Finally -- a Blu-ray/DVD release of Hayao Miyazaki's 2014 Oscar nominee for animation, THE WIND RISES

What a bizarre (but somehow blessed) subject for an animated movie: the story of Jiro Horikoshi, the Japanese aircraft designer whose work, though he did not believe in the Japanese war effort, resulted in the production of massive fleet of airplanes used against the allies during World War II. From the little I know of Horikoshi's life, the resulting movie -- THE WIND RISES by Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) -- though greatly fictionalized becomes in the hands of Miyazaki a beautiful meditation on everything from flying and dreaming to love, trust, friendship, creativity and (perhaps to a lesser degree) responsibility.

The result is an animated film, old-fashioned but still eye-poppingly gorgeous, that seems -- despite its tale of childhood love lost and found -- surprisingly adult, the work of a mature artist (the filmmaker is shown at left) wrestling with difficult themes and finding a way to make them meaningful, resonant and moving.

The time and place in Japan in the 1920s, which makes a nice change from much other animation we've seen, and the pre-WWII background, including an Italian inventor, young Horikoshi, and the German military adds a certain irony to the proceedings, especially for those of us from the Allied side.

"Inspiration unlocks the future; technology eventually catches up," the movie's Italian inventor (above left) tells Horikoshi (above, right) -- an idea of which I'm sure Tesla would approve, and the film spends a surprising amount of time on the details of the technology of flight. And then, in its second half, it becomes a love story that begins in humor and delicacy then morphs into something extraordinarily poignant and sad.

This change is not jarring, however, because the whole enterprise in infused with Miyazaki's rich sense of beauty, mysticism and the natural world. He uses dreams to help forge a new reality and, as usual, his movie is both thoughtful and humane.

Along the way we get everything from a major earthquake to a windswept parasol, and the movie ends all too appropriately in an airplane graveyard and on a note of mysticism and sadness, leavened with as much hope as can be gleaned from a situation this fraught and wasteful. And yet how much beauty and invention Miyazaki has been able to offer us!

From Shout! Factory and running a long but never boring 126 minutes, The Wind Rises is available now for digital download, and will hit the street on Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, September 22 -- for purchase and/or rental.

Art, deliciously animated, in Milorad Krstic's delightful RUBEN BRANDT, COLLECTOR

What a treat for art aficionados is the new movie from Hungarian animator Milorad Krstic! With animation that nods to a plethora of art "greats" (or supposed greats: Warhol's Double Elvis figures into things here), RUBEN BRANDT, COLLECTOR offers up everything from Velásquez to Botticelli, Caravaggio to Renoir, and all looking like they were somehow re-conceived by a certain guy named Picasso.

Animated by Mr. Krstic (shown at left) with the kind of super style you might call cubism squared (or is it squarism cubed?), I can't immediately think of any other animated movie in which I've enjoyed the actual animation more than this one (it makes this year's Oscar winner, Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse look every bit as paltry as it truly is). Downright gorgeous, and just as amusing and fun, this 94-minute movie is an absolute knockout.

And if the movie's content doesn't quite live up to its style, when that style is so far above all else that it's off the chart, are we going to complain?

The story here takes in everything from family, parenting and parentage to art, art theft and performance art and handles it all with sublime wit, charm, subtlety and speed.

And for those who demand action, car chases and even murder, hey -- they're here, too. Along with Haydn and Mozart.

TrustMovies was having so much fun watching this film that he had to give up taking his usual notes and simply stay glued to the screen, for fear of missing something else that was special.

If you know and love fine art -- both the older and newer varieties -- I can't imagine your not heading straight out for the theater nearest you. If you're not an art fan, then at least half the film will be lost on you, but what's left, animation-wise, might still be enough to ring your bell. (Mine rang so often and loudly I'm surprised I haven't gone deaf.) In addition to the many art references, there are plenty of nods to movies and other touchstones of culture, as well.

The film has two protagonists, one a crack psychologist suffering from terrible nightmares who is soon to become an art thief, the other an ace detective with a missing-father issue. Supporting characters include a group of thieves who happen to be patients of our psychologist/thief (he's teaching them how art can save their sanity and life).

That's all you need to know. Now find a theater near you, sit back and let you eyes widen and your mouth drop open. From Sony Pictures Classics, Ruben Brandt, Collector opened on our uber-cultural coasts a couple of weeks back and will hit South Florida (in Fort Lauderdale at The Classic Gateway, and in Boca Raton at the Living Room Theaters and Regal Shadowood) and elsewhere across the country this Friday, March 8. Wherever you live, simply click here and then click on View Theaters at the bottom of the screen to find those nearest you.

