Tuesday, October 30, 2018

The Red Turtle 2016


     The title in French is La Tortue Rouge.  A mariner is shipwrecked by a storm on a deserted tropical island with sandy beaches.  His only company is the timid crabs and the bamboo swaying in the forest.  He finds fresh water and fruit to eat.  He builds a raft from the bamboo and sets out to sea.  He doesn’t make it very far out on the water before some kind of creature destroys the raft.  He makes more rafts and he has them destroyed by the creature each time its in the seawater.  He dives into the water but he doesn’t see what type of creature breaks up the rafts? He’s decided this is his last time on the raft, he sees a red turtle and the turtle comes up on the beach that evening.  He’s so angry at the turtle that he hits it on the head with a bamboo stick and pushes it over onto it’s back!! 
      There is very little spoken dialogue, no facial expressions and always the same environment.  A lot of symbolism is portrayed and I’m not sure what it all means?  Everything about this movie is very beautiful.   It’s calm no matter what happens with a lot of color and light.  The story is really about the earth, the animals and a minimally about humanity.  4* (I liked this movie)

80 min, Animation Directed b Michael Dudok de Wit with the voices of Emmanuel Garijo, Tom Hudson, Baptiste Goy, Axel Devillers, Barbara Beretta.

Note:  Imdb 7.5 out of 10, 94% critic 80% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 172 reviews, Metacritic 86 out of 100 with 32 critics 8 out of 10 with 95 reviews.
Special Note:  This is the first non-Japanese film to be produced by Studio Ghibli.  A Dutch animator, French-Belgian-Japanese animators and six animators from Studio Ghibli worked as a team on this film.  Worldwide gross was $787,712 and release in Japanese theaters generated $328,750 on the first weekend.  Winner for Best Animated Feature – Independent Annie Awards 2017, Un Certain Regard Special Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2016, Best Animated Feature from San Francisco Film Critics Circle 2016.

No comments:

Post a Comment