Life with its ups and downs!

The Boy and the Heron (2023)
Director and Written: Hayao Miyazaki

I did not know much about this director until recently, but he has been a cult figure among those who enjoy Japanese cartoons. No, his brand of cartoons does not fall under manga, anime, or adult cartoons; instead, it carries a rather philosophical message. In fact, this particular offering is a semi-autobiographical one that the filmmaker made ten years after his retirement. In keeping with the coming-of-age era, the story is set in late 1930s Japan when the country is steeped knee-deep in the Pacific War. 

It starts with Mahito, a young boy who gets up from sleep to find his mother trapped in a great fire. His mother subsequently succumbs to the fire. His father remarries his wife's sister, whom Mahito finds challenging to connect with.

Mahito moves to a new town to live with his pregnant stepmother. As Japan prepares for war, we see Mahita finding it challenging to fit into his new school and accept his new mum. A grey heron keeps hounding him. Mahito soon discovers a mysterious tower and a secret hidden beneath it.

Mahito soon enters a dream-like state into a bizarre new world, where he meets his deceased mother and maternal grandfather. His grandfather had an ambitious plan to create a utopia, and Mahito is the selected successor to continue the plan. 

One cannot help but think that many scenes give the sense of déjà vu. There are scenes reminiscent of 'Alice in Wonderland'. I swear that one reminded me of Snow White in a glass casket. And not to forget the 1970s favourite Japanese cartoon, Marco - From the Apennines to the Andes, where Marco goes in search of his mother from port to port from Japan to Argentina.

The take-home message in this film is that life has its ups and downs, losses, and heartaches. We should not change anything in it but accept all the sadness and happiness in stride.

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Past 'use-by-date' shelf life?

The Bad Guy (2022)
Director: Pierre Perifel

Covalent bonds are hailed as one of Nature's strongest bonds. Nevertheless, with the correct amount of energy and the help of appropriate enzymes, it can be broken down into its basic structures. Unlike bonds cemented by DNA or the ones sanctioned by the Elements of Nature, friendship is a convenient arrangement amongst misfits who share the same mental illness. What others refer to as self-demeaning and a sheer waste of time, they find joy and purpose in life.

Since nothing is cast in stone, friends make rules as they go on. They call it a 'bro code'. The code, a whimsical array of regulations that are made up as the friendship goes on, protects each other's interests and maintains zen in other concrete long-lasting relationships.

In the good old days, before our digital devices filled up the void of long-haul journeys or protracted stop-overs, we actually struck up a conversation with a fellow passenger who looked charming enough. We may open up knowing pretty well that the friendship would last no longer than the journey.

Do all friendships stand the test of time? Do they all have a 'use-by-date' shelf life? Is friendship as flitting as a showroom of a departmental store that has a makeover with each season sale? Since this bond is not tangible but written in the sands of time, even a zephyr can erase it. A little dent in ego, a misspoken utterance, an unintended gesture here and there, an unsaid, undone action all may crumble this loose association.

What was supposed to be like taking a bullet, sharing the joy, the cries, the sweat and seasons in the sun can just go bust in a moment.  Keeping secrets, warts, and all are, just self-pleasing dialogues that act as fillers for time-pass. Will it end like in a feel-good movie, or just one mentioned in eulogies about the good old times remains to be seen?

Five misfits, often mentioned as the scum of societies, the Big Bad Mr Wolf, the serpentine Snake, the mean Shark, the poisonous Tarantula and the meat-chewing Piranha live up to the expectation of society. They are The Bad Guys, the lean, sleek, suave bank robbers.

Their last haul trying to steal the coveted 'Golden Dolphin' award goes all wrong. They are busted and have the chance to prove that they can be reformed. Meanwhile, the goody-good two shoes Prof Marmalade, the guinea pig turned scientist-philanthrope, has some things up his sleeves. The Governor, Ms Foxington, tries to convince the gang that it pays to be good despite the bad reputation they have picked up over the years.

A feel-good, chirpy and colourful animated film.

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The future is bleak!

Love, Death & Robot ❤️☠️🤖  (Adult Scifi Animation; 2019)
Season 1-2 (2019-2021)

It used to be that animation (called cartoons back in the days) were for children. It was an outlet for mindless personification of cute animals doing impossible stunts in gravity-defying postures. It was quite acceptable if a bomb explodes right in front of the character's face. It would just get off with a bandaid on its forehead. Or it could be thrown off into a mile-long deep ravine just to would crawl back up to fight in another snippet. That was entertainment back then.