The Ron Diamond-curated 20TH ANNUAL ANIMATION SHOWS OF SHOWS hits theaters

Based upon the fifteen animated shorts seen in this year's (the 20th) rendition of the annual ANIMATION SHOW OF SHOWS, the past 12 months or so (since last year's version made its debut) have perhaps not been the most creative or spectacular for the animation industry, particularly when compared to the general excellence of last year's batch.

Not that there is much wrong with this 20th edition: As curated by Ron Diamond, the films -- 15 of 'em which range in length from one minute to 16 -- are enjoyable, sometimes funny, often charming, and even now and then dark and/or moving, and only occasionally shrug-worthy. Too often, though, too many of them rely on the tried, the true and the sentimental. Here, below, is a brief critical description of each film, from the first on the program to the last.

French and running seven minutes, THE GREEN BIRD offers up an oddly humanistic green fowl that tries to protect its lone little egg -- with colorful and amusing results. It may bring to mind those old Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons. But classier.

From the USA and running eight minutes, ONE SMALL STEP tracks a young girl and her helpful dad (or is it grandad?) as she tries to become an astronaut. Full of hope, joy, disappointment, anger and grief, it's pretty but also fairly standard stuff.

TrustMovies once had a friend and co-worker who told him of the epiphany she had when she realized one day that every single thing ever manufactured first had to have been designed. This came to mind while viewing the French short GRANDS CANONS that begins with the drawing of a pencil and then quickly moves on to just about every useful object you can imagine. Driven along by a jazzy and propulsive musical score, this is one of the more creative and unusual of this year's offerings.

In BARRY (from the USA), the theme of everyone's favorite pig movie, Babe, has been distilled down to four minutes of cute and relatively simple animation that goes by so fast it may barely register as more than a blip.

Faster still is SUPER GIRL (also from the USA), a one-minute-long endeavor about a child's hope and dream that is here and then gone before you even know quite what to make of it.

Germany is represented by one of the more unusual of the shorts -- LOVE ME, FEAR ME (seven minutes) -- using some marvelous claymation (in which the clay seems still moist and ever evolving) and some well choreographed dance, first by a man, then a woman, a warrior and a bird. The animation here is not simply interesting; it's alternately sexual, creepy, and very creative.

What the hell is BUSINESS MEETING (from Brazil and running 2 minutes) even about? Maybe the nonsense of Capitalism? The power/ridiculousness of words? Copycatting?  Your guess is as good as mine. This one also features the simplest black-and-white line drawings of all the shorts.

The Netherlands' example, FLOWER FOUND!, offers some very cute animation in which a mouse teams up with a bird, rabbit, pig, stag and owl (and maybe more) to find a missing flower. Moving from cute quest to horrific mistaken identity, this bit of brightly colored animation turns out to be exceedingly dark.

In BULLETS (from the USA and running maybe 90 seconds), a child's voice over some beautifully colored and conceived animation tells us, "Relax, world!" and commands our attention with a message that's short, sweet/sad and quite timely.

Argentina's A TABLE GAME proves another head-scratcher. It may (or may not) be about the idiocy of sports of all kinds, as viewed by the world's population today, and how we give these way too much attention and importance.

Difference and "the other" get a good and very unusual working out in one of the stronger shorts, CARLOTTA'S FACE (Germany, five minutes). How do you manage when you cannot differentiate faces? You'll find out in this fascinating and often darkly beautiful tale.

At twelve minutes, AGE OF SAIL (USA) is the second lengthiest on the current program. It's a kind of ode to a drunken sailor as he ages and sees his life and work upended and replaced. When he rescues an overboard damsel, everything changes. This one is nicely animated and has a strong narrative pull.

The five-minute-long POLARIS (USA) offers polars bears and penguins and involves a young polar bear who has decided to set off on his own and leave family behind. Pretty animation, sure, and sweetly saccharine as all get out.

MY MOON (USA, 9 minutes) gives us some of the more impressionistic animation of this go-round, as it takes us on a romantic tour of our current world and a way maybe around and/or through it via imagination and fantasy. The widescreen anime is different and often quite lovely but finally perhaps a little too sentimental to soar.

The final (and longest: 16 minutes) selection, WEEKENDS, is also the best of the bunch. Set to Erik Satie's music, a mom bids good-bye to her son, as he leaves in the car with his dad. Clearly, the parents are separated or divorced, and the boy is negotiating his way, via reality, fantasy and dreams, through this difficult passage, as first mom, and then dad, gets a new lover. The usual male activities -- violent games and bad eating habits -- are set against mom's more solicitous leanings, and the animation is beautifully conceived and executed to bring all this to alternately jarring, sad and hopeful life. This one manages to avoid the usual sentimental cliches and is all the stronger for it.

