Tag: HAR: Animal Agency
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Nope. Dir. Jordan Peele. Universal Pictures. 2022
Jordan Peele’s latest film nope follows siblings OJ and Emerald Haywood in the aftermath of their father’s unexpected death. The siblings ‘We ain’t got no more problems’ is the foreboding line said by Otis Haywood moments before his untimely death and the supernatural haunting begins on the Haywood family ranch. Jordan Peele’s latest film Nope…
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The Banshees of Inisherin. Dir. Martin McDonagh. Searchlight Pictures. 2015
“Do you think God gives a damn about miniature donkeys, Colm?” “I fear he doesn’t. And I fear that’s where it’s all gone wrong.” Martin McDonagh’s, “The Banshees of Inisherin” (2022), is a Tolstoyan tragicomedy combined with macabre naturalism which works to present the asperity and invaluableness of life and friendship. One significant friendship occurs between…
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Paddington Bear. Dir. Paul King. S. 2014
Paddington, directed by Paul King, captures the life of an orphaned bear who travels from Peru to London sponsored by his Aunt Lucy to seek a better life the mythic aspirations of most immigrants. As a young bear club Paddington is presented as a wilful, yet kind hearted character who exhibits dignity despite being faced…
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The Little Prince. Dir. Mark Osborne. Paramount Pictures. 2015
“One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” In The Little Prince the depiction of foxes defies conventional animality as they generally symbolise perfidy. But The Fox here is characterised as holding pragmatic intellectual power. He is a teacher but does not hold any other forms of power,…
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The Future. Dir. Miranda July. Roadside Attractions (US). 2011
The title of the film, The Future, is emblematic of the very thing the characters fear, what is the unknown. July certainly lets the cat out of the bag as she reveals her inner monologue through the narration of an anthropomorphic feline. The cat plays a central role in the drama, as it begins with…
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Kedi. Dir. Ceyda Torun Oscilloscope Laboratories (2016)
Have you ever wondered what the everyday life of a street cat looks like? ‘Kedi’ is an observational documentary film that follows the stray cats of Istanbul through their daily life, soundtracked by interviews of real-life people that become our narrators and storytellers for the history of these cats. The documentary goes beyond the stereotypical…
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An American Tail. Dir. Don Bluth. Universal Pictures.1986
An American Tail tracks the adventures of Fievel Mousekewitz a brave (and reckless) little mouse, his Russian-Jewish family, and their treacherous journey from Russia to New York in the search for the American Dream that will put some distance between them and cats… or so they thought. The film tells a story within a story,…
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Mr Popper’s Penguins. Dir. Mark Waters. 20th Century Fox. 2011.
Jim Carrey and Penguins. It does not get any better. Think Beethoven but with Penguins. Try to spot the difference between the CGI penguins and the real ones. Grab the popcorn. As you can surmise from the title, the film details Mr Popper who is played by Jim Carrey and his hijinks with the penguin…
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Kubo and the Two Strings. Dir. Travis Knight. Laika. 2016
Figure 1: Kubo lifted in the air by wings made of origami birds. Kubo and the Two Strings follows a boy whose life is made even more extraordinary when a perilous adventure, which his mother has tried to save him from, accidentally finds him. Kubo can tell stories using the magical music of his shamisen…
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Hoodwinked!. Dir. Edwards, Cory. Kanbar Entertainment, Blue Yonder Films. 2005.
A retelling of the folktake Little Red Riding Hood as a police procedural, using backstories to show multiple characters’ points of view.[1] Hoodwinked! follows the classic who dunnit trope, deconstructing the fable of Little Red Riding Hood with a modern twist to narrate the mystery of the Goody bandit. It entertains basic animal stereotypes to translate the…