When seeing a animation viewing challenge pop up,one of the first titles which topped my "Must watch" list was auteur director Seijun Suzuki's Lupin III: Legend of the Gold of Babylon (1985-also reviewed.) Whilst getting hold of the Suzuki,I remembered that I had a unplayed Blu of fellow auteur film maker Walerian Borowczyk's lone animated feature,leading to me meeting the Kabal's.
View on the film:
The set-piece in their "Shorts and Animation" collection of his works, Arrow present a excellent transfer,with the print presenting the animation cleanly,whilst retaining a rough film grain,and the smooth soundtrack bellowing out.
Taking two and a half years to make, the director breaks away from his earlier short films by opening his feature film debut with the 4th wall breaking exchange of him being filmed in live action,talking to the animated Mrs. Kabal, production designer/writer/directing auteur Walerian Borowczyk outlines what was to come in his live action works, with "Boro" giving the background animation a bare minimalism which would be continued in the magnificent live action Blanche (1971-also reviewed.)
Previously having made a large number of animated shorts before this, Boro places everything he had been building towards in this 80 minute trip, with Boro bouncing the Kabal's between his recurring abstract, grotesque surrealism, and a wickedly playful, anything goes comedic mood.
Drawn in thick felt tip,Borowczyk focuses on Mr. Kabal going on a avant-garde voyage into the heart of Mrs. Kabal's (women as the centre of the film being a major recurring theme of Boro's) which flies into a rough, inventive mix of cut-out,and hand-drawn animation, heightened by scrambled sound effects and live action inserts.
Going on a jolly trip with the couple, the screenplay by Boro draws the line at a cynical presentation of marriage which would continue across his credits, as Mr. Kabal uses binoculars to get a cheeky glimpse at live action ladies, whilst keeping one eye on the dominant, iron fist of Mrs. Kabal.
View on the film:
The set-piece in their "Shorts and Animation" collection of his works, Arrow present a excellent transfer,with the print presenting the animation cleanly,whilst retaining a rough film grain,and the smooth soundtrack bellowing out.
Taking two and a half years to make, the director breaks away from his earlier short films by opening his feature film debut with the 4th wall breaking exchange of him being filmed in live action,talking to the animated Mrs. Kabal, production designer/writer/directing auteur Walerian Borowczyk outlines what was to come in his live action works, with "Boro" giving the background animation a bare minimalism which would be continued in the magnificent live action Blanche (1971-also reviewed.)
Previously having made a large number of animated shorts before this, Boro places everything he had been building towards in this 80 minute trip, with Boro bouncing the Kabal's between his recurring abstract, grotesque surrealism, and a wickedly playful, anything goes comedic mood.
Drawn in thick felt tip,Borowczyk focuses on Mr. Kabal going on a avant-garde voyage into the heart of Mrs. Kabal's (women as the centre of the film being a major recurring theme of Boro's) which flies into a rough, inventive mix of cut-out,and hand-drawn animation, heightened by scrambled sound effects and live action inserts.
Going on a jolly trip with the couple, the screenplay by Boro draws the line at a cynical presentation of marriage which would continue across his credits, as Mr. Kabal uses binoculars to get a cheeky glimpse at live action ladies, whilst keeping one eye on the dominant, iron fist of Mrs. Kabal.