wisozk.royce - 2013-07-01 06:21:20

Today, we go on a 33-minute trip to an exhibition, a trip organised by Osamu Tezuka, and accompanying an orchestra that'll play a score based on a suite by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky called "Pictures at an Exhibition", which is where the title of our trip came from. In our trip, we'll take a look at some pictures, pictures of major characters of modern society, such as a journalist, a plastic surgeon, a fashion-obsessed woman, and 6 others, to reach the number of the movements in the musical "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky. However, it's not gonna be just another boring trip where a bald man speaks and speaks endlessly, because this time, the pictures will speak for themselves, without any words.Osamu Tezuka, who is known as "The Father/God of Manga" and "The Godfather of Anime", was known for his imaginative stories (and the big eyes you see in almost every single anime nowadays), and this "experimental" movie is no different. That said, the animation is different, yet nothing that great compared to today's standards, but the imaginary and the symbolism and how the story is told through the animation is what makes this movie special, and way better than some anime that depend on nonsense heavy dialogues to appeal to the viewers, and fan-service sometimes too. However, for a movie without dialogue, the sound plays a big role in telling the story next to the animation, and the rearranged version of Mussorgsky's musical suite did a great job in that department. Each story of the movie had a suitable soundtrack that set the overall mood of that part and perfectly conveyed the emotions of the characters, all that while having the 60s feel to them.The movie consists of 10 stories, each story, except the last one, takes a realistic approach on the life of a character of modern society; it can focus on the bad side, on the good side, or just focus on it generally, with some humor added to them, and replacing the humans with animals in some stories.Overall, the movie was really enjoyable, and different from what you get nowadays. And as I described it in the first 2 paragraphs, it's a trip, that's what it felt like: The movie starts with the camera-man going into the exhibition and focusing on each picture, then the story of that character is told. Once the first story ends, you feel intrigued to see what the next story has to offer. I'd recommend this movie for those who wants to get a break from all the recycled anime that's being released each season, and go back to watch some short classics and see how old anime was like in its primitive state before changing to the anime we know nowadays.