With eight out of the 15 shorts coming from the USA, one wonders why more from abroad were not included. Surely, worldwide, there were some better examples than are seen here via a few of the more ordinary American submissions? Nonetheless, this year's compilation is certainly worth viewing, some of them more than once.

The 20th Annual Animation Show of Shows will open in Los Angeles this Thursday, December 13, at Laemmle's Monica Film Center and then at Laemmle's new Glendale on Friday, December 14, and simultaneously in Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center. New York City will see it open at the Quad Cinema on Friday,December 28. To view all current and upcoming playdaytes, cities and theaters, simply click here and scroll down. 

Catching up with Nick Park's claymation soccer-themed delight, EARLY MAN

TrustMovies spent the past few days with his daughter, son-in-law and grandkids in the Atlanta area (specifically the uber-charming little town of Decatur, Georgia), during which grandsons Ronin and Walker suggested watching EARLY MAN, the animated movie directed by the claymation maven, Nick Park (of Wallace & Gromit fame, Chicken Run, and a bunch more).

The movie, as expected given Park's oeuvre, was great fun-- and probably as much for adults as for the kids. I suspect, however, that it proved more successful in Europe and elsewhere internationally than here in the USA because its subject is soccer (or futbol, as it is known around the globe), while the manner in which this game was originally invented and played is brought to goofy and delightful life by Park (shown below) and his writers, Mark Burton and James Higginson.

Early Man posits a properly dumb but very diverse caveman tribe, pushed by their youngest but most forward-thinking member (shown at  bottom, with his pet cave-pig) to hunt for something "meatier" than mere rabbit, when rather suddenly their quiet life (for cavemen, anyway) is upended by marauders from a more "civilized" (read empire-driven) society.

Somehow, this turns into an all-or-nothing soccer match, which, against great odds, our little tribe must win.

Don't expect much in the way of originality in how the plot progresses, but so much of what we see and hear is so much fun that I doubt this will matter.

The film is so full of lunatic moments (my favorite occurs at the left-hand bottom of the screen, as a roach dons a pair of sunglasses while a nuclear moment erupts) that you will probably find yourself alternately chuckling and laughing aloud.

The voices assembled for this little lark includes a bevy of talented and well-known actors (check out the full cast here), and no one disappoints in the least. That voice-master Rob Brydon may be the most fun, playing several roles, including the messenger bird, above.

And, yes, there's a love story of sorts, as well as a major nod to feminism, a good 'n greedy villain, a nifty gladiatorial Colosseum set, an exciting chase or two, and tons of humor in a wide variety.

Available now on DVD and streaming (we viewed it via Comcast/Xfinity's Free Movies for Kids category), Early Man is well worth a watch for children and adults -- especially, of course, fans of futbol/soccer.

Iran confidential! Ali Soozandeh's animated TEHRAN TABOO serves up his birth country's hypocrisy on a rotoscope platter

Whew -- better prepare yourself for things you will not have seen in any Asghar Farhadi film.

The new TEHRAN TABOO, combining gorgeously colored rotoscope animation with the sleaziest of subject matter, begins with a woman giving a cab driver a blow-job while her young son chews gum in the back seat. When the cab driver, mid-b/j, suddenly sees his daughter holding hands with her boyfriend as the young couple walks down the street, he throws a fit. And mom stops sucking just long enough to tell him what a hypocritical asshole he is. Yes, this certainly leaves Disney in the dust -- along with even Ralph Bakshi.

From oral-sex-while-driving, we proceed to the likes of a black-market operation to restore a woman's virginity, a judge of the Islamic Revolutionary Court who sets up that prostitute and her son in a very nice apartment, a loan officer in a bank who makes shady deals, a kind of Dubai sex trade offering Iranian virgins, abortions, whoring and lots more (or less, depending on your viewpoint).

The director and writer here, making his U.S. theatrical debut with this film, is Ali Soozandeh, shown at right, and -- if he lives through the death threats sure to arise in Arab countries because of the content of his film -- I would think that we'll be hearing from him again very soon.

It will come as little surprise that Mr. Soozandeh has been living in exile in Germany since he was 25 (he turns 48 this year), and though it has taken him awhile to give us this unusual film, TrustMovies would say it has been worth the wait. Although it may seen initially that the filmmaker is "piling it on a bit thick," it soon becomes clear that it is the stupid, nasty and beyond-the-pale hypocrisy of the Islamic state and its irredeemable patriarchy, especially where matters sexual are concerned, that Soozandeh has pilloried so very well.

