Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

The first television series of Lupin III ran from 1971-72, contained only 23 episodes and included three directors. The original director was Masaaki Ōsumi, but after a dispute with the production company, he left the series. He was replaced with two young directors who believed in the direction he was going with the franchise: Isao Takahata (who would later go on to make the masterpiece, Grave of the Fireflies) and Hayao Miyazaki. Due to low ratings, the series (though very influential and incredibly ahead of its time) was canceled. In 1977, Lupin was re-launched into a much more recognized and hugely popular series. Due to the success of this new series, Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo was released in 1978. This was quickly followed up by the sequel, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. The sequel was made in about 4 months and marks the cinematic directorial debut of one of the first series’ directors, Hayao Miyazaki.

Long before Studio Ghibli and even Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, there was a thief named Arsène Lupin III. The film opens with the conclusion of a heist. Lupin (voiced again by Yasuo Yamada) and his right-hand man Jigen (Kiyoshi Kobayashi) have just robbed the vault of a casino and are on the run. Before they can celebrate, Lupin realizes the bills are (really well-made) counterfeits. They trace the bills to the country of Cagliostro, where Lupin reveals that the bills are made by non other than the Count himself, who rules the country that no longer has a ruler. The evil Count Cagliostro (Tarô Ishida) is planning to marry the young Princess Clarisse (Shumi Shimamoto) against her will. Lupin, Jigen and Goemon (Makio Inoue) plan to rescue her, destroy the production of the counterfeit money and find a treasure. They have inside help from Fujiko (Eiko Masuyama), who has her own plans, and Inspector Zenigata (Gorô Naya), who hears of Lupin and immediately begins investigating.

The film hearkens back to the first series by having Lupin wear a teal blazer instead of his now iconic red one. It plays out almost like an unofficial epilogue to the first series as Lupin, though as humorous and likable as ever, feels a bit more mature and even wiser as if to show that he is more of an experienced veteran than the wild and crazy youth he used to be. This is a subtle change and it never appears as though the character has been re-imagined; it’s more like this is just a slightly older and perhaps more serious version of Lupin. I keep making references to a distinction between the first and second television series, and this is for a reason. The first series contains a lot of the humor that is crucial to the franchise, but it is heavily ingrained into the story and feels very natural. The second series is much more routine in its plot-lines and features more over-the-top humor and character types as it was geared towards a wider, general audience. The second series is still a classic anime, but the first series is a forgotten gem.

The Castle of Cagliostro instantly feels like a Miyazaki film through the animation, meticulously painted and vibrantly colored backgrounds and consistent tone. Even though the Lupin series is set in the real world, Miyazaki demands location of his own invention; in this case, the green and lush European country of Cagliostro. The castle, of which the majority of the film revolves, is a labyrinth of trap doors, towers, dungeons and working gears. The castle is surrounded on all sides with water and green mountains in a terrain that Miyazaki is known for creating. There is also a touch of roman influence on the medieval castle, as it also uses aqueducts. Aside from the visuals, the characters are all fun and interesting. Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko are all true to their respective characters, but Zenigata is the supporting character that shines in this film. One of the problems with this character in The Mystery of Mamo was that, even though he was a constant presence, he seemed to serve no purpose in terms of actual plot. He was just there for gags and to chase Lupin, much as he is in the second television series. In this film however, he is much similar to how he is portrayed in the original series. He is meant to be the polar opposite of Lupin. He represents a rigid lifestyle and order, while Lupin is carefree and above all, free. In The Castle of Cagliostro, he is a significant part of the story and also genuine threat to Lupin’s schemes. He is as smart and persistent as Lupin himself, just not as clever. The Count is an interesting villain; in fact, he is the only other villain, aside from Muska in Castle in the Sky, which Miyazaki created to be played out as a straight-forward villain. There is no redeeming quality for this guy; he’s cold, sly, and ruthless.

