| Cartoon Club / Guaraldi They have  Mario A. Rumor
THE ART OF EMOTION
Isao Takahata's animated cinema
You know those old childhood cartoons that brought parents and children together in front of the TV?
Their names are familiar, like those of close friends, and sometimes they reappear from the small television screen: Heidi, Marco, Red-haired Anna. And yes, the infamous gentleman thief too Lupin III
that this year marks forty years of honored career, between comics and animated cinema. Behind those names, however, there is another one, that of I. The name of a cartoon director thanks to which Hayao Miyazaki - another personality that surely many now know and appreciate in Italy - has been able to find the path that would have led him to success to dwell in the Olympus of the undisputed masters of animation cinema (moreover, always rewarded by excellent takings at home and by that Oscar winner who in 2003 slipped into his hands thanks to the film The enchanted city). For a long time Hayao Miyazaki seemed to be the only name to remember with affection and gratitude for those who immediately (year more, year less) admired his docile and poetic vision of a world dominated by fantasy and extraordinary strength of the imagination. For a long time the names of the television friends who watched us from the TV screen cutout were largely attributed to him, almost to facilitate things, forgetting that a cartoon or an animated film is actually a collective work made by many people. But the general public is blameless for this. Probably because the tools to better deepen a discourse and groped to improve those access routes that Japanese animation for a long time seemed reluctant to open up to the West were lacking.
Fortunately, times have also changed. Today the names of those television friends (to which others have in the meantime been added, partly recovered from the baggage of memories, partly created from scratch by that forge of great talents that is Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki's studio) claim to loudly the presence of their "biological" father on the scene; the one who borrowed their stories from famous children's novels and transformed them into successful TV serials or extraordinary feature films for the big screen. Often accompanied by prestigious awards and international awards. Isao Takahata is the name we need to come to terms with that past of memories and with a present where - at least in Italy, still fasting compared to other countries - his works are finally no longer confused with those of his friend and former student Hayao Miyazaki.
The opportunity comes from the publication of a book, "The Art of Emotion - Isao Takahata's Animated Cinema", proposed to Italian readers (and not only) by Cartoon Club and Guaraldi.
Not a simple monographic essay on a director who for a long time deserved clearance, but a book that guides the enthusiast into another world made of curiosity, traces to follow to better define the personal passion for animation, and with a wealth of critical insights like never before a book on Japanese toons had dared to do.
It is the first study in the West dedicated to a Master of animation who for over forty years has been able to tell the everyday life of human beings with clarity of views and extraordinary psychological acumen. An artist who lives on the margins of the anime industry, always in possession of a recognizable touch but far from fashions and light thoughts. Indeed, his is a really "heavy" cinema, loaded as it is with that burden represented by the wide range of feelings and emotions that human beings carry with them in life.
Yet in its comfortable and lively way. Invariably poetic. What better opportunity then to rediscover the right angle of this story if not knowing the artist and the man Isao Takahata through reading this book?
The alibi is beautiful and ready, the characters on stage numerous and close-knit, the changing setting, the unique opportunity.
In 400 pages illustrated with color photos, "The Art of Emotion" takes you back to where it all began (if you are among those who love the cinema of Hayao Miyazaki, but also among those interested in discovering a new face of Japanese anime) . And it does so with an impressive amount of information and materials starting from the first page and really ending with the very last.
All embellished with a Preface specially written by the director Michel Ocelot
(Azur and Asmar, Kirikù and the witch Karabà) who is a friend and a great admirer of Takahata.
At the end of the journey started with "The Art of Emotion" the names of the aforementioned television friends are likely to be even more expensive. If nothing else, more familiar. And not just them. From the back cover:
An entire generation of spectators is crazy for him, and not necessarily of otaku extraction. An entire generation in love with television characters such as Heidi, Marco, Lupine III, Anna with red hair. But not only. Because Isao Takahata, absolute protagonist of the pages of this essay, is one of the most important and appreciated directors of animation cinema and teacher of the most famous Hayao Miyazaki, Oscar winner for La città incantata, with whom he founded Studio Ghibli in Tôkyô. .
For the first time a book retraces the exciting career of a man in love with art and literature who decided to venture into the world of cinema to rediscover the value of reality and poetry but in animation. An admirer of artists such as Yuri Norstein and Frédéric Back, the Japanese Isao Takahata has seduced an entire generation of dreamers by leaping from the literary universe for children to the traditions of his home by turning on and off like few others a kaleidoscope of reflection and analysis. A directorial profile that soon earned him the label of "intellectual" of anime.
This book, the first in the West to give voice to Takahata's artistic passion, follows every path of the director and analyzes all the television and cinematographic works made from the beginning to today. All embellished with an introductory text by French director Michel Ocelot, friend and colleague of the Japanese artist. Technical information: MARIO A. RUMOR
THE ART OF EMOTION - ISAO TAKAHATA'S ANIMATION CINEMA
400 color pages, Cartoon Club / Guaraldi, Rimini 2007, € 20,00
Preface by Michel Ocelot
Official presentation at Lucca Comics 2007
Available in bookstores from November 2007 Bio-sketch: ISAO TAKAHATA
Born in 1935. He joined Toei Animation in 1959 as assistant director. After some television work, he directed his first film, Hols, in 1968. He embarks on a long journey in television series taking part in and directing some classic cartoon characters such as Lupine III (1972), Heidi (1974), Marco (1976) and Anna red-haired (1979). It is in these years that he meets a young Hayao Miyazaki, the animator who will become a legend in the world of animated cinema, and of which he will be mentor and teacher until they founded the famous Studio Ghibli together.
As a director for the big screen, he has made much loved and award-winning films in the most important industry festivals such as Goshu the cellist, A tomb for the fireflies, Omohide Poroporo, Pompoko and Yamada-kun.
A new film is expected in 2008. MARIO A. RUMOR
Born in 1973. He deals with cinema, TV series, comics and animation. He has collaborated with important sector magazines such as DVD World, eMotion, School of Comics, IF, Widescreen Magazine. He currently writes for the Master Editions, TelefilmMagazine, Retro, Kappa Magazine, Fumo di china, Writers Magazine Italia and the American magazine Protoculture Addicts. He takes care of the online version of MAN-GA!, The historical Yamato Video magazine.
He has published the essays Come bambole. Japanese comics for girls (Tunuè, 2005) and Created by. The new American empire of TV series (Tunuè, 2005).
He was also a selector of the Asian comics area at the Micheluzzi Award in the 2006 and 2007 "Napoli Comicon". |