All these events going on are connected through the handful of characters we meet and grow to understand if not love -- from the mute son of that prostitute (above, center) and the rather sweet young man (below, left) who (on ectasy) has taken the virginity of a girl he's only just met...

...to that bank officer and his wife, mother and diabetic dad, all of whom begin acting as baby-sitters to the young boy (his mom has told them she works night at a local hospital) and even the sleazy judge himself (below, left), who handle divorces in his own inimitable manner.

As complicated, awful and perverse as life gets for these people, instead of blaming the individual, you will probably come to feel the strongest revulsion for the social/cultural/political set-up that has spawned the lives they lead.

As connections are made and the plot keeps unfurling into greater and more terrible circumstances,  most of what we've come to think we know and believe about these people is called into question. And if the black cat and its litter of kitten may initially strike you are a little too sentimental, wait a bit. Everything comes homes to roost here.

Watching this film and then thinking back to the more veiled and subtle work of that fine filmmaker Farhadi, you can better understand why so much of what he gives us must be tamped down to pass the censors. For something more "unvarnished," take a look at Tehran Taboo and be grateful that, for now at least (until the election cycle, perhaps), we here in the USA must only put up with those idiotic and venal Republicans and their unstable moron of a leader, Donald Trump.

From Kino Lorber, in Persian with English subtitles, and running 96 minutes, this unusual piece of animation has its U.S. theatrical premiere this coming Wednesday, February 14 (yes, it's a Valentine's Day delight), at New York City 's Film Forum before hitting another dozen or more cities around the country. To see all currently scheduled playdates and venues, click here and then scroll down.

Dreams, machines and family fuel Kamiyama Kenji's animated delight, NAPPING PRINCESS

If the new animated movie from Japan entitled NAPPING PRINCESS seems initially a little too childlike and "adorable" to merit your full attention, hold on for just a bit. If you do, you'll soon find yourself involved in a tale of alternate universes -- one a kind of dream world, the other a reality that is heavily linked to the dream. Initially, I wondered why they hadn't entitled this one, Dreaming Princess, but after viewing this really quite good children's film, I realize that the word "napping" is a lot more fun, reflective, too, of the main character's energy and smarts.

As written and directed by Kamiyama Kenji, shown at left, the story here is actually rather complicated (I wouldn't be surprised if some older children may have to pause the Blu-ray or DVD along the way and explain certain things to their younger siblings), involving family history, an automotive dynasty, stolen technology for self-driving cars, and lots more.

All of which gives this animated charmer additional freight, weight and wonder. Napping Princess is by turns sweet, thrilling, funny, moving and consistently one hell of a visual treat.

I wish that the stills shown below were of better quality because they simply do not do justice to what will be up there on your screen (via the Blu-ray version, at least). The colors are spectacular and the animation quite delightful. You'll particularly notice early on the film, I think, the breakfast that our heroine, Kokone, sets in front of her dad because you'll want to grab a fork and dig right in.

The landscapes, based on the actual Japanese locations, are also lovely, while the tale told here -- of an automobile dynasty and the struggle for its control -- will seem both specifically Japanese and simultaneously indicative of so much our Capitalist world today.

Technology -- not only auto-making but smart phones, tablets, and the like --  come into play, as do cute little teddy bears, all of which makes the movie oddly enjoyable on several levels. Mr. Kamiyama's achievement lies in how he manages to bring all this together in so relatively seamless a fashion.

By the end you may find yourself surprisingly moved by the unfolding story of a shattered family and how it is reunited -- well, somewhat, at least. All the leading characters are brought to life quite well visually and aurally, and as the story gains momentum, you'll enjoy everything from plot twists and car/motor-bike chases to fights between monsters and robots (think Pacific Rim but a lot shorter and more fun) plus some inter-generational trauma and drama.

Whatever you do, don't miss the sublime visuals that accompany the end credits. These give you, in a lovely animated version of archival footage, the family's backstory in a series of sweet, incisive snippets: a most charming end to a very surprising movie.

From Shout! Factory and GKIDS and running a lengthy but never boring 112 minutes, and available in both the original Japanese version with English subtitles, and the English-language dubbed version (for younger children), the excellent two-disc set containing both Blu-ray and DVD, with a host of special features included (the 15-minute interview the writer/director Kamiyama is definitely worth seeing), the package hits the street tomorrow, Tuesday, January 30.