Inu-Ou

Inu ou can be a very good movie if you go into it with an open mind. I watched it a year ago at the Venice Biennale. It was the only Japanese animated entry of the festival, which happened to screen somewhat close to where I lived. I went there just to see it thinking that no matter what, even if I wouldn't get the story at least I would let my eyes feast on what looked like the next great feat of animation, provided by such an indie and original studio as SCIENCE SARU, known for jewels like Devil Man Cry Baby and laterHeike Monogatari. What I got was the complete opposite. Even if I didn't get it completely, the story was heartrendingly beautiful and well executed, while the animation.. well I would not have paid the full ticket just for that. No Makoto Shinkai level of detail for sure, but not even the elegance seen in previous features like the Night is Short. It has a gritty, almost dirty, yet precise style that nevertheless manages to perfectly portray the vibe of a story revolving around the poor and outcast. Realistic and vibrant, with uncensored sweat and spit and bodily hair which is pretty refreshing to see in the contemporary hyper-idealised anime landscape. The character design and the action is great, bold, intense. What did not sit with me was the conspicuous use of frame recycling. There were many instances where the scene is exactly the same and just the color or the context change, while the animation goes in a loop. But allow me a little digression. I need to mention how this anime is, first and foremost, a musical. It is a story told almost entirely through musical lines, like a biwa player singing in the streets used to do. There is an incredible amount of time (like 10+ minutes) in multiple sections throughout the movie dedicated to the full development of a song, which makes it feel as if you were really witnessing a rock concert in real time. The music the two protagonists craft with just their voice and a biwa pimped to electric guitar has a visceral, universal allure that will probably make you hum the lyrics while clapping your hands to the beat. If you like festival folk music you'll have a blast and will be avle to grasp what I think is the most important message in the movie: how the power of music and art unites people through the ages, through their differences, through their struggle against society and against fate. Just like the development of the folklore fairytale it is based upon, the story and the music in this movie go through a repetition with variations scheme until they gradually reach a climax. It's an elementary old way of treading a story, something I only remember hearing in my grandparents bedtime stories or some Grimm Brothers. Not the kind you'd expect in an anime. Which is probably what makes Inu Ou a unique viewing experience. I deeply appreciated this decision to honor the forgotten ways, but to come back to my point, I still felt like I was being cheated on a bit in terms of the looping animation. Was it laziness, lack of finances or time? Or was it done on purpose for full coherence in all facets of the medium? In that case I could accept it, as radical and weird as it feels. In all other aspects Inu Ou is successfully fleshing out character dynamics and their ambitions, the clashes within society and the politics of that historical period that so often tend to blend into myth. More than anything, it reveals how magic is intimately connected to human psychology and spirituality. And that sometimes, what originates a legend is the sheer energy turned sacrality of certain extraordinary instants we live in our ordinary life.

Cobbled from my two Letterboxd reviews of the same: I'm not a very good film reviewer. I really want to explain how I feel about Inu-Oh, but I'm not quite sure I have the words. Still, after catching the only screening of it in my town, I waited for the home video release then forced 15 people to sit down and watch it so I feel like I need to somehow articulate at least part of what I feel: First things first, I'm a devotee of Yuasa's, so I might be biased. It's hard not to be. He has yet to let me down in any way,and while he says this project fell into his lap by chance, I literally cannot imagine anyone else doing it justice the way he has. As an artist, Inu-Oh means so much to me personally. The first time I watched it I wept in the cinema several times. At first I cried because of the way animation itself is used - it's heartening and poignant and moving to see all this, when working professionally within animation's commercial side can make the medium feel so dead, especially when you know that it's an art form that can be so free. And then I kept crying, because it turns out Inu-Oh is, among many other things, a film ABOUT the freedom art offers. The freedom to have your story heard. The freedom to tell the stories of those whose voices have been suppressed. The freedom to define your own self. Freedom from what others have chosen for you, freedom from who or what others have decided you are. Freedom of expression. And then I cried again because it's also about how threatening that freedom is to others, how dangerous it is to embrace, and what lengths people will go to to take it away from you. It's about that, and about so much more. Inu-Oh is many things. Among them, for me, it's a film to feel understood by, for those who may not often feel understood. I could go into all the things I personally loved in terms of style, storytelling (Yuasa said F*** your three act structure), music, even casting, but I think that would require me to meticulously describe the entire film and it's not one that should be described, it should be seen, and heard, and felt. And maybe, if you're me, cried to. I saved face this time because I was screening it for quite a large group, but I'm going to rewatch it by myself very soon and have a good cry.

