Search - The Naoyuki Tsuji Animation Collection on DVD

Serious Problems in this DVD

Tomoyuki Suzuki | Tokyo, Japan | 10/06/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I am the licensor for this DVD in the North American market.

This DVD was released in July 24th, 2007 by Facets Multi-Media (1517 W. Fullerton Ave. Chicago IL 60614 U.S.A [...]).

During the DVD making process, neither the artist nor the video licensor had any chance to check the contents. They both finally checked the contents in February 2009 and found the following problems in the DVD package:

1. An omnibus movie consisting of three shot films titled TRILOGY ABOUT CLOUDS was not contained with appropriate sound - the sound track from other piece was recorded there.

2. FROM THE CLOUD, an episode of omnibus TRILOGY ABOUT CLOUDS was contained (with a wrong sound) but the credit for the episode was not recorded at all.

3. A short film titled EXPERIMENT was not contained at all.

4. There were some errors in the titles on the menu.

5. The jacket did not show the correct credit.

The most serious problem is TRILOGY ABOUT CLOUDS, which was officially selected in Directors' Fortnight in Cannes Film Festival 2005, was not recorded in its original form - the picture comes with a totally different music.

Since March 2009, the artist and the licensor have requested Facets Multi-Media to stop selling the DVD and to re-produce the package completely. However, Facets Multi-Media has never responded them and done nothing. Unfortunately, the DVD package is still on the market.

For the reason above, the artist and th licensor consider that Facets Multi-Media's DVD titled NAOYUKI TSUJI ANIMATION COLLECTION is 100% illegal copy. Now, this DVD is not Naoyuki Tsuji's work."

Excellent collection from a true original

D. Delvecchio | 07/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This collection was a real revelation. Absolutely brilliant animation from a young master. His films are like little tone poems that reverberate with life and haunt the viewer long after they have ended.
Very mysterious, dreamlike, simple, yet elegant. Tsuji's technique( black lines drawn on paper in charcoal or pastel erased and re-drawn etc .)is strikingly original and totally effective. These films have a moody quality to them that is at once eerie and filled with child-like wonder.
The music is very abstract and compliments the animation beautifully.
Experimental, humanistic, never pretentious, Tsuji is truly unique in world animation. I believe this collection will stun people and should serve to make Tsuji more well known here in the west.
"

Magical and mysterious

wiredweird | Earth, or somewhere nearby | 07/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This disc has divisions within divisions. At the top level, the first three pieces use similar technique, hand drawn cel-style animation, apparently in charcoal on a heavy, textured paper. The distinctive feature of this animation style is that each 'cel' is redrawn on the same sheet at the one before, erasing and redrawing what changes at each frame. But, since erasure isn't perfect, traces of previous images remain, distantly like Marcel DuChamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase," or like moving figures leaving footprints on a wave-wiped beach. Although simplistic in drawing style, the visible memory of what's gone before adds temporal depth to the action displayed. Then there are the actions and actors themselves: clouds, angels, demons, lovers, and characters from Tsuji's vivid personal mythology. Anyone but Tsuji will watch as if from a distance, seeing the drama unfold but without quite seeing why it unfolds as it does.

Although Tsuji's drawings are described as childlike, it is clear that a complex and adult mind creates the sequences - including scenes with imagery that conspicuously draws on loving but intimate relations between grownups. I found it charming, but others will experience it differently.

As in the first set, one of the pieces in the disc's last set has its own inner divisions. In these, however, Tsuji uses stop-animation with puppets. Although the Brother Quay first come to mind in these `toons, Dali and other influences appear as well. The second of these two adds cel animation to the puppets, creating constrasting layers of worlds.

If you enjoy animation that really explores the medium, you'll love this. These five pieces (or more, if you count divisions within some pieces) will please and baffle, and will continue to reward repeated viewings.

-- wiredweird"