I watched both "Three Monks" and "The Doll" (hard to believe it's as old as I am!), and "Monks" makes "Doll" look positively *busy* by comparison; even though "Doll" is pretty simple in terms of Western animation.
For sure -- it's such a minimal film. The Shanghai artists were already aware of Zagreb stuff to a degree, from what we've read, but their take on modern/limited animation here was even more stripped back. It's a stark contrast with some of the other Chinese animation from this era, like Nezha Conquers the Dragon King, which can be so visually extravagant.
It's come up in the newsletter (there was an issue a few months ago that discussed its influence in Japan a bit), but we haven't done a full article about it! Definitely one we want to cover at length eventually.
Thank you very much! A lot of super-interesting info in there! I didn't even know about the Miyazaki or Tezuka connections. (Yes, I'm a huge Animation/Anime fan, but that doesn't mean that there aren't large gaps in my cultural and historical knowledge of them.)
The author of text on Marina Voskanyants is journalist Sergei Kapkov. Pavel Shvedov only reposted it.
Thank you for the correction! We're not very adept at Telegram and hadn't noticed this. It's been fixed.
I watched both "Three Monks" and "The Doll" (hard to believe it's as old as I am!), and "Monks" makes "Doll" look positively *busy* by comparison; even though "Doll" is pretty simple in terms of Western animation.
For sure -- it's such a minimal film. The Shanghai artists were already aware of Zagreb stuff to a degree, from what we've read, but their take on modern/limited animation here was even more stripped back. It's a stark contrast with some of the other Chinese animation from this era, like Nezha Conquers the Dragon King, which can be so visually extravagant.
"Nezha Conquers the Dragon King"
Oh! I've seen that! And, yeah; "extravagant" is an excellent description.
BTW: OT, but have you ever reviewed the 1947 Russian animated movie "The Humpbacked Horse"?
It's come up in the newsletter (there was an issue a few months ago that discussed its influence in Japan a bit), but we haven't done a full article about it! Definitely one we want to cover at length eventually.
Link, please? I'd like to read that. Thanks in advance!
It came out as a paid issue, but we'll remove the paywall temporarily so you can check it out! Link: https://animationobsessive.substack.com/p/moscow-to-tokyo-tokyo-to-moscow
Thank you very much! A lot of super-interesting info in there! I didn't even know about the Miyazaki or Tezuka connections. (Yes, I'm a huge Animation/Anime fan, but that doesn't mean that there aren't large gaps in my cultural and historical knowledge of them.)
Thank you so much.........
Chop Wood , Carry Water
Glad you enjoyed it! Three Monks is absolutely one of our all-time favorites.
And thanx for including all the links which I will pass on