Isle of Dogs opens on Friday
Wes Anderson’s stylish new film about a pack of stranded dogs draws inspiration from Japanese masters such as Akira Kurosawa. Xu Fan reports.
AFor us, the movie is like a dream that we want to illustrate ... the boy is fighting for things that I would believe in.” Wes Anderson,
American director
s one of the most influential directors in American cinema over the past two decades, Wes Anderson has returned to his passion for the stop motion technique with his new animated flick Isle of Dogs.
For Chinese fans, they will have more reasons to be cheerful for their idol’s latest work, as 2018 marks the Year of Dog in the Chinese zodiac. Isle of Dogs is also Anderson’s second stop-motion feature following 2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox.
“It started with two ideas,” says Anderson, who talked to China Daily during an online video interview on Friday. The movie will open in Chinese mainland theaters on Friday.
Appearing in the center of the computer screen, the director came into view sitting on a purple sofa set against a green wall adorned with elegant paintings — in true Wes Anderson style.
Known for his uniquely aesthetic sense for building cinematic worlds of his own — from The Darjeeling Limited (2007) to the Oscars-winning The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) — Anderson prefers to set his characters in the middle of camera to form beautifully symmetric sequences.
Continuing his distinctive style, Isle of Dogs was inspired by his fondness for Japanese cinema and art, as well as a sequence he conceived in his mind about a pack of sad dogs stranded on an island garbage-dump.
With the two ideas, the movie is set in a near-future Japanese city, in which the cat-loving mayor banishes all the dogs to Trash Island. But the mayor’s 12-year-old nephew embarks on a rescue mission to retrieve his dog Spots, his best friend and loyal guardian, which leads to a mass escape by the island’s canine “prisoners”.
“For us, the movie is like a dream that we want to illustrate. Sometimes I think it’s very personal, as the boy is fighting for things that I would believe in,” says the 49-year-old auteur.
All the dogs speak in English and the human characters speak in Japanese. Most of the human dialogue is deliberately not translated, as Anderson wanted the audience to concentrate more on the visual language of the film rather than focus on the subtitles.
“The movie is told from the perspective of dogs. Their barks are translated into different languages when the film is released in different countries. The dogs don’t really understand human language. That’s sort of a way to separate them too,” explains Anderson.
In China, the Mandarin version sees actor Zhu Yawen and actress Song Jia cast as the voices of the two major canine roles, while the Japanese dialogue remains untranslated.
Speaking about the inspiration drawn from Japanese cinema, Anderson gives the names of the legendary Akira Kurosawa, and Hayao Miyazaki, known for a string of highest-grossing anime movies in Japan like Spirited Away (2001). He also cites the influence of Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and Utagawa Hiroshige (17971858), two Japanese ukiyo-e artists, which Anderson has absorbed into the movie.
“When we are talking about Miyazaki, it’s always about how nature is portrayed and the theme of protecting nature is always a part of his movies. Even though our set (in Isle of Dogs) is a garbage island, it’s still related to nature,” says Anderson of the symbolism.
“We were also influenced both by what we read in the history books and what were on the front pages of the newspapers when we were writing the story,” he adds.
Since the movie was shot using stop-motion, the Isle of Dogs crew reportedly had to make around 2,200 puppets and 250 handcrafted miniature sets for the production.
“We didn’t know how big it would be. It surprised us,” recalls Anderson.
“With a movie like that, you have to create everything, from the trees to the architecture,” he says.
“Stop-motion is entirely in-camera tricks that create an illusion. I’ve always found it very appealing and I love miniatures. Even though the characters’ faces are very small, they are very well painted,” says the director about his fascination with the technique dating to 1897.
A favorite at international festivals, the six-time Oscarnominated Anderson recently won a Silver Bear for best director at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival for Isle of Dogs.
The movie was selected as the opening film for the Berlin event, becoming the first ever animation to open the long-established film gala.
Speaking about his future plans, Anderson says it takes a long time to direct an animated film.
“I will take a break. I think I will make at least another two live-action movies before I do a new animated film. It is a very involving process,” he says.
“And I also wonder what will be the next animal (to be the new protagonist),” says the director, wearing a gentle smile.