The second Lupin III film is a treat for any audience; the jokes are funny, the characters are interesting, the animation is very high-quality, and the action is great, not to mention the cool jazzy soundtrack (there is a particularly cool vibraphone rendition of the now iconic Lupin III theme). It holds up very well today and in comparison to Miyazaki’s other films. It’s hard to believe that this is the first film he wrote/directed, and it’s even harder to believe that it was put together in only four months, a time frame that is not only laughable today, but impossible. This is a terrific addition the Lupin III franchise and a thoroughly entertaining movie. It’s pure cinematic fun.

Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo (1978)

Lupin III is an internationally famous manga series created by Monkey Punch in the late 1960s. The story follows the grandson of the famous thief Arsène Lupin and his exploits as he travels the world stealing valuables and being chased by the police led by detective Zenigata. The manga was incredibly popular upon its release in Japan and it was soon made into an influential television series featuring new talented directors like Masaaki Ōsumi, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. The second series was made in the late seventies and became a huge hit, spawning several films. Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo is the first feature length film to be made about the franchise.

The story follows Lupin III (voiced by Yasuo Yamada) and his gang, consisting of fellow anime icons Daisuke Jigen (Kiyoshi Kobayashi) and Goemon Ishikawa XIII (Makio Inoue), as they travel the world stealing artifacts while being pursued by Zenigata (Gorô Naya) after someone who looks exactly like Lupin is hanged for his crimes. As it turns out the reason for the newest crimes is due to a deal that Lupin worked out with Fujiko, who is secretly working for an unknown organization led by a mysterious man named Mamo, who it seems has unlimited resources. Fujiko Mine (Eiko Masuyama) is the beautiful and treacherous femme fatale of the franchise and true to form; she lies and tricks Lupin into helping her out. Lupin, as usual, willingly lets her. After Fujiko gets into trouble with Mamo, Lupin tries to save her and figure out the mystery behind the dead man who was identified as Lupin III.

The first half of this film is fantastic. It’s Lupin at its finest: he and his crew steal and outwit the police, travel to various locations, and banter non-stop while getting involved in outrageous action scenes. This element of fun is part of what makes the franchise so great. It never takes itself too seriously and is incredibly funny and action packed. The plot thickens as the film goes on and, as strange as it may sound, this is what actually hurts the overall experience. As more and more is revealed of the villain who is hunting down the protagonists, it becomes more and more unbelievable. By the end, it feels as if you’re watching a different film altogether. The villain is a man named Mamo (Kô Nishimura) and, without spoiling anything, he dominates the film with a story that becomes ridiculously high-concept, even for a Lupin adventure. Needless to say, the tone alters drastically after the first climax of the film. There are, in fact, two climaxes. The first one serves as a great spot to label the exact point of which the film begins to change what it’s about. The fun of the first half begins to rapidly disappear and slowly the film turns into a bizarre science fiction. The second act is like a completely different movie. It’s a shame considering how promising the first half is.

Aside from this one major flaw, the film is by no means terrible. The animation is colorful, fluid, and clear, holding up surprisingly well today. The action scenes are well thought out and exciting, and the voice acting is terrific. The cast from the television series reprises their roles and some of the writing is very funny. The characters are well constructed and the interactions between Jigen, Lupin and Goemon are among the highlights of the film. Lupin is an arrogant and free-spirited lecher, while Jigen is more calm, cool and collected. Goemon is straight out of another time dressed as a samurai and acting like one (complete with his own musical accompaniment). Everything he does is a fine line between a parody and tribute of the jidai-geki genre and its stoic heroes. The format of the series is episodic and without any real origin story, so this film is basically an extended episode. I would say that you could watch this film having not seen any of the television series, but certain references will go unappreciated. Overall this film is a mixed bag, it starts out strong but the plot becomes too complicated and too over-the-top for its own good, losing sight of not only the strong suits of the film, but the general appeal of the Lupin franchise.

