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Starting today, Yasuko Onda, a Yomiuri Shimbun senior writer, will write about and recommend movies to Japan News readers on the third Friday of every month. Onda is an expert on movies and has interviewed many film directors and actors.
“Anora” won best picture and four other Oscars at the 97th Academy Awards in early March.
This lovely comedy, also winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, depicts a class difference romance between a stripper from New York and the scion of a Russian oligarch. The story thrillingly unfolds through the superb camerawork of Sean Baker, the film’s director and screenwriter, highlighting the pure heart of the film’s heroine.
In his acceptance speech, Baker expressed his happiness that the Academy had recognized “a truly independent film.” What this small-scale film has accomplished is not unrelated to the decline of big Hollywood movies, which used to dominate as Oscar winners. From now, I will keep an eye not only on award results, but the future of the Academy Awards.
Nevertheless, the awards’ influence is still immense. Nominated works can get spotlighted even in Japan. One such work this year is “Magic Candies,” released in Japanese theaters as “Amedama.” This 21-minute masterpiece was nominated in the Oscars’ animated short category. Despite getting buzz at children’s film festivals at home and abroad, the film was largely unknown until then.
It tells the story of Dong-Dong, a boy who struggles to communicate, managing to take a small step forward thanks to magic candies that allow him to hear the voices of objects, animals and other people.
Dong-Dong pulls at viewers’ heartstrings the moment he appears on screen. Not good at making friends, he pretends to be tough, saying he’s fine playing on his own, even as we see him hunched over. As you come to understand his wistful nature, it’s impossible to not relate to him. Even grown-ups can feel the same emotions, let alone kids. The delicate scenes draw viewers in.
The film is an adaptation of a story written by South Korean picture book author Baek Heena, whose books are created using unique dolls and elaborate sets she creates herself. She even shoots them on her own.
“Magic Candies” was entirely animated with CGI, but without knowing that, it could easily seem to have been stop-motion animated using Baek’s dolls. The filmmakers not only respected the story of the original picture book, but also the characters’ charming designs and textures, adding natural, yet varied movements. From the texture of Dong-Dong’s sweater to the scale of the magnificent landscapes, the film is simply amazing in sheer depth of expression. The use of Kansai dialect for the Japanese dub gives the dialogue a vibrant and free rhythm. To describe it in music terms, while the picture book is a solo, the film is a concerto, and the melody resonates in our hearts.
Director Daisuke Nishio and producer Takashi Washio are behind the hugely popular magical girl anime series “Pretty Cure” (Precure). “Magic Candies” is a little gem that showcases how these mainstream talents have pushed the boundaries of what is possible in animated expression.
Despite it having finished its screening in Japan, I hope there will be opportunities for the film to be seen more widely.
