Vive la difference!

Tonight I finally watched the "Triplets of Bellville".

Like I've mentioned before, I went to grad school for animation (though I never quite finished), and I've seen quite a bit of independent work. I used to go to the International Festival of Animation in Ottawa every other year for a number of years.

And I've missed it.

There's a wonderful, magical realm of independant animation and storytelling that really pushes the boundary of storytelling and the overall way we identify with what we see on the screen. "Triplets" had that in spades. It's such a delightful work, and purposely communicates most everything with nary a scrap of understandable dialogue (most of the spoken parts are French-ish gibberish). It's very tight, and very much an entertaining endeavor, and it speaks volumes in every shot.

Which is very much reminiscent of the short, non-commercial, but very much entertaining films that were shown during the festivals I used to attend. There were ingredients present that have been missing not only in the TV and mainstream movies I've been watching, but also all that garsh-dang anime I've been obsessing about.

So it's a good thing that I've finally watched (and enjoyed) "Triplets". It's letting me bring back a level of perspective that I feared I might be losing due to my unrelenting quest for unique and interesting Japanese programming!