Fantastic Planet (1973)
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Review #1,353 |
THE SCOOP
Director: Rene Laloux
Cast: Barry Bostwick, Jennifer Drake, Eric Baugin
Plot: This futuristic story takes place on a faraway planet where blue giants rule, and oppressed humanoids rebel against the machine-like leaders.
Genre: Animation / Sci-Fi
Awards: Won Special Jury Prize (Cannes)
Runtime: 72min
Rating: NC16 for some nudity
International Sales: Tamasa Distribution
IN RETROSPECT (Spoilers: NO)
“What a shame
we can't play with her anymore.”
An
animation competing for the Cannes Palme d’Or is as rare as it comes, but Fantastic Planet has had the distinctive
honour for more than forty years, even winning a Special Jury Prize for its
achievement.
You
have to turn back the clock to the early ‘70s, a time when animation was still
synonymous with American cartoons. For
the longest time prior to the ‘80s, before Japanese anime reached more
mainstream and international exposure, Walt Disney and co. were dominating the
medium. So the existence of a
counter-force in Fantastic Planet was
sure to have raised a few eyebrows when it was first released.
Fantastic Planet
is a French animated feature with arthouse sensibilities, dealing with adult
themes of philosophy, existence and power.
Made using the innovative cut-out animation technique, the film draws
from its bizarre visuals influences from the surrealist art movement, and of
speciesism, a prejudicial notion of moral domination as a result of a whole
species thinking it exists as superior to others.
What
if humans become playthings of huge giants?
That is how the plot first start on this note, but the film has a strong
undercurrent of politics that not only shapes the relationship between the
‘Draggs’, the giant blue aliens, and ‘Oms’, the human slaves, but one that was
also shaped by the context when it was made—the Soviet occupation of
Czechoslovakia.
Although
directed by Frenchman Rene Laloux, much of Fantastic
Planet’s animation was done by Czech animators, who at that time were
arguably above everyone else in Europe in their field. Czech animation in general, as led by such
stalwarts as Jan Svankmajer (Alice,
1988), who made award-winning surrealist shorts since the ‘60s, was considered
the pinnacle of European animation, and it’s no surprise that Fantastic Planet had benefitted from
such artistry and creative nous.
Alain
Goraguer’s music, a mix of ‘70s synths, wah-guitars and bass, arranged in a
trippy, jazzy style adds to the psychedelic experience that lasts all of its
economical 72 minutes. Short it may be,
but it is not slight at all. After all,
the animation deals with such serious and important themes as the machinations
of enslavement, the revolutionary spirit of the oppressed, and the perils of
prejudice, all of which are still painfully relevant today as they surely were
back in the ‘70s.
Laloux’s
one-of-a-kind film, strange and disturbing in almost every way, ultimately
fascinates because despite being a fantasy, it hits home the fact that humans
are easily capable of such atrocities and ill-will against one another, and
will for the eternity of time, continue their mutual devastation.
Verdict: This bizarre yet fascinating French cult sci-fi animation is one-of-a-kind, and a disturbing look at the machinations of enslavement.
Verdict: This bizarre yet fascinating French cult sci-fi animation is one-of-a-kind, and a disturbing look at the machinations of enslavement.
GRADE: A-
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