The Secret Garden (1993)

Every so often there can be a story that, though told from the point of view of a child, is meant to be seen and heard by far more than simply those matching the age of the protagonist. A film like The Secret Garden is rare, but not simply because using child actors can be a bit of a gamble. A film like this is rare because it seems to be a film meant for children, yet it is significantly more than that. Based on the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden follows a young Mary Lennox living with her wealthy parents in India. They die in an earthquake and she is sent to live in England with her also wealthy Uncle. Like her life in India, she is mostly ignored and told to entertain herself. It is through this that she stumbles upon a hidden garden and various other mysteries about her new home, including a sickly and even more spoiled cousin.

The first thing to notice about this film is the tone. Coupled with the beautiful and haunting music (by Zbigniew Preisner), the film establishes a sense of darkness and mystery in the mansion, while the garden itself is filmed like a portal into a paradise that belongs in a fantasy. With its strong use of color and sweeping landscape shots, the world outside the mansion become one of wonder, beauty and freedom. Yet all this is downplayed in order to keep it within the realm of realism. It never feels like too much or like the scene is meant to manipulate your emotions. Everything comes very naturally and feels quite genuine. As mentioned before, child actors are risky. Luckily they are all very good in this film, particularly Kate Maberly as Mary. She plays her character as an angry and spoiled child, but it is easy to see where her issues come from. Right from the beginning of the film it becomes clear that she is a neglected child who has little interaction with her own parents, let alone other children. She quickly befriends Dickon (Andrew Knott), the younger brother of one of the maids who also spends most of his time isolated, with the exception of the local wildlife. Together they form a friendship that hints at something more while they care and raise the garden back to life. The experience changes her, and everyone around her, and it becomes apparent through her performance. The other young actor is Hayden Prowse who plays Colin, Mary’s invalid cousin who is literally not allowed outside his room or the house. He’s also spoiled rotten, but not to the point where it becomes annoying or over-the-top. The characters are all well written and incredibly well acted, showing the changes that occur as the story unfolds. There are also some strong supporting performances from Maggie Smith, who plays the head maid Mrs. Medlock and John Lynch who plays the grief-stricken uncle and lord of the Mansion.

The film was directed by Agnieszka Holland, and it is obvious the care and dedication that she had in filming the story. The shots of the endless fields outside the mansion and the closed-in and claustrophobic halls of the mansion are in terrific contrast, while the garden itself is a visual spectacle and a vivid display of color and atmosphere. It is an emotional film about love, heartache, lonliness and a child-like sense of wonder. The Secret Garden is nothing short of a masterpiece that transcends the genre of children’s film.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Originally The Nightmare Before Christmas was to be directed by Tim Burton, who came up with the story and characters from a peom he wrote. As a result from scheduling conflicts and a lack of time due to another project (Batman Returns) he had to have his friend from when he worked at Disney, Henry Selick (who would later go on to direct James and the Giant Peach and Coraline) take over the position. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Christmas film in the vein of other stop motion classics like Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town but the similarities end there. The opening sequence is enough to tell you that. The film opens with the stop motion equivalent of a haunted house ride, throwing bats, ghosts, witches, and all sorts of creatures at you as they all sing the music of Danny Elfman in a horrifyingly wonderful display. At the time of release it was the first major all stop-motion film in decades and it was miles ahead of its predecessors in both technique and capabilities. The characters display a wide variety of physical animations and expressions that are meticulous and fascinating to look at. The entire film, especially the scenes in Halloween Town, is so carefully stylized resembling extreme Gothic sets such as those from German expressionistic films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920).

The story follows Jack Skellington, The Pumpkin King of Halloween, as he laments something lacking in his life. He has grown bored with his holiday and wants something new. He stumbles upon a door in a forest that leads to Christmas Town and, after much obsessing over what he witnessed, decides that he wants it. The only problem is that none of the other Halloween citizens understand what Christmas means (they only understand tricks and pranks). So Jack hijacks Christmas by capturing Santa Claus and replacing him, thus deforming the holiday into something else entirely.