Those days are over. Now animation productions are of big budgets and delve into difficult life questions. No, adult content is left to manga series for the Japanese to deal with their men's fixations in wanting their sexual partners or dolls to have round big blue eyes like their favourite manga heroines. We are talking philosophy, the future of mankind and armageddon. Since much of the presentation is animated, the storyteller and digital artists took the liberty to expose more skin than being allowed when real actors acted. Herein lies the confusion. The animation styles are varied; some are simple 2D drawings with disproportionate body parts, some use fantastic graphic designs that viewers are confused about. We are left to wonder whether the characters are played by real actors whose appearance is pixelated to appear sci-fi.

On average, the 26 short episodes, on average lasting 20 minutes, narrate a plethora of topics that carry multiple veiled messages. 

Some of the teachings that seem apparent to me, I have tried to enlist.

If consciousness and memory can be decoded and digitalised, they can theoretically be transferred. Hence, personal desires and ambitions can continue indefinitely just by changing body parts. We do not have to leave behind a legacy or need our offspring to continue our struggle. We can become bio-engineered gladiator beasts with infinite power for infinity. 

We can see that humans show more compassion to their pets than the neighbour next door. They buy the best for their pet animals and care for them as they would their child. So, it is not outlandish if they would genetically modify their cats. In one episode, the human penchant for nuking each other left a desolate world populated with cats with opposing thumbs (genetically modified so that they could sit at dinner with my masters, I suppose), menacing three robot visitors.

History has the nasty habit of trying to repeat itself. If a particular event is twisted, the sequence of events may vary, but the endpoint will be the same, albeit within a different timeframe. One episode asks, "What if Hitler was killed not in 1945, but in 1908 when his application to Vienna Academy of Art was rejected. The Hindu concept of time moving in a cyclical manner, rather than a linear fashion, is evident in the History of Man. Man becomes an aggressor at one time, and the same person becomes the victim. The aggressor becomes the aggressed and vice versa, indefinitely, in an episode titled 'Witness'.

We like to think that we are the legitimate inhabitants of Earth by default. The planet was made for us. Well, I got news for us. We just may be the invaders upsetting the equilibrium set by others who prevailed long before us.

Ever wondered why the mammoth structures that occupy this planet exist. We are awed how the Pyramids, Easter Island statues and Stonehenge came to be. And we still do not understand their functions. Well, the episode 'When yoghurt took over' may have explained all these. A mutated yoghurt solves all of the world's problems and leaves Earthlings with all their great inventions. This must ring a bell with fans of 'Ancient Alien', which posits that we were visited by aliens who try to impart wisdom, gave up on us and went off.

A subtle message goes out to sympathisers of immigrants in the episode 'The Dump'. Local council officers after officers who go to the illegal dumpster to repossess it for development goes missing. Apparently, all the long-standing rubbish has developed a brain of their own to claim their place. Settlers who had entered our country illegally will soon have their whole life earnings and memories invested here. Their base would grow roots so deep that uprooting will be a Herculean task. 

We talk about preserving nature but not giving two hoots to people living in constant fear of wildlife. We glamourise a time when animals roamed free. Yes, in a flick of a moment, we can be snacks to predators. The wild is not kind. (Episode: Fish Night) 

Like the message from 'Citizen Kane', the character in 'Zima Blue' realises the hard way, after working all his life to unattainable heights, that the things that really matter at the end of the day are the simple things in life.

We are all so dependent on our digital devices and sometimes feel paralysed without them. Every so often, we have been locked out of possessions. With so many safety protective features added to our machines, it is not unthinkable that there will come a day that the AI inserted in them that will treat us as the perpetrator. We may be hunted down like dogs.

With the advancement in our medical treatment modalities and fixation with healthy living, immortality is theoretically possible. If no one dies anymore, overpopulation would be a problem. In one episode, having children is illegal, and there is a special police squad to hunt and shoot down children.

In one of the last episodes, like a scene from 'Gulliver travels', a giant has swept ashore. People get all excited about this new find. As expected, the curious probe, prod, pose and want a piece of momento of the beached body. Their interest wane with time as nature takes its course. The body decomposes and slowly is swept away. The only thing that is left is memory.

