The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 animated feature, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, is regarded as the oldest surviving feature-length animation in the cinematic archive, where it delves into the realms of magic and myth in an elaborate fairy-tale narrative. To makeover forty of her fairy-tale-inspired films, Reiniger used intricately designed shadow puppets.
By conflating the tales of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp and Prince Ahmed and Fairy Paribanou, Reiniger creates a new spellbinding tale of her own. Playing with light and color, distinctive silhouettes appear against vivid and exotic backdrops that often take the form of abstractions or arabesques.
Nearly a century after its release, the original silent film The Adventures of Prince Achmed is being revived with music composed by American saxophonist and composer Phillip Johnston.
As Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed demonstrates, animation can transcend children’s films and penetrate deeper into the meanings and musings of life.
Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
Eiichi Yamamoto’s fifth film, Belladonna of Sadness, confirmed him as a visionary filmmaker. Belladonna of Sadness takes us on a feverish descent into the aftermath of violence, confronting the trauma embodied by female survivors of sexual violence. Yoshiyuki Fukuda, the co-writer of the film, is uncompromising and relentless in his examination of violence’s emotional effects.
The contented lives of newlyweds Jeanne and Jean are shattered when Jeanne is raped by two men from their village on the night of their wedding. As a result of a devil who appears as a phallus, Jeanne is able to use dark magic and demonic powers to avenge herself against her abusers. According to the film’s title, Jeanne becomes as deadly as the deadly nightshade, the Belladonna.
As an account of the historical tragedies of the past, as well as the treatment of women within those histories, Belladonna of Sadness overtly refers to Joan of Arc, the French Revolution, the Bubonic Plague, and other pivotal historical events.
As an authentic, revolutionary product of its time, Belladonna of Sadness combines ornate, pastoral watercolors with thematic concerns of female liberation and empowerment.
Asparagus (1979)
With her 1979 film Asparagus, a psychosexual, phantasmagorical exploration of the internal conscious, Suzan Pitt expanded her filmic vision. Her stop-motion animation and incredibly detailed illustrations combine to create a surrealist world that straddles the line between dream and reality.
As a symbol of sexuality, Pitt views the asparagus in question as both a phallus symbol and a symbol of fertility and spring harvest. The film Asparagus was made during the second wave of feminism in America, a time of freedom of thought and sexual liberation.
With its thematic intimacy, Asparagus explores the joys of imagination and creativity as ecstatic, orgasmic processes. The female protagonist, who is faceless and wears a mask only in public, is not only an artist but also a magician, conjuring wonders and spectacles at the local theatre. In the process of producing Asparagus, Pitt herself dedicated four years to her craft as the protagonist.
While Pitt’s Asparagus departs from the tropes and conventions of traditional animation, it is among the most unique and influential animations ever produced.
It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
Don Hertzfeldt’s first feature film is a moving and melancholic ode to the relationship between identity and memory. The film devotes itself to a sensitive examination of memory, its significance, and the different ways in which it can be lost and found over the course of a lifetime.
The story of It’s Such a Beautiful Day follows Bill, a young man whose mental faculties are gradually weakened by a disease of the brain. Bill’s condition deteriorates along with the world around him, fragmenting into surreal, sparkling pieces.
Even though the animation seems simplistic, it does wonders to convey the disquiet at the heart of this film. A metaphor for Bill’s longing to find the lost memories from the start of his life, the style of animation itself serves as a nod to the squiggly doodles and stick figures found in children’s textbooks.
Certainly, Hertzfeldt’s first film is an artistic and philosophical achievement, directing the viewer’s attention to the inevitability of brevity, impermanence, and the fragility of life. It’s Such a Beautiful Day traverses the entirety of life and the universe with an impossibly vast and haunting vision.
Song of the Sea (2014)
Song of the Sea, Tomm Moore’s 2014 animation, is an enchanting fable evocative of the Celtic lore and legends of his native Ireland. It explores themes of loss, absence, and silence.
In Song of the Sea, Ben and his father struggle after their mother vanishes after giving birth to Saoirse. Ben’s father, overcome with grief, sends both of his children to live with their grandmother in the city, which stands in sharp contrast to the lighthouse, which was their beloved home. Saoirse discovers that she and her mother may share a mysterious connection when she falls suddenly ill: they are both selkies.
In their quest for the sealskin that will heal Saoirse, Ben and Saoirse accidentally embark on an enchanting adventure that leads them deeper into the world of myth and mystery.
The captivating creations of Moore’s animation studio Cartoon Saloon are usually ablaze with a spellbinding style almost hypnotizing in its subtle execution. In Song of the Sea, Celtic myth is intelligently reconstructed and its meaning is explained for the modern audience and culture.
