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Reviews
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003)
One more time!! Gen X candy.
I grew up on Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, Scooby Doo, Battle of the Planets, Thunderbirds and Astro Boy - and apparently so did French electro-funk duo Daft Punk. The guys have scripted a cartoon combining elements from the aforementioned and so much more to which they have matched their second album 'Discovery' in its entirety, in track-order with no dialogue. The story plays on the old alien abduction and alien-scheme to control the universe thwarted by humans - by turning it on its head. An alien band is abducted by an evil human and have their brains washed until they are compliant Earth pop stars. Very 1970s look to the graphics by Kazuhisa Takenouchi with fast edits and lots of characterisation (fabulous considering Interstella 5555 runs for 67 minutes and has no dialogue). A tribute to the animation upon which anime was built and a brilliant parody of current pop music. This one's for the DVD collection definitely.
Myrkrahöfðinginn (1999)
Beautiful, weird and a little uneven
A young priest is sent to a tiny village in Iceland in the 1700s and starts a witch-hunt. The scenery is stark and beautiful - giving the film a truly isolated and alien feel. All the performances are great - but the B-plot line of the priest as an old man remembering his youth seems out of place and serves to confuse the ending and slow proceedings.