The Red Turtle - Crim Reviews Movies
- Phillip Tackett
- Apr 18, 2017
- 2 min read
The Red Turtle (2016)
Studio Ghibli is perhaps the most universally well-known animation studio on the other side of Disney. Most of the greatest animated films (and greatest in general) ever made will likely come from then. Which was why in 2014, when they announced a production halt to their works, a part of animation’s soul died. Ghibli, however, went out on a high note with their (in my opinion) best film, When Marnie Was There.
It was about 6 years prior when Ghibli co-founder and animation legend Hayao Miyazaki watched a short film called Father and Daughter. When visited by Wild Bunch C.C.O. Vince Maraval, Miyazaki asked to find the short’s director, in hopes of co-producing a collaboration piece. That director, Michaël Dudok de Wit, was found and agreed to the project. Eventually, a screenplay was written, that gave birth to the now-titled The Red Turtle.
It’s sufficient to say that every film Ghibli has produced always looks phenomenal. The Red Turtle is no exception. Much of the film has a look quite reminiscent of the works of Isao Takahata, particularly his most recent, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (right down to the papery feel of the bamboo forests displayed in both works). Much to my gleeful surprise, Takahata himself was listed as Turtle’s artistic producer.
In terms of story, it robs of the whole experience to be told the finer points of what exactly happens in The Red Turtle. Essentially, a man is caught in the middle of a brutal ocean storm. He wakes up the following morning stranded on an uninhabited island. He tries escaping the island through various self-built rafts, but always seems to be thwarted by a mysterious off-shore force. All throughout, other forces seem to emerge into this man’s life.
The Red Turtle is completely free of dialogue. It abandons all that is expository in exchange for purely visual storytelling. Suddenly, all feeling and sound is increased tenfold, which is by far the strength of the film. There is a connection made to nature rather than the more familiar ties of conventional civilization. Where dialogue would strain the film and take away from the isolated setting, it’s eliminated altogether in favor of letting events unfold with our eyes and ears.
There remains some bursting traditional animation within, combined with a blending of rich sound of insect life and ocean waves. What lay underneath the surface is more humanity than most films on an independent caliber strive to achieve. Despite Turtle’s lack of familiar tones and [ironically] dialogue, it has a lot to say, particular about life itself. It’s not made too obvious what specifically means, but it’s very much there.
It may be because of those lack of conventions that not everyone will enjoy this film, particularly those seeking even the barest explanations. Many people might leave The Red Turtle feeling frustrated. I’ll admit that I did. But it was among a plethora with bursts of awe, sorrow, beauty, fleeting happiness, and most of all, thankfulness. Because I had seen something so ambitious in its simpleness, it couldn’t go unnoticed. Rating: ★★★★½
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