Atama-yama

This animated short from Japan is bizare. It is a fable I suppose about a guy who eats too many cherries so a cherry tree grows out of his head and then a bunch of people have picnics on his head. Yea, it makes no sense and features a anoyingly bombastic Japanese voice over that will enrage you more than it is entertaining. The animation is intentionaly crude but this one was somewhat hard to swallow. GRADE: B

This short, done with rough hand-drawn animation and with sung and spoken narration (a musical form of entertainment, the Japanese equivalent of the Western minstrel/bard), tells the story of an old man so parsimonious that he couldn't bear throwing away the pits from some old, discarded cherries, which he ate rather than discard. What follows is true, quite poetic, justice. As the old saying goes, true justice is something most of us would actually be happier without. An Academy Award nominee for Animated Short in a very good year. It bears repeated viewing and is an excellent piece of work. Hopefully, it will see print sometime soon, as it deserves a wider audience. It is part of Shorts Program 115 on the Sundance Channel as well as part of the program for the first year of The Animation Show, still showing in some locations. Give it a look-well worth seeing. Most highly recommended.

Atama-yama (2003)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Japanese film received an Oscar-nomination for Best Animated Short and in my opinion it should have won. We meet an elderly miser who is so cheap that he prefers to fill up his house with various garbage he can get for free in the streets. One day he picks up a bunch of cherries and decides to eat the pits since he doesn't want to get rid of something free. Soon a tree begins to grow from the top of his head. The idea of a tree growing from someone's head is silly but this film is so incredibly smart and well-drawn that you'll overlook that minor plot detail. I was really surprised at how effective this film was and the majority of the credit has to go to director Yamamura who really adds some great stuff. Having the start of the film being shown from the point-of-view of the man was a great touch as was one of the final scenes in the film where we see the same image just repeating itself to great effect. It should go without saying that this short is 100% Japanese with its look and style. It's doubtful American kids would know what to make of the images here but some of them are very dark and moody, which will sit a lot better with adults.

This should have gotten the Oscar. It was dreamy, meditative, and surreal. I absolutely loved it. The narration was sort of chanted or sung, like it was in imitation of some Japanese traditional performance that I (in my cultural myopia) wasn't familiar with. But I got very caught up in it. See it in a theater if you can--it works great if you feel surrounded by it. Funny, weird stuff.

I just discovered this animation artist from Japan, Koji Yamamura, from Amid on Cartoon Brew. One of Yamamura's animated shorts showcased there was this one as linked from YouTube, Atama-yama (Mt. Head), that was nominated for the Oscar as Best Animated Short for 2002. It tells how a man who chews cherry pits keeps having some leaves grow on top of his bald head that he frequently cuts off and saves in a jar. After a while, he lets the leaves grow into a tree but then people start hanging around on his head so he tears the tree off leaving a hole with water. As all this happens, a narrator tells what goes on in various pitches. This was such an interestingly weird short that I may watch it again to catch up on all the images. Yamamura is truly an artist among his country's animators. Uniquely funny especially with the way it all ended. So on that note, I highly recommend Atama-yama.