The film is a marvelous display of colors and locations that are visually stunning to look at. The characters are interesting in both design and personality but most importantly, the music is terrific. The score and all the musical numbers are by Danny Elfman (though it has his obvious sound), and it is his strongest work since the 1989 Batman score. There are several memorable songs in the film, but the most memorable is probably “What’s This?” In this scene, Jack explores Christmas Town in all its glory and the musical number captures the essence of curiosity and wonder all at the same time. It is interesting to note that Danny Elfman provides the singing voice for Jack, yet Chris Sarandon does all his spoken dialogue. The film is only 76 minutes long and there are ten songs so it seems unnecessary for Jack’s roughly ten spoken sentences to have required another voice actor, but this is more of an odd than a negative aspect of the film.

My only real complaint (and it is minor, despite how important it may seem) is the villain and ending. Without spoiling anything, the villain of the film is Oogie Boogie aka The Boogie Man (Ken Page). He gets a hold of Santa, making Jack the one who has to save him. The problem with this is that obviously the only reason for it is so Jack may further redeem himself from the great sin he commits in the film; let the story end with him as a hero. I think this is a bit of a copout, since learning his lesson should have been more than enough. There’s also a romance between Jack and the man-made girl Sally (whose part is sung and spoken by Catherine O’hara), but it is pretty inconsequential and is resolved very quickly. These complaints aside, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a terrific animated musical and one that earns its place as a Christmas classic. It’s an easy film to watch again and again; the songs are memorable, the animation is great, and the story is interesting.

A Single Man (2009)

Based on the Christopher Isherwood novel of the same name, A Single Man, directed by first time director Tom Ford is the story of a middle-aged, gay British college professor who is on the verge of suicide after months of grieving for his lost love (Matthew Goode) who died in a car accident. Set in 1960s L.A., Ford paints a bleak view of the world through the eyes of George (Colin Firth). Actually, it is this bleakness that is probably the weakest aspect of the film. To be more specific, the direction of the bleakness is what hurts the film most. The film displays a use of color that draws a significant amount of attention to itself and most of what is shot in the present day is is filtered over with gray, giving off the appearance of black and white images. All scenes in the past, particularly those concerning the the dead love are shot with vibrant color while in the present day, color is used for a few fleeting moments of happiness and peace that gradually increase in frequency and duration as the plot unfolds. After the first twenty minutes or so, you can become more adjusted to such an eye-catching technique, but at first it's a bit distracting. The film is stylized enough as it is and this device seems a bit unnecessary. As mentioned before, this film is set in the 60s, so it almost seems obligated to be heavily stylized. Aside from the fashion and general look of the setting, it's as if the film needs to emphasize how it is a retro, art-house glimpse of the past.

The other significant attention-grabbing technique is repeatedly cross-cutting between the present day events and a scene in which George is naked and drowning, completely submerged in water. This scene is actually what opens the film. This however, is much more effective in the story, capturing the mind-state of the character. Part of, if not the predominate, reason that the film's style may be unnecessary for the story is that Colin Firth's performance is more than enough to convey what the character is thinking and feeling. The misery of living with a dramatic loss is seen so clearly on his face that often the voice-over narration isn't needed either. There is one scene in particular in which George recalls receiving the call that Jim (Goode) was killed. His reaction is underplayed and seems genuine. There isn't some immediate breakdown over the phone. Instead Colin Firth captures a feeling that conveys a person receiving news that they never want to hear and are forced to recognize as true. It's a heartbreaking scene and Colin Firth is what makes it (and the film as a whole) so powerful. It is one of the strongest, if not the strongest performances of his career. There are some other good performances as well, Matthew Goode and Nicholas Hoult (you may remember as the boy in About a Boy) are both interesting as the love interests for George, but the strongest supporting role is probably from Julianne Moore, who plays his ex-girlfriend from Britain who also lives in L.A. It is interesting to note that both Matthew Goode and Nicholas Hoult are British actors and yet they play Americans in this film, while Julianne Moore, the only American in the cast plays a British woman. Overall, A Single Man is a very good film carried by strong performances, especially that of Colin Firth's. While it may be a bit too stylized of it's own good, at it's core it is a strong, personal drama about loss and a desperate struggle to cope with it.