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Director: Rémi Chayé
Release date: June 28, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
In 2015 Rémi Chayé surprised the animation world with his strong feature film ‘Tout en haut du monde’ (Long Way North), but his second feature, ‘Calamity, une enfance de Martha Jane Cannary’ arguably is even better.
Like the previous film ‘Calamity’ excels in an absolutely gorgeous digital background art, showing the prairies and mountains of the West in a plethora of colors, making each frame a delight to watch. But of course, this isn’t enough to sustain a feature film, and I am glad I can say that the story is also very good.
Like ‘Tout en haut du monde’ ‘Calamity’ stars a strong young female protagonist, and even more than in the previous film, ‘Calamity’ deals with the oppressive gender roles women were forced into, even if it didn’t suit their characters, ambitions and talents, at all. The film, of course, is based on real life enfant terrible Calamity Jane (1852-1903), but only vaguely so, and the film is called ‘A childhood’ and not ‘THE Childhood’, because the events depicted are mostly fictional and do not correspond to what we know about the historical Martha Jane Can(n)ary.
Nevertheless, with this film Chayé succeeds in making a subtle yet strong feminist statement. In fact, ‘Calamity’ is one of two strong European animation films from 2020 showing the historical plight of women, and how a masculine society kept them down for ages, for ‘Wolfwalkers’ by Cartoon Saloon tackles the same issues.
In the film we follow young Martha Jane (ca. 12-14 years old, I guess) accompanying her father and her two younger siblings on a caravan to Oregon. Her rather clumsy father is quite an outcast in the caravan, and Martha Jane is frequently mocked by Ethan, the son of the caravan’s leader, Mr. Abraham. When Martha Jane’s father breaks his ribs and must lay down in the wagon, and when goods get stolen from the caravan there’s an opportunity for Martha to break out of her role as an obedient girl, which she does with gusto, defying all counterforces she meets.
During the film Martha Jane poses as a boy called Marcus for a long time, and the only implausibility is when she gets chained to a real boy called Jonas. How she manages to maintain her disguise during these days baffles me. Otherwise, this is a strong coming of age film, which shows that women can be the equals of men, if they’re only allowed to.
Apart from gorgeous background art, the film includes appealing character designs, an effective, often surprisingly Japanese-like animation style and appropriate music. The result is one of the best feature films of 2020, on the same level as the more famous ‘Soul’ and ‘Wolfwalkers’.
Watch the trailer for ‘Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Calamity, une enfance de Martha Jane Cannary (Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary)’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD
Director: Rémi Chayé
Release Date: June 16, 2015
Rating: ★★★★ ½
Review:
‘Tout en haut du monde’ was the third of four notable animated films coming from France in 2015. Rémi Chayé, who had previously worked as a storyboard artist for Cartoon Saloon’s ‘The Secret of Kells’ from 2009, directed this film, which is, surprisingly, set in Russia and knows only Russian characters.
The story, by female writers Claire Paoletti and Patricia Valeix, is set in 1882, and tells of teenager Sasha, granddaughter of the great (fictional) Oloukine, who has disappeared somewhere in the Northern ice sea with his ship Davaï. The czar has desperately trying to find his favorite explorer and his ship, offering an enormous sum of money for those who succeed, but without any result.
Sasha discovers that the czar’s search parties have been looking in the wrong region, and against her father’s will she sets out to go on a mission of her own. Being an aristocrat who knows nothing of the real world, she soon gets stuck in a Northern harbor, where she gets help from a friendly innkeeper called Olga.
Sasha soon learns what real working is, and becomes quite good at it. Thus hardened, and still as determined as before, she indeed manages to get a ship to look for the Davaï, but she and her shipmates soon have every reason to want to find the ship.
‘Tout en haut du monde’ knows a wonderful young strong woman as its leading star, but Sasha never becomes superhuman – she remains a woman of flesh and blood. In fact, throughout the movie we can feel with her, with her frustration, her naivety, her determination, and her fear.
Interestingly, there’s absolutely no love story involved (although there is some flirtation between Sasha and the cabin Boy Katch). In the end it’s clear that Sasha is destined to become a great explorer herself, not the mere wife of some aristocrat husband.
Sasha’s co-stars, too, are round characters, and certainly not without their flaws. There’s an interesting subplot involving two brothers: one captain, and the other his mate. When Sasha does find her grandfather, this is a magical and moving moment, if a rather improbable one. This this the film’s only venture beyond realism. Otherwise, the movie maintains a very realistic tone, with the dangers and hardships of the North Pole shown in their full extent.
Nevertheless, the film never becomes dire or grizzly, and this is mainly because of the extraordinarily beautiful artwork, for which Chayé was responsible as well. The film’s visual style is clearly rooted in the franco-belgian comic tradition, but has discarded almost all line work. Instead, we are treated on bold color areas, both on the characters and the backgrounds, which are in perfect harmony with each other.
The coloring is clearly done entirely on the computer, but the result is absolutely gorgeous. In fact, the film boasts one of the best color schemes and richest color palettes ever put to the animated screen. Especially, the depiction of sunlit landscapes and rooms ensures some marvelous coloring. By all means, the scenes on the North Pole are of an astonishing beauty, with the ubiquitous ice never being just white. Thus as a result, every frame is a pretty painting.
If ‘Tout en haut du monde’ knows one flaw, it’s its rushed ending. The film ends before all story lines have been resolved, and the return scenes are shown in stills during the end titles. This is a little unsatisfactory. After Sasha’s grand Arctic journey, one wishes her adventure to end on an equally epic scale, not to fade out with a sizzle.
Nevertheless, this is a film to behold, and certainly one of the best animated features of 2015. With ‘tout en haut du monde’ Rémi Chayé became a strong new voice in the animation world, a reputation he consolidated with the even better ‘Calamity, une enfance de Martha Jane Cannary’ (2020).
Watch the trailer for ‘Tout en haut du monde (Long Way North)’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Tout en haut du monde (Long Way North) ‘ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD
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