Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Triplets of Belleville

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-26-2003, 01:05 AM:

This would have made a great short. Unfortunatley, it's a full feature. It's definitely interesting and I'm glad that I saw it, but I can't think of any reason to want to see it again. The animation and sound editing are pretty amazing at times, but the story itself is rather thin and feels like it was stretched out to fit the 80 minute running time.

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 12-26-2003, 01:35 PM:

I loved this film. But I have heard Scott's critisisms before. A friend of mine said it would make a great 54 minute film. I'm looking forward to seeing it again. The art of the animation is fresh and I haven't seen it before. The story is simple, but then I like simple stories.

Posted by Elena N. Solovyova (Member # 1636) on 12-27-2003, 12:35 AM:

The particular style of animation has a lot of simularities to David Cherkassky films of 80's like "Captain Wroungel" and "Theasure Island" -- unfortunately they were made for Soviet televisiion (although the "TI" feature was shot with theatrical-level budget and theatrical-level animation quality), making them not available for booking.

The art director of "Belleville", Evgeniy Tomov, positively seen those films in his childhood and recreated their unique style on big screen. The resulting visuals manage to cure all problems of direction and pacing some way. I think the film is worth of "animation Oscar" this year (though "Finding Nemo" will win anyway [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Lionel Fouillen (Member # 1475) on 01-06-2004, 01:23 AM:

quote:
feels like it was stretched out to fit the 80 minute running time.

Loved it but had the same feeling as Scott.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 01-06-2004, 03:29 AM:

quote:
I think the film is worth of "animation Oscar" this year (though "Finding Nemo" will win anyway ).

Having seen both, I can say Finding Nemo will win because it's a better movie.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-06-2004, 05:56 AM:

Since when did the Academy start giving the award to the best movie nominated? [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 01-06-2004, 06:26 AM:

Mike wrote:

quote:

Having seen both, I can say Finding Nemo will win because it's a better movie.

I haven't seen Nemo, so I can't judge, but better in what way?

How do you compare two very different styles of film, which would probably appeal to very different audiences?

Posted by Peter Mork (Member # 1336) on 01-31-2004, 02:29 PM:

I hope the Disney people see this and have second thoughts about doing another feature driven by celebrity voices and Phil Collins songs. (That would be Brother Bear - a film that is well amde but you never get the feeling anyone who worked on it had any fun whatsoever.)

I reckon Richard Williams and his masterpiece-that-wasn't, The Thief and the Cobber, was a BIG influence on the Triplets.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 04-24-2004, 11:38 PM:

Century Suncoast, screen #1, Saturday, 5:40pm showing, $5.75 USD matinee price. Approx. 150 seat theater, slightly curved common width screen (adjustable top mask). Approx. 15 people in attendance. Very pleasant non-sync music playing in this dedicated Century CineArts house. Very nice compared to the usual loud and obnoxious Movietunes crap.

Screen was set for 'scope height for the slides. At start of show, the 1.85 THX snipe (Tex) came up with aperture and mask still set for 'scope--could see what looked like timecode and frame count numbers running at the bottom of the matte until someone manually punched in the correct aperture and mask setting.

No trailers, just an ad for Fandango and the Century CineArts Feature Presentation snipe. Sound was at a satisfying level for me. Focus slightly out, as it always is at this theater. Main feature looked excessively cropped and misframed--the English title at the bottom of the frame was mostly in the mask. But frame any higher, and eyes would have been cut off on close ups. First reel join very badly made--caused a digital mute. Second reel join had visible emulsion scratches all around. Other reel joins looked OK. Picture tailed out on the screen, another consistent problem at this theater. Fortunately, the sound switched to non-sync just fine, thus saving our ears from the tail-out noises.

* * * * *

What a nutty little film! Enjoyed the gallic character designs very much. And one certainly won't see Citroen 2CV's (I think that's what they were) drive like that in the real world. [Smile]

Belleville will be out on R1 DVD next month--and more than likely on my collection shelf sometime soon thereafter.