Irish animation wows Chinese audiences
Filmmaker brings legends to the screen through fabulous drawing, and Chinese audiences are mightily impressed, Xu Fan reports.
The animated feature Wolfwalkers, the fifth film produced by the Irish studio Cartoon Saloon that has gained an Oscar nomination, has wowed Chinese audiences with its bold imagination and exquisite hand-drawn paintings.
The film, which opened in domestic theaters on July 3, has met widespread critical acclaim, exemplified by obtaining 7.8 points out of 10 on the popular review aggregator Douban.
The new movie is a fantasy set in 17th-century Ireland. It is the final of director Tomm Moore’s Irish folklore trilogy — the first was The Secret of Kells in 2009, and the second Song of the Sea in 2014.
Robyn Goodfellowe, the young daughter of a wolf hunter, travels with her father to Kilkenny, a city in the country’s southeast as England is conquering Ireland. Under the command of England’s Lord Protector, the city starts hunting down wolves, but things go awry when Robyn encounters a red-haired girl named Mebh who can transform into a wolf when she falls asleep.
Moore, who co-directs alongside his childhood friend Ross Stewart, says the film is inspired by local legends in Kilkenny, in which he grew up and where Cartoon Saloon studio is located.
“It was really exciting for us to remember these old stories that had almost died out, and it was also really nice for our international team of artists to rediscover the town where they live and work,” says Moore, 44.
After about 80 animators gathered, Moore says they reviewed Irish history in the 1650s when the powerful English statesman Oliver Cromwell tried to bring Ireland under control in what was reckoned to be one of the most aggressive phases of tensions between England and Ireland that spanned 800 years.
“He (Cromwell) saw the country as wild, and he wanted to bring it under control to prove to the other people in England that he was a powerful leader,” Moore says. “So he was quite ruthless with the local people (in Ireland), and also cut down a lot of the forests.
“He eliminated wolves from Ireland at this time. The extinction of the species really made a big impact on Irish people because we lost a connection that we had with the woods and the land. It was a very aggressive time in Irish history.”
Despite taking place in the darkest of times, the film unfolds through a poetic perspective to showcase the lush woods of Ireland, accompanied by some lighthearted moments.
Another highlight of the film is the two heroines, Robyn personifying a civilized life restrained by secular doctrine, and Mebh, a wild spirit yearning for freedom.
“One of the most important things to say about Mebh is that she’s very influenced and inspired by the voice actor Eva Whittaker, who did her voice in English,” Moore says. “She brought a lot of her personality to it.”
In the film, Cromwell, based on the eponymous real historical figure, orders wolves eradicated because he wants to convert the woods into farmland. “There is a modern parallel,” Moore says, sensing that modern audiences will relate to a story that looks at the relationship between humankind and nature.
“When we were coming up with the idea and talking about the destruction of the forests, we didn’t imagine that during the production we would see Australia on fire, California on fire and Brazil destroying the rainforests. I think this is going to affect all of us. Even the film story is something that happened in Ireland a long time ago. We hope it won’t be too late before other parts of the world can save their forests.”
Moore is hailed by some foreign critics as the best animator working with hand-drawn animation after the Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki. Taking this as a “flattering and lovely compliment”, Moore says Miyazaki as well as classic Disney movies and some eastern European animators have influenced his art creation.
He sees hand-drawn paintings as a craftsmanship that is timeless.
“It's a very special way to tell a story like this. It (hand-drawn animation) makes it feel more ageless. It’s an old-fashioned technique, but we have tried to keep pushing it into the 21st century by re-imagining it and reinventing it.”
Because of the pandemic, Moore was unable to attend the Beijing premiere of the film this month, but he talks enthusiastically of a trip he made to Shanghai earlier, when a Chinese producer suggested that he tattoo the ancient Chinese characters representing inner freedom on one of his legs.
“We had great Chinese partners on this movie who helped fund the project and really supported us. I would really like to come back and work with them again, and see China in a little bit more detail.”
Citing some of the Chinese animated films that impress him most, such as Big Fish and Begonia (2016) and Over the Moon (2020), Moore says the high quality was striking.
He wants to continue to work with Chinese partners, and he says they are now working on a movie based on the Irish Children’s TV series Puffin Rock. The movie will add a new character, a golden bird called Phoenix, designed to give it a Chinese connection.
For Moore, the key to producing a successful animated film is teamwork.
“There’s still so much to explore, and it’s just a pleasant way to make a movie spending your day drawing.”