First thing and the most important: this movie is insane, I was in awe throught the entire 90 ish minutes it lasted. I'm gonna start my review by saying I'm not particularly a fan of Masaaki Yuasa, apart from Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong and Kaiba I didn't really like his other works that much (especially that awful Japan Sinks 2020, that was just pure garbage), but this movie is really a damn masterpiece. For context, to enjoy it the most you should be kinda familiar with some aspects of Japanese history, namely the Genpei war (for that I can recommend the brilliant Heike monogatari anime series, madeby the same studio of this movie) and the Nanbokucho period of the Ashikaga shongunate, the era in which this movie is set, and a bit of Noh theater's history, since we see the two most important playwriters and perfomers of the traditional Sarukagu (later renamed Noh), Kan'ami and Zeami. The tale is simple enough, but it's narrated flawlessly in a kind of "musical movie" way, with most of the scenes later on dedicated to musical and dancing exhibition, but with a modern twist. I gotta say all the songs are great and memorable, I was really surprised. I wouldn't say I was emotionally impacted that much, but it gives you enough emotional investment to care about the two main characters, Tomoari and Inu-Oh, both of them are really good characters. Where the movie shines the brightest are the visuals, not necessarily because of stunning animations, which are actually presente (in some scenes it goes really crazy), but because of great direction and inspired visuals, it's really pleasing. If you care enough about Japanese history and also a bit of music/theater this movie is incredible and deserves to be watched and appricieted by more people Final Score: 9/10

-Inu-Ou Review.- Most modern anime movies (that aren’t tied to a series that is) usually fall into one of these two trends: Makoto Shinkai rip-off or Ghibli rip-off. But there was a time, years ago, when this wasn’t the case. You won’t believe this, but there was a time when weird movies like “Memories”, Satoshi Kon films, and Mamoru Oshii movies got made and released.If they were successful or not at the box office, it does not matter, because the thing is that they actually got made and became classics that will be revisited for years to come. But because anime nowadays is as popular as it ever has been, “weird” films are just not going to get made because if you are gonna appeal to the widest audience possible you have to play it safe. So make a movie that’s a sequel to an already existing series, or just imitate Shinkai/Ghibli's visual and narrative styles if you are gonna make something original. That’s not to say that all the films among this trend (or the films that have inspired this trend) are bad, but it means that there is less variety overall, many of them just seem extremely generic, and the landscape for modern anime movies as a whole is just really not interesting (proof of that is that I have no interest in most modern anime films). But well, as Inu-Oh demonstrates, there is always hope that something weird and unique will eventually get made (even if it doesn’t end up being great). And weird it is. Inu-Oh is about a guy in search of something similar to revenge in feudal Japan who talks to his dad (who is a ghost) and is also blind, and is also a Monk that plays the Biwa (a guitar of sorts) that meets a deformed idiot with a giant hand that is cursed (the idiot, not the hand) and starts a rock band (I remind you that the film is set in feudal Japan btw) to get back at those who mistreated him, making this essentially a musical. Yeah, it’s a trip for sure. All of this weirdness works in its favor, as it fits really well with the insane fast pacing, comedic tone and anti-traditional/authoritarian attitude that the film presents, creating an intense, crazy and fun experience. Its art also deviates from most modern anime movies, as desaturated and grey colors are present throughout most of the backgrounds, and its world is populated by ugly and simplistic character designs. But all of that is meaningless if we don’t have a strong core, and luckily, the movie features a strong core in the form of the relationship between its two main characters. Both are presented as cursed beings who are unfit for society, and their friendship is pretty charming and the strongest part of the film. A word must also be said for the unique directing and storyboarding (unique as far as modern anime movies are concerned): There are lots of Pov shots (some really unique, like the ones from the perspective of the blind character), beautiful jump cuts are also constantly used to present the passage of time, there are some very interesting camera movements throughout the film, a scene in which a swordsman kills multiple guys over a stretch of time is presented as five different horizontal panels in one single shot...The list could go on. All of this being said, the movie is still extremely flawed. Its main problem is that musicals go on for far too long, and even worse, in all of them they repeat shots of looped animation several times in a row. Also, while the relationship between its main two characters is charming, the insanely fast pacing doesn’t give this relationship the proper weight that it should. In fact, the first third of the film used to present both characters and their relationship is literally the highest point of the film (and the relationship isn’t explored much after that). Its art might work well for presenting the bleak world of our two cursed main protagonists, but on the other hand, it doesn’t fit the most upbeat scenes of the second half of the movie. And finally, the cgi and vfx at times are just fucking ugly and ruin some shots. But at the end, I still think that the final result is a very fun and unique experience. Maybe it isn’t great because of the flaws mentioned but it’s worth your time if you are looking for a fun and different film. While I haven’t watched most of Yuasa’s work, this and “Night is short walk on girl” (which is better and more consistent than this film btw) have been a pleasant surprise (a shame about Devilman midbaby). I hope that I can explore more of Yuasa’s work in the future. Bye bye Thanks for reading.

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