**Possible Spoilers Ahead**
The Red Turtle could be a period piece; it could be a modern story; it can also be set in some alien/fantasy world where everything is new and untold for us. What matters is that it's a story of a man stranded on an island and his struggles and eventual reconciliation with a sea turtle that gives him renewed purpose in life.
The Red Turtle is a French, Japanese and Belgian animated film that feels like it's appropriately European and Miyazaki-like in nature (and Studio Ghibli was one of the many studios to give this film life), and the wordless film is basically a canvas for viewers to fill their own contexts and backstories for where the hell the man came from in the first place, or even for where the hell HERE actually is!
What makes a survivor such a persistent force of nature? What happens when our circumstances change our life beyond control? Do we succumb to the desperation or do we adapt and make the most of what we can do? The Red Turtle's story feels like magic realism mixed with sci-fi-like metaphysical underpinnings.
The Red Turtle is a lovely refreshment from animation's typically 'talkie' nature, and the direction itself feels both sentimental and high-concept, and maybe it's because the island is like a metaphor for 'square one' in day-to-day life; and the man's experiences show what it feels like being at nature's mercy.
For a film that's got no words spoken, it's got A LOT to say (and show) in its speechlessness. And that's bloody hard to do with cinema: especially in today's massive market.
4.5/5 stars. The Red Turtle is like a film made FOR animation skeptics, and for naysayers of non-talkie movies 'not working' today. This film is an unusual treat.
The Red Turtle could be a period piece; it could be a modern story; it can also be set in some alien/fantasy world where everything is new and untold for us. What matters is that it's a story of a man stranded on an island and his struggles and eventual reconciliation with a sea turtle that gives him renewed purpose in life.
The Red Turtle is a French, Japanese and Belgian animated film that feels like it's appropriately European and Miyazaki-like in nature (and Studio Ghibli was one of the many studios to give this film life), and the wordless film is basically a canvas for viewers to fill their own contexts and backstories for where the hell the man came from in the first place, or even for where the hell HERE actually is!
What makes a survivor such a persistent force of nature? What happens when our circumstances change our life beyond control? Do we succumb to the desperation or do we adapt and make the most of what we can do? The Red Turtle's story feels like magic realism mixed with sci-fi-like metaphysical underpinnings.
The Red Turtle is a lovely refreshment from animation's typically 'talkie' nature, and the direction itself feels both sentimental and high-concept, and maybe it's because the island is like a metaphor for 'square one' in day-to-day life; and the man's experiences show what it feels like being at nature's mercy.
For a film that's got no words spoken, it's got A LOT to say (and show) in its speechlessness. And that's bloody hard to do with cinema: especially in today's massive market.
4.5/5 stars. The Red Turtle is like a film made FOR animation skeptics, and for naysayers of non-talkie movies 'not working' today. This film is an unusual treat.