France | Japan 2017
Opening March 16, 2017
Directed: Michael Dudok De Wit
Writing credits: Michael Dudok De Wit
Principal actors: Animation
This is an award winning animated fantasy film created by Dutch /British director Michael Dudok De Wit. This film which is void of dialogue relies on music, sounds of nature and the visual animation to tell the story of a ship-wretched sole survivor who becomes stranded on an island. Making use of Japanese-style animation, this fantastic fable comes alive as we pay close attention to the details of nature and the story that develops on this strange but enchanted island.
While watching every leaf fall and little crabs dancing across the beach as the bamboo forest sways across the screen we wait and anticipate what’s coming next. This fable is a beautiful visual symphony filled with color and light. We watch this lonely man make several attempts to escape from the island who at the same time encounters a force that forbids him to leave. In the end, it is a meeting with a strange large red turtle which later transforms into a woman and thus begins the cycle of life. Dudok De Wit takes an age old story, puts in new symbolic figures in a magical environment which makes this film irresistible to watch.1hour 21 min ()