In Breif: Ace Attorney
Based on the Capcom video game franchise, Ace Attorney follows green Attorney Phoenix Wright takes on a case to prove the innocents of his former partners sister and childhood friend from murder charges. Directed by the amazing diverse cult Japanese Film Maker Takashi Miike, Ace Attorney is a highly entertaining romp with more then some character to spare.
In Breif: Alois Nebel
Based on a trilogy of Czech Comics by Jaroslav Rudiš, Alois Nebel focuses on the titular Train Dispather with repressed memories, a scheming co-worker, and his encounter with a mysterious Mute from across the border with ties to his past. It's a beautifully animated film, that has a great sense of style.
Ace Attorney
I just want to get this out of the way, and i get the feeling i've probably said this once already this year, But i don't think i've ever laughed harder at a film in the cinemas. Ever. This film has a ridiculous amount of style, and really feels like they've just taken the script from the game, gone to put it into a anime, then decided to shoot it with actors. It's very Japanese in tone and style, and it works brilliantly. The characters are almost mirror images of those seen in the manga, with the typical Anime hairstyles are all represented, and after a few minutes, they don't seem so zany. They're used to great effect and help to identify characters in some of the darker scenes in the film. and the costumes seem to come from various stages of period dramas, it all helps to add another layer of personality to the film and characters.
Miike gets some great performances from his cast, with Hiroki Narimiya doing a great job as a rookie in a world of pro's, delivering some great 'OBJECTIONS' and good comedic timing, and Takumi Saito as Phoenix's rival Miles Edgeworth has some great scene and plays the 'too cool' role effectively and with a great comedic moments of his own. The rest of the cast do a great job of selling they're characters with both delivery and physical comedy.
Miike continues to prove that he's one of the most versatile film makers around, I can't recall watching a comedy of his before, but he delivers it with the same masterful strokes he does with horror and period action films. The film might feel a bit too convenient at times, but those are few and far between, and he manages to finish the film before it gets into a situation where it's past its welcome, but its not far off it. It's easily become, in my mind, the best game to film adaption yet, and is going to be a hard one to beat.
Alois Nebel
I've been interested in this one for awhile now, after seeing a brief article about it on IMDB i had to keep an eye out for it. Visually, it didn't dissapoint, but on the story side, it's didn't really deliver. It's
Tomás Lunák feature debut, and it feels like a comic book come to life. The animation is smooth and feels very natural until a character pauses, then the motion of them starting to move again feels a little jerky. It makes great effect of the grey scale pallet, helping it keep a ever present bleak tone. It's delivered a mature animated film, that outside of japan, seem to be in short supply. Water is handled really well in this film, with several streams of water featuring to nice effect, and the 3D animation provides a bit of depth of field without the requirements of 3D glasses.
But the story has definitely got its feet set in Czech history, and i found that a little hard to keep up with at times. There are memories set back in the 1940's (while the main story occurs over 89-90) and knowledge of this period would be a great boon in watching the film, Not having it doesn't make the film un-watchable, but it would help the viewer be more invested in it. There's brief mentions of Nazi occupation and Germany that can ultimately be lost on the viewer, but that said, i've started to look into it, and for a film to get people interest in its subject matter, even if its to better understand it, is a fair feat.
I can't help but feel if the story focused a bit more on the character of the Mute, explaining him, his actions and what happens with him behind the scenes then we see in the film, that i might enjoy it more. The Mute proves to be a interesting and enigmatic character in the film, but with the focus on Alois Nebel and only really bringing the mute into focus when the two cross paths. The film could have gone for a extra 10 minutes featuring his character and i might have enjoyed it more.
Alois Nebel is a interesting film, but i wouldn't recommend it for general audiences. Fans of 3D animation will probably enjoy the film for its style, and history buffs for the story, but most will probably get restless in its short running time.
Both films showed as part of the Melbourne Internationale Film Festival, and were both to sold out crowds. I'm planning on seeing a series of Animation Shorts on Saturday, and i'm really looking forward to Disney's Paperman.
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