this wednesday comes out inu-oh, one of the most radical proposals of contemporary Japanese animation. Finally in the cinema after having gone through the biggest festivals in the world (Venice, Angoulême, Annecy), this unclassifiable film is a rock opera halfway between Woodstock Y 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In this film adapted from a famous Japanese tale, a cursed creature and a blind man who plays a biwa (a kind of lute) combine to create a musical duo whose uniqueness captivates the crowds. “I hope the audience sees the film as if they were attending a concert,” Masaaki Yuasa, well known among animation fans for his iconoclastic works, tells BFMTV.
Inventor of shapes and brilliant animator, Masaaki Yuasa is the author of abundant and irreverent work, atypical in Japanese animated cinema (Mental Game, crybaby devil man, ride your wave). His work fascinates so much that it will be the subject of a conference on November 21 in Paris City University.
Experimental
inu-oh it is his most ambitious film. The result is very surprising, with unforgettable images, close to abstraction. “I had absolutely no intention of doing anything experimental,” the director further clarifies. “I wanted to mix rock – music that has revolutionized society – with the world of nô theatre, where there are many invisible things left to the public’s imagination.”
In this film of extreme freedom, Yuasa allows himself all the visual audacity, even if it means destabilizing part of the public. “You always have to try at least one thing in each work,” she recommends. “inu-oh It is the film in which I have been the most adventurous of my career. For years I tried to meet the expectations of the public. But there, I prioritized my desire.”
For fifteen years, Yuasa has been chaining series and movies. Impressive productivity: “I’m looking for a kind of efficiency”, sums up the director, aware of having shot all the sticks, and of having built a filmography that is difficult to understand over the years. “I don’t know my style,” he admits, before adding, “Someday I’d like to take more time to make a movie.”
The influence of Isao Takahata
Unclassifiable, Masaaki Yuasa is nevertheless influenced by the greatest, such as Isao Takahata, with whom he worked on My neighbors the Yamadas. “I prefer Miyazaki’s films, but I feel closer to Takahata’s philosophy, which can be found in the books he wrote. He pushed me to think for myself.”
Like Takahata, Yuasa’s style continues to evolve from film to film. For inu-oh, worked with Taiyou Matsumoto. “I always wanted to work with him. When he started, I felt there was a lot in common between our two styles. But since then he has progressed tremendously! His art has become much more refined and much deeper than mine.”
the characters of inu-oh They are thus faithful to the designer’s style, with their atypical faces and crooked teeth. “In Japan, we pay too much attention to the beauty of teeth,” laughs Yuasa. “Before, we didn’t pay as much attention to it. The rock singers I love also very often have teeth that aren’t regular. That’s what I wanted to show.”
Expand the audience
Born in 1965, Masaaki Yuasa owes his vocation to the explosion of animated films for adults in Japan in the late 1970s. “That’s what made me aware of this art. When I was little, I thought you had to stop from watching anime and reading manga after a certain age. Then I realized that you could continue.”
The discovery, as a teenager, of the film version of the cult science fiction series Yamato It gives you the effect of an electric shock. “It was a success in the cinema,” she recalls. “That day we understood that it was possible to achieve great quality in animation. Until then, I had a vague desire to draw, but that’s when I realized that I wanted to work in animation.”
So far less known to the general public than a Makoto Shinkai (Your name.) or a Mamoru Hosoda (Mirai), Masaaki Yuasa hopes to expand his audience with inu-oh and make animation for adults known to as many people as possible. But doubt:
“I am the first to want to know the method to have the maximum number of viewers. I’m thinking about it, but so far I haven’t found it.”
Despite the recognition of international critics and the presence of his films at the main festivals, the director still does not have a free hand to carry out the projects of his dreams. “I don’t feel like it helps at all,” he laments. “In the meantime, I try to make my films in the best possible conditions.”
Source: BFM TV
