The Singaporean entry for this year's Cartoons Underground International Competition does not fail to please with Zhuang brothers' Annecy-premiere entry, “Ju Ren (Giant).” On the onset, the Zhuang Brothers seem to pose as an Eastern alternative to the London-based Brothers Quay; the two after all are twins, and further experiment with stop motion. The similarities may well stop there, however: instead of dressing their work in the undead uncanny, the two experiment with liveliness.
“Ju Ren 巨人” is Screening at Cartoons Underground
“Ju Ren” follows Tan Swie Hian's 1968 poem and takes the living poet-artist's directions into consideration. Made exclusively of paper cutouts, “Ju Ren” follows the journey of a fish out of water. The film poetically interweaves this newsprint microcosm between the fish protagonist's point of view and the world in which it swims, playing with shifting points-of-view in this poignantly eco-friendly universe. The lines between water and air blur as everything comes to motion.
“Ju Ren” is a technically notable feat, intriguing for the Zhuang Brothers' keen attention to finer detail. The fish's heavy breathing, the creative interpretation of water (always a struggle in stop-motion animation), and the construction of a debris-based set is awe-worthy. The flexibility with newsprint too speaks to the attention to Tan Swie Hian's own artistic supervision, as well. All in all, “Ju Ren” is a new materialist fantasy come true: it breathes life into a form previously unimagined. It certainly makes giants out of the low.