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Knowledge is everywhere, not just books

Shazam! (2019)

I remember watching a cartoon series on Malaysian TV in the 70s of a character who would shout something like 'Shazam!' for the person to gain magical powers. It involved the Arabic landscape, camels and all. So, when I agreed to watch this movie, I thought it was that one. Hold behold, I was totally wrong on that account. My memory had played tricks on me. It was Shazzan, not Shazam!

Apparently, there is a DC hero who has been around since the 1940s and initially came with the name Captain Marvel. His franchise was doing so well that even a feature film came out. Then came the copyright infringement suits and everything went south. 

Captain Marvel was rebranded as 'Shazam!'. 'Shazam' is the acronym of mythical figures - Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury. Shazam is said to embody the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus to initiate the lightning, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury. 

Shazzan

Cartoon series in the 70s, set

in a mysterious Arabic land.

Of late, many superheroes have been the broody and contemplative type. There was Batman with the burden of his checkered past above his head all the time. Then, there was Spiderman whose grandfather's death and his relationship with Mary Jane forever plagued his every decision of his life. For a change, this superhero, Shazam, is a light-hearted chap with a mind and wit of a 14-year-old boy who is more interested in showing off his superpowers than thinking about the problems of the world.

The film is a guided express course in learning about Greek Gods and an introduction to Christian theology, particularly, the seven cardinal - pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth.
So who says, cartoons and superhero are for children and does not stimulate the mind. Knowledge is everywhere, and it is for us to scoop.

The 14-year-old protagonist, Bill Batson, a troubled teenager who has been going from one foster home to another is one day jostled into a strange world. He is suddenly given great powers by a wizard and is tasked to save the realm from a madman, Dr Thad Sivanna. In the course of his duty, Bill discovers some unsavoury truths about his biological mother and learns that family is where one shares love and goes through the thick and thin with you.

And that is the final learning point of this film. We need not have DNA similarities to call ourselves siblings or relatives. We do not require the sharing of a common gene pool to feel for one another. We are all connected by the common goal of survival and traversing the same journey of life. Biological connexions are mere freak accidents of Nature. If not for that one in the billionth chance of hope, we would have been existing in the first place. Let us look at all as brothers and sisters and come together right now.

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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You need tragedy in life!

Inside Out ( Animation; 2015)


Wow, Pixar is going cerebral now, dwelling into the realm of neuropsychology! After telling stories about toys, cars, sea creatures, bugs and monsters, there are literally playing with emotions now. Their latest offering is about the going-ons of traits in the mind, the little voices in the head that control our final action!

It shows this through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl as we see her grow from a baby. Life was bliss, all about joy and learning till her parents decide to migrate from icy cold hockey loving Minnesota to sunny San Francisco. The new environment, school, friends (lack of) and the shoe box townhouse proved too much for Riley, the protagonist, to handle.

We learn that the brain is controlled by 5 basic emotions - Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. Then there is core memory which stores up thoughts for the long term. The child’s brain builds islands of personality based on her everyday learning and other life input. Occasionally there is a train of thought. Yes, a train which transports thoughts! 

At that tender age of 11, joy (happiness) seem to be most important thing in her life. So, with the adverse turn of events after their transfer to San Francisco, and sadness takes over Riley’s life, Joy goes into overdrive to save the day.

After a wild ride to the crypts and crevices of the grey matter and beyond and the chance meeting of Riley’s long forgotten imaginary friend, Bing Bong, and Riley almost running away from home, sanity prevailed. Joy soon realised that in order for a person to function at all cylinders, all kinds of emotions need to play its role. Being happy alone is everything in life!

Too old for this!

Frozen 2013


With so much of hype singing praises of the animated film, I thought I would give it a go. Unlike 'The Lion King' that I thoroughly enjoyed, I found this a bit of a drag.

I guess I am not cut out for fairy tales. Based on Hans Christian Anderson's 'Snow Queen', this tale is a visual galore due to advancements in 3D animation. The characters are manga-like with large eyes and tiny limbs. Unlike Lion King, the side characters are annoying and lack depth in character. The reindeer and the snowman do not provide any added credence to the otherwise predictable plot.

