Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Netflix - Film Recommendations *READ FIRST POST*
Options
Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 29,436 CMod ✭✭✭✭
Join Date:Posts: 28147
The recent release of a selection of Studio 4°C's anime features on Netflix has been IMO the most welcome cinematic release of the last year or two on the service - significant films that disappointingly failed to find almost anything in the way of Western distribution. Making these sort of hard-to-find films more readily available is exactly the sort of thing digital distribution is made for, but so far struggled to achieve.
Before revisiting Mind Game, decided to check out Princess Arete, which honestly I hadn't even heard of before its addition. And it has a remarkably low profile online, too - a quick google threw up no professional reviews whatsoever, and there's less than 100 views on Letterboxd. How a film this fascinating has gone under the radar is a bit of a goddamn tragedy.
Sunao Katabuchi's film is a genuine subversion and deconstruction of the prevalent trends and themes seen throughout countless animated princess films, most obviously in Disney's versions of the same. Through its intelligent and active protagonist and the situations she finds herself in, this shines a light on familiar tropes and character types - the prince charming, the damsel in distress, the dastardly villain. Even the comic sidekicks come across as creepier, more complex that one would expect. If some recent Disney films have made minor concessions towards more contemporary heroines, Princess Arete is an unapologetically, invigoratingly feminist piece of work that sharply dismisses formula and tradition in favour of something more inspiring and realistic (despite the presence of magic). It arguably even goes further than the likes of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Not only that, it has strong socialist leanings too, in the way Arete from the off rejects the life of privilege and wealth she was born in to. The film remains true to itself throughout, another trick many initially progressive works fail to land.
These are quite surprising themes to be presented with in what initially appears to be a familiar, if less fantastical than usual fairy tale. It is slow paced and considered in a way animated films rarely are, especially the relentless pacing that has become the norm for mainstream American works. It is not as visually splendid as something like a Studio Ghibli film - with its limited number of locations, it has almost certainly been produced on a much lower budget - or even its own studios' more visually ambitious works (Mind Game remaining one of the most formally radical animated works of recent times). However stylistically it does very well with what it has, full of more melancholic and understated imagery. A few minor plot details were either lost in translation or glossed over within the film, but that's a minor concern for a film that was that genuinely rare treat of a wonderful surprise - Princess Arete deserves far more attention that is has gotten so far, and it being readily available on every Netflix region is hopefully a good opportunity for it to do so.
0 -
-
-
Advertisement
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kobQELVQkNs
This discussion has been closed.
Advertisement