relaxed than most animated ditties. It’s a fine alternative to shrill OCD CGI fests like Trolls.
Unfussy and uncontrived, the scope of The Red Turtle is admirably intimate as
the man learns to love the surroundings that initially prove a dire sentence. As
the man walks around the island, explores the basic elements for survival, and
eventually builds a new life for himself, The
Red Turtle lets one experience the life of this castaway through an
all-seeing eye—it’s almost like Dudok de Wit devises an omniscient narrator who
never speaks. The sparse and simple animation is masterfully expressive and the
beautiful score by Laurent Perez del Mar offers the words, emotions, and
thoughts that the characters decline to utter. Even without title cards, there
is an impressive wealth of communication in this silent tale. This film calmly
and sedately nudges the viewer to take in his or her surroundings and
appreciate the finer things in life.
There’s an air of Gulliver’s Travels to the handsome hand drawn animation and sparse
fable Dudok de Wit creates. Just like Jonathan Swift’s novel, which reads like
a children’s book despite being the sophistication of the author’s satire, The Red Turtle inevitable looks and
feels like a kid’s movie. However, mature audiences are bound to find this
poetic and life-affirming tale to be one of the stronger animated films of the
year.
The
Red Turtle is now playing in Ottawa at the ByTowne and Toronto at TIFF BellLightbox.
