Reviews

Some comments have pointed out that this is a movie that takes the child's POV. Well, that's true, but many films have done that and the tale they've told is sad (Ponette) or even harrowing (À ma soeur!). What this film captures is the divine reality that children and some adults are in contact with. It also relates the many other parts of a boy's role in a struggling Jewish Canadian family of the 20's, and does that quite well.

However, the mystery at the heart of life, the divine connection, that's what this film depicts best.

Alas, it's never been released in ANY consumer format! Who do we talk to about this injustice!

Funded mostly by Iranian state oil and mining companies, this documentary is dazzling in its presentation, but careless about the historical facts. A mixed bag of a documentary, but especially good at the "docu-drama", "edu-tainment" end of the documentary spectrum.

One of the most interesting parts of the documentary as presented on the DVD is the "making of" segment which allows one to see some of the means of production and just how much of the film was guided by the director and his Iranian translators and handlers.

Some parts are highly entertaining and others are tendentious and "propagandizing". It is in some ways a tour-de-force of the "infomercial", but this time for an entire civilization.

The story of the selfish giant is in some ways as trite as can be, having been told umpteen times in many different forms. Wilde's original story revived the folk legends and re-pointed them for the sentimental Edwardian audience he was aiming at. His achievement as a storyteller is close to perfect in this tale.

Zander's reworking of the story, together with Ron Goodwin's music, make this into an animated film classic of the sentimental-morality-tale genre. As good in its own way as Disney's Pinocchio, it is a gem of the 1970's. Often overlooked in animated film histories, it is very hard to find nowadays (2006). See it (and hear it) if you get the chance.

Studio Ghibli dedicated many of its best artists to creating this film, however the story isn't strong enough to measure up to the art (like Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"). Still this film is one of the few Ghibli films free of large moral themes (the evils of war, environmental ruin, imperialism, etc.), which makes it a breath of fresh air from them.

Not that I'm against broaching moral themes in film, but the heavy-handed Ghibli approach is preachy and counter-productive.

The beauty of the artwork redeems all Ghibli films, and this one is my third favorite after "Tonari no Totoro" and "Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi".

This film is one of the best films ever written and shot about the effects of mental illness on the psycho-dynamics of a family. Shot with a strongly claustrophobic sense of misé-en-scene, the extended family of Louis, Mom, Dad, Kay and Sweetie always crowd and clutter the frame, unable to extricate themselves physically and emotionally from one another. Geneviève Lemon's performance of a mentally ill young women (Sweetie/Dawn) sends chills up the spine of anyone who has worked with those who suffer like this. Although it does contain some nudity and slight sexual content, the dramatic push of the film as a whole makes this an extremely moving film even for teenagers, especially for families who are coping with mental illness. Campion's writing and above all her directing soars in this profound and compelling film.