#underrated cinema

[rottingangelic]

[dmtalkies]

Criminally Underrated Films by Famous Filmmakers

Criminally Underrated Films by Famous Filmmakers

Auteur Filmmakers prominently have a film that we all know about, but their art is not limited to a single famous film and usually their past work includes hidden gems, fans have little idea about. Some of these films are criminally underrated and demand to be watched by both fans and Cinephiles. 

So let’s go through 10 criminally underrated films by famous filmmakers.

10. The Color…

View On WordPress

[un-animated-works]

When the Wind Blows (1986) United Kingdom

Directed by Jimmy Murakami

Written by Raymond Briggs

Produced by John Coates

Distributed by Recorded Releasing

★★★★★

Now this film is definitely not for the faint of heart. Not that it’s extremely graphic or violent, but the subject matter is very unnerving. For me personally, nuclear fallout scares me unlike anything else. Any kind of disaster like that does. Most of us were forced to read in middle school, and for me a lot of the books had to deal with the nuclear fallout for some odd reason. Why we had to read these? No idea. Since the Cold War didn’t really end until 1991, the global fear was nuclear war. Hundreds to thousand of books and films dealt with this subject. Today we cover just one of those many films.

Based on The Snowman (1982) director Raymond Briggs’ graphic novel of the same name, When the Wind Blows (1986) gives us a look on how the most average everyday people have to survive the most extreme disasters. We have your typical old, white couple living out their golden years in the English country side. An unknown war has broken out. Possibly an extreme ending to a so called ‘Cold War’. Jim and his wife Hilda try to prepare for the worst. Our god-like force is a voice on the radio and convenient handbook giving the couple directions on how to survive nuclear fallout and the process of radiation sickness. The hardest part of this movie is the sheer naivety of the couple. Sure, they are following their given instructions to the dot, but how they handle everything is so unsettling. You just feel so sorry for them and can’t help but imagine their untimely demise being played out. What’s hardest about this movie is that you don’t see anywhere outside of Jim and Hilda’s house. You’re left with just them. You are forced to carry on their days and routines with them. You have to listen their babbling, and their absurdities. The film is more heartbreaking really. I don’t want to go too much into it, it’s really up to you to see this one.

The film is a hybrid of stop-motion and hand drawn animation. For it’s subject matter, it’s sweet and soft style adds to the eeriness of the whole film. This film is definitely a change of pace compared to most disaster films. Only a few animated films have dealt with the aftermath nuclear fallout. Some fictional, some historical. I consider this one on the more serious and frightening side, only because this couple is making it harder for us to keep watching. It’s different than most films dealing with this kind of fallout, like Barefoot Gen (1983) for example. That film is extremely graphic, but it’s so fast paced that you’re forced to move on from tragedy to another. When the Wind Blows is graphic in a different sense, its hard to explain. The style of the film makes it darker because it looks like it could be a sweet movie, when it really- really isn’t.

I picked this movie for this round mostly because of it’s soundtrack. With songs by the late great David Bowie and many others, the film is also backed with some great sound effects that add to the personal quietness of the movie. The soundtrack is tied in with some great visuals and montages, definitely mirroring a lot of styles from the 80’s- mostly styles from the United Kingdom. A great comparison would be Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1982). Others on this Soundtrack include Genesis, Squeeze, Paul Hardcastle, and composer Roger Waters.

You can still find this one on YouTube here!

[un-animated-works]

Rock & Rule (1983) Canada

Directed by Clive A. Smith 

Written by Patrick Loubert and Peter Sauder

Produced by Nelvana

Released by MGM

★★★☆☆

If you like animals that sing; this is a good one for you

Much like most film and music from our cousins up north, Rock & Rule could have been an instant classic if not due to it’s troubled release. Rock & Rule was the first film to be released by Canadian animation studio Nelvana (Care Bears, Pippi Longstocking, Little Bear, etc.), but didn’t prove much success in the beginning. Due to it’s sexual content, drug use, implied satan worship, and violence, Rock & Rule had a very limited release in Canada as well as the U.S. Because of this it soon gained a cult audience and following. The film failed to release a soundtrack, and for a while went unseen other than rare late-night screenings on HBO. Though there are limited copies of the film in circulation, you can get a Blu-Ray copy on Amazon. Go figure.

Backed by an amazing soundrack featuring songs by Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, Cheap Trick, Earth, Wind & Fire, Chris Stein, and Iggy Pop- the soundtrack is probably one of the most underrated aspects of the film. Unfortunately a record was never released for the film, but you can find a lot of the songs individually floating around YouTube. I highly recommend the finale of the film.

Some of the animators who worked on this film went on to work on others, several released by Disney. Charles Bonifacio went on to work on other movies such as The Land Before Time (1988) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) to name a couple.

Personally, I’d give this movie a 3.5/5, but that’s only because I can be a stickler when it comes to animation. Some scenes are animated beautifully and have great fluidity and edge. But some scenes can be a little awkward at times where the lip sync is off, or stops at a weird pose or expression. The plot is a little predictable, but has a very interesting take on a music driven future where mice, dogs, and cats have mutated into humanoids. The character design is great and unique too, very appropriate for the vibe of the film. It’s a fun film to watch, especially with your animator friends. If you’re not into if for the animation, watch it for the music. That part will never fail.

You can still watch the movie on YouTube here!

[cassandrasaurus]