This Latvian silent animated fill length feature was animated using the computer program Maya by one person over 4 years. I only heard of it because I saw a trailer for his new film “Flow" another silent feature about a cat whose survives after an unexplained disaster has destroyed human civilization. This film is on the festival circuit at the moment and I am looking to seeing it. It was made in the free program Blender. The trailer intriguing enough for me to research anything else he hade made and I discovered "Away".
The film follows a boy who parachutes to mysterious land from a crashing plane, where he finds a motorbike and an injured bird. With these, he sets off to reach an initially unknown goal, pursued by a shadowy giant monster, which drains life from every living being that crosses its path. The film is divided into different chapters, each individually named. The backgrounds have a Studio Ghibli feel in atmosphere but are more simple. The path the boy takes reminds me of the game Myst in many mays, its a mysterious land with a path leading him from the start to the end of the film. The character looks very simple, you can usually only make out his eyes and nose, the monster is partially transparent with glowing white eyes. The music is moody and the pace is fairly slow but maybe measured is a better description.
NO spoilers as this film is not new but I can guess that even anyone reading this 2 decades from now won't have heard of it and there isn't much to spoil except to say there is a lot of ambiguity going on throughout that pulls the viewer through the film. It's always intriguing over frustrating and, like the game Myst. offers puzzles to solve but in this case you have to make your own answers.
I always liked 'Myst.' I remember sitting there for hours playing it on a friend's computer as I didn't have a color Mac at the time. Might have to look into this movie. Thanks!
ReplyDelete