Chinese animation seems to be taking leaps forward during the latest years, and this year's NYAFF has a number of shorts highlighting the fact in the most eloquent fashion. “The Kidnapping” is definitely one of those films, in a production though, that thrives due to an unusual aspect.
The Kidnapping (Old Man Yang) is screening at New York Asian Film Festival
Old man Yang is about to move away from the Beijing hutong he lived in for years, but he cannot help reminiscing about the old times. As we watch him taking his usual stroll in a setting that can be easily described as that of a village, where everyone knows everyone, he meets a number of neighbors and discusses/whines with them. Evidently, he does not want to go, while it also becomes obvious that the changes that are about to come or have already arrived, starting from the renovation of the local temple, doing transactions through smartphones, separating his trash, and in general, anything new, make him feel uncomfortable. Eventually, though, a ticket he bought from the local kiosk takes him to a trip in a fantasy version of the hutong, where a number of mythical creatures remind him of the good he has done in his life and how people appreciate him, thus making him feel good about himself.
Chen Liaoyu, Liu Kuang and Gu Yang direct a 17-minute short that makes a direct comment about the difficulties older people face adapting to the ever-changing Chinese setting, ending the movie though, with a rather optimistic note, that also winks at the actions of the authorities, as the benefits on the temple renovation subtly highlight. The way they go about their comment, though, is rather amusing, particularly in the way the fateful night has changed Yang from a grumpy old man to one who can look the future with optimism, not even remembering his previous mentality.
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Where the movie truly thrives, though, is in its artform. The animation by Ma KeRan is passable, with the horizontal moving of the protagonist highlighting the different settings in a way that allows a number of them to appear on screen. It is here, however, that “Old Man Yang” finds its apogee, as the quality of the backgrounds is astonishing, through an intricate maximalism that is bound to impress any viewer of the animation. The oil painting art style works excellently here with Good Gu's boards, Liu Kang's art direction, and Huang Qian's coloring resulting in a series of astonishing images, that thrive in all their aspects, but particularly in the amount of detail presented in them. The character design, with the huge heads, is also quite appealing, in an exaggeration of a common artform, which has gone to extremes here, however. The mythical creatures, the animals, the woman with the beauty mask on are well presented within the particular style, in a truly outstanding artform.
“The Kidnapping (Old Man Yang)” will not impress with its narrative, but the art form here and particularly the drawing is on a level very rarely met on animation, in a true visual extravaganza that will definitely satisfy any viewer.
