A Beautiful Sketchbook of a Film

On an Oscar nominee by Cartoon Saloon.

Late Afternoon (2017)

Happy Thursday! In this issue of the Animation Obsessive newsletter, we’re looking at Late Afternoon (2017) by Cartoon Saloon.

This is a beautiful film, visually and otherwise. It’s about Emily, an old woman who battles dementia and tries to make sense of her memories. The material is handled with taste and warmth. It’s tender, but not maudlin; sad, but not cheap. Director-writer-storyboarder-designer Louise Bagnall really achieved something here.

The quality of it might not shock anyone familiar with Cartoon Saloon. The team sits in the small Irish city of Kilkenny, but its work stands with the world’s best — look at The Breadwinner (2017), for example. The team has produced five Oscar nominees so far. Late Afternoon is one of them.

That said, Bagnall’s film began in a sketchbook. “Could be 2012, maybe 2013, I had the very initial idea,” she’s said. “And I let it develop quite slowly in my sketchbook by drawing the character and just thinking things out.”