Just watched on Cartoon Brew as linked to YouTube this Silver Dragon award-winning animated short from Japanese animator Yoji Kuri. It stars a woman chasing a little man and occasionally catching him with a big net with both saying "Hi!" constantly (at least that's what it sounds like to my ears). There's a few bizarre images like the man coming into her mouth and out of her butt along with a statue of a man on all fours in a museum and a similar image of that little man in likewise position next to a bowl with the woman sitting next to him at a table. I don't think this is a great cartoon but it certainly got my full attention to the end so with all that being said, I guess that's a recommendation. P.S. Some of the background seems to consist of some pasted photo images of some pastel colors...
2 Reviews
A haunting experimental piece
q_leo_rahman23 November 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Filmmaker Yoji Kuri made some experimental animated works in the 1960s. His features are short and mostly focused on sparse and bleak visuals, centering on a subject and usually perverting it into a bizarre and darkly comic reflection.
AI is Kuri's most renowned piece. It centers on a woman endlessly pursuing a man wherever he goes. Both utter only the word "ai" ("love" in Japanese) throughout the film; she moans, wails and shrieks the word constantly while he barks it out flatly and casually. The simple tale takes on frightening depth, as a usually comical chase becomes a frantic, obsessive hunt by a woman who wants love for a man who cannot give it (incapably or unwillingly). The best thing about this is the sound design, done by legendary Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu; his work makes the short haunting and atmospheric.
Visually and technically, the short is flawless and deserves to be seen by more people. Personally, it's way too dark and freaky for my taste. But Kuri is more or less an acquired taste anyway.
AI is Kuri's most renowned piece. It centers on a woman endlessly pursuing a man wherever he goes. Both utter only the word "ai" ("love" in Japanese) throughout the film; she moans, wails and shrieks the word constantly while he barks it out flatly and casually. The simple tale takes on frightening depth, as a usually comical chase becomes a frantic, obsessive hunt by a woman who wants love for a man who cannot give it (incapably or unwillingly). The best thing about this is the sound design, done by legendary Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu; his work makes the short haunting and atmospheric.
Visually and technically, the short is flawless and deserves to be seen by more people. Personally, it's way too dark and freaky for my taste. But Kuri is more or less an acquired taste anyway.
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