The Illusionist (Sylvain Chomet)

[Victor Ens]

Hi there,
as maybe a few of you guys already know there is a second 2-D Feature in production by director Sylvain Chomet. I'm currently working on it as a Senior Animator and wanted to share this image with you that has been released just a few days ago.
Not the most excting shot in the Movie but it gives an idea of the look of it.

[Ben]

I am GAGGING to see this movie.

Not only did I think Belleville was one of the most original and high quality animated films of recent times, but I was a fan of Chomet's earlier short film, and adore Jaques Tati's work, which I believe The Illusionist is inspired from. Isn't it based on an unproduced Tati script?

This has the potential to be genius! Wow, CinemaScope!

Congratulations to have landed a SA job on the show, and I look forward to any updates you can share with us, both for the site and on a personal level!

THANKS, and welcome to our boards!


BTW, here's the link again for those where the above might not work:
http://bp0.blogger.com/_aDdV2BJhMkA/SCc ... h/Tati.bmp

[Victor Ens]

Thank you very much!
Yeah, that's right it's based on the Original script by Tati himself.
Actually Sylvain Chomet said so himself, the quality of this movie is much, much higher than "Triplettes de Belleville" and better than he expected it to be. So far this is the most difficult thing I ever worked on. I mean I do not have a ton of experience yet, but there are guys in our studio who are in the business for 20-30 years and they say the same. Good to know that I'm not the only one who struggles.
Thanks again !

[Meg]

I am looking forward to this very much as well.

[Riv]

Awards Daily posted some early reviews, stills and a Russian trailer:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=20715

Looks absolutely incredible!

[droosan]

Indeed. I am very much looking forward to this.

[Randall]

Can't wait to hear on whether I can catch it in a theare here. It looks marvelous.

[Sunday]

This looks like it might be the best thing to hit in a very long time (since Belleville, to be exact ).

[Ben]

As a big Tati fan, I've been pumped for this ever since Belleville came out and Chomet said his next project was an unproduced Tati script. This so totally melds a whole bunch of themes and feelings for me, and just seeing such really smooth yet perfectly captured Xerox style animation again is just magical. Looks like this will be another "silent" approach from Chomet, after The Old Lady And The Pigeons, and The Triplets Of Belleville.

[Dacey]

I'd love to see it, but will more likely than not have to see it at home. "Belleville" never played anywhere near me, so I have no reason to assume that things will be different with this one.

[Riv]

Saw the The Illusionist at the NZ film festival today... wow.

A depressing yet beautifully-made film. Not as bad as Grave of the Fireflies, but still very sad nonetheless, in a really subtle way that makes you sink lower and lower into your seat. The audience were laughing loudly at the little gags in the opening, but by the end the whole cinema was silent

Anyway, animation was BRILLIANT: characters are incredibly lifelike, the Scottish scenery is all soft watercolour vistas and the CG vehicles blended in much better than they did in Belleville. My only complaint is a single pan of Edinburgh near the end that was so blatantly CGI it was distracting

Oh, and a Belleville character makes a cameo!

Must see, 9/10!

[Ben]

Apart from Tron, this is literally the only other film I'm truly anticipating this year. Hopefully the UK release will be a little wider, we had to trek a bit to see Belleville too.

Interesting about the tone and CG integration - I'm going to be on the subconscious lookout for that pan shot now, but it sounds as if Chomet's team have the integration (which I didn't think was that noticeable in Belleville apart from the fact that we knew they were CG props) down even better.

Toss in the fact that I love Tati anyway, growing up with a French speaking Dad (not that his films have too much dialogue!), and this could be perfect.

[Ben]

Saw this last week, a beautifully animated and observed film.

It has that classic "second album" problem to overcome though, in that while it's even better realized than Belleville, it doesn't have much of the same spark. Part of that is down to Tati's original screenplay, much more sombre and actually depressing than Belleville ever was, and Chomet has stuck to it faithfully. I'm not quite sure if the very end works as well as was intended, and if the script remained unfilmed by Tati because he was ultimately unsatisfied with it, which I could understand, but there's a high level of maturity here that blasts anything else you're likely to see this year. Just as I said "you've never seen anything quite like this" with Belleville, the same can be said here, but for completely different reasons. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, and I need to see it again to fully appreciate its levels and tonal changes, but its a high level of animated filmmaking that really could be considered art. It's certainly an artistic achievement unlike anything else I've seen.

I should write up a proper review...!

[Jafar]

I should write up a proper review...!

It would be very welcome indeed, Ben!

[GeorgeC]

.... And the US release is a LONG way off!

http://www.sonyclassics.com/theillusionist/

... and it happens to open on my birthday!