In a tundra kingdom, the elder of the two princesses (Elsa) is endowed with an ability to create ice crystals from the tip of her finger at will and with emotion. Even though initially it was quite fun to play with, she soon realised that it was a curse as it almost killed her sister, Anna. The troll king managed to resuscitate Anna but with caution that her ability must be curtailed.

Anna grows up having lost her memory of her sister's gift, and Elsa grows as a recluse, imprisoned in her own room. The parents soon die in a boat accident, and the girls grew up by themselves in isolation, with the castle door closed shut against the citizens.

The first-ever royal ball is held in ages on the event of the inauguration of Elsa as the Queen when she comes of age. The precocious Anna wants to get engaged with the first guy that she meets, angering the new Queen. In a fit of rage, she inadvertently unravelled her cursed ability. It turned the summer into a freezing freak winter, and the attendees accused her of being a witch. In embarrassment, Elsa goes into a self-imposed exile. The rest of the story tries to tell how Anna goes in pursuit of her sulking sister with the help of uninspiring man like the iceman, Kristoff, his emotionless reindeer, a Jar Jar Binks-que character in a snowman.

I was waiting for the show to be over so that I could just write it off as something that would excite my 7-year-old niece. She would probably lose interest in Elsa and Anna come summer when Pixar or Disney churns out yet another blockbuster. Boring...

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Magicians do not exist*

The Illusionist 2010

This French animation film is about over the top Parisian illusionist who, after a dull performance in Paris, tries his luck in London. Not getting much of a standing ovation in a theatre there, he captures the heart of a drunken Scotsman in a private dinner. He performs high up in the Highlands on the Scotsman's invitation in a simple pub. For a short while, the going was good until a jukebox took the lime-light.
A simple minded young washer lady befriends him and follows him to Edinburgh for his next gig. After a few uninspiring performances, his savings took a dip as he tried to keep his female companion happy by buying her expensive coat and shoes. The relationship is more of a father-daughter relationship due to the age disparity but this type of things you can never say, especially when no words are spoken - he sleeps on the couch, if that helps!
To make ends meet, he leaves her lonely in the hotel room with only his trick rabbit for company whilst he works as an illusionist to an uninspired crowd and as a part time garage attendant. It was during this lonely evenings in the chilly Edinburgh that she starts getting fancy with a dashing bloke staying across her room.
She falls for him. The disappointed magician, after sighting them together, leaves town after his contract expires only after leaving his only other creature that he loved, the trick rabbit in the meadows. He leaves town leaving a note for the girl who looked up at him believing in his magic which said, "Magicians do not exist!"
On his train trip away from Edinburgh, he keeps himself busy trying to entertain a bored child. I guess, an illusionist's job never ends....
It is a pantomime with a smatter of French. You do not need subtitles to follow the story line. The familiar brilliantly crafted animation of the detailed landscape of Waverly Station of Edinburgh, High Street and the gravel stone paved roads of the Royal Mile struck a chord of familiarity and nostalgia to me of those cold long nights that I spent in the winter of '94 trying to change the fate of the descendant of Sungai Pinang and F-Block!

The Royal Mile

Simpson Memorial Hospital, Lauriston Place.

North Bridge - Waverly Station, Edinburgh

Waverly Station, Edinburgh.

Comic strip of yesteryear!

Aubrey Collette was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), as the son of a photographer. He was an art teacher for a while, before his political cartoons started appearing in newspapers The Times of Ceylon and The Ceylon Observer. When the political climate became volatile, he left for Australia in 1961. There his comics and cartoons first appeared in The Bulletin, and later he joined The Australian as an editorial cartoonist. He won the Walkley Award for Best Cartoon in 1970. He moved to Melbourne, where he started working for the Melbourne Herald, but never lost touch with Asia, where his work appeared in magazines such as Asia Magazine, The Straits Times and the Ceylon Observer. A popular newspaper comic strip by Aubrey Collette was 'Sun Tan, the Asian Sensation'.

Roger- Escapee From Area 51

Just the other day, I decided to flip over the cable and watch some programmes. The most watched programmes in my household are American Dad, Family Guy and those other cartoon shows(not to mention The Cleveland Show!). Without complaining, I decided to watch the same programme with my two boys.

Meet Roger from American Dad. Sure, cartoons have come a long way from 'Wacky Races', 'Merry Melodies' and 'Wait till your father gets home'!
The above introduction was typed by Danny!