With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Note: After a batch of A24 films on Netflix were added last week, even more join the streaming platform this week.
A Most Violent Year (J.C. Chandor)
The Sidney Lumet talk is apt, as J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year certainly captures the scope and pulse of the late master’s dramas. But this is a dark-side-of-the-American-dream epic with a reach all its own. Oscar Isaac and...
Note: After a batch of A24 films on Netflix were added last week, even more join the streaming platform this week.
A Most Violent Year (J.C. Chandor)
The Sidney Lumet talk is apt, as J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year certainly captures the scope and pulse of the late master’s dramas. But this is a dark-side-of-the-American-dream epic with a reach all its own. Oscar Isaac and...
- 7/27/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Chinese animation makes a confident play for art and relevance with “Big Fish & Begonia,” a swell of myth, nature, adolescent turbulence and fantasy intrigue that impresses more often than it organically dazzles, and yet succeeds mostly because of its beating heart.
It’s impossible not to think of Japan’s animation deity Hayao Miyazaki when watching this movie’s lyrical flourishes — morphing creatures, magical worlds, a little “Spirited Away” here, a little “Ponyo” there — but there’s also a concerted effort on the parts of directors Xuan Liang (who also wrote it) and Chun Zhang to establish their own alchemic wonder. Where Miyazaki’s wisdom kept his prodigious imagination in the service of intimacy, “Big Fish” is daringly, if haphazardly, epic with its vision and feelings. The urge to awe may feel self-conscious at times, but it’s rarely not heartfelt, even when it’s skirting the edge of incomprehensible.
Detailing the story’s intertwined human and spiritual worlds takes some time in the early going, but the set-up’s basic gist is that life on earth is tied to the movement of the oceans, which are controlled by beings in a sky realm. The story centers on one of these otherworldly figures from above, a 16-year-old girl named Chun who is eager to explore the human world through an established ritual — one involving a massive whirlpool-like water portal — that allows an “other” to visit life below in the form of a red dolphin.
Also Read: 'Frozen 2' Star Kristen Bell Teases 'Very Good' Story and Songs
The trip can only last seven days, however, and mustn’t involving direct interaction with humans, due to the prevailing belief that they’ve made a mess of things. (And who can blame them, especially when it comes to sea mammals?)
Chun defies the rules, though, and initiates a wordless dolphin-girl connection with a kind fisherman’s son who shows an abiding respect for aquatic life. When Chun gets trapped in a fishing net, the boy saves her, but drowns in the process. Distraught and eager to right this wrong, Chun returns to her world with one of the boy’s possessions — an ocarina — and looks for a way to bring him back to life. This requires bargaining with the soul keeper, a wily, mahjong-playing figure who demands half of Chun’s life in return for the chance for her to nurture the boy’s soul, manifest in their realm as a baby dolphin, into adulthood, after which he can return to the human world.
Chun’s selflessness isn’t seen as such by the others, except for her childhood pal Qiu, a gung-ho boy with obvious feelings for Chun. Though he suffers pangs of jealousy over Chun’s attention to her human-born, dolphin-bodied charge (which she names Kun), Qiu sticks up for Chun, and eventually offers his own form of sacrifice to keep her and the ever-growing Kun safe.
See Photos: A Timeline of Stop-Motion Animation History, From 'A Trip to the Moon' to 'Isle of Dogs'
But they’re up against a concerned citizenry, who blame the increasingly unnatural weather on the human in their midst. Chun and Qiu are also in danger of being manipulated by a devious sewer queen who houses the souls of departed human sinners in the form of rats.
It may feel as if an entire encyclopedia’s worth of Chinese mythology were coursing over you in one trippy movie. Indeed, much of the integrated inspiration for Liang’s and Zhang’s story comes from such storied texts of colorful folklore as “Classic of Mountains and Seas” and “In Search of the Supernatural,” and perhaps most prominently — in the case of one character’s turning into a giant tree, and its importance to the story’s resolution — from the ancient Taoist collection of fables called “Zhuangzi.”
Also Read: Apple Gives 2 Season Order to Animated Musical Series From 'Bob's Burgers' Creator
At its visual best, “Big Fish & Begonia” makes lyrical connections between atmospheres — as when an underwater sequence, seen from a different angle, looks like creatures are swimming through the sky — or just revels in a stunning vista altered by the characters’ ability to transform themselves and the world around them.
It may be a convoluted yarn, but there are pockets of grace when it comes to Liang’s and Zhang’s sincere evocation of the responsibility behind stewardship of our and others’ souls, and a belief in sacrifice as it relates to love and death, even our relationship to the environment. (And having spent over a decade painstakingly turning a personal project into a feature-length reality, Liang and Zhang clearly know a thing or two about nurturing something beloved into existence.)
The story is ultimately defined by the trade-offs its mythical beings make that give life to some at the expense of others, and those spiritually affirming decisions eventually take pride of place amidst the overwhelming campaign of climactic set pieces (namely, the threatened destruction of Chun’s world) that dominate the second half.
Chinese animation is still feeling its way into the industry, but “Big Fish & Begonia,” with its big-canvas approach to myth, world-building, wonder and fragile humanity, announces itself as if cinema was more than ready for it.
Read original story ‘Big Fish & Begonia’ Film Review: Chinese Animated Fantasy Tells Bold, Beautiful Tale of Sacrifice At TheWrap...
It’s impossible not to think of Japan’s animation deity Hayao Miyazaki when watching this movie’s lyrical flourishes — morphing creatures, magical worlds, a little “Spirited Away” here, a little “Ponyo” there — but there’s also a concerted effort on the parts of directors Xuan Liang (who also wrote it) and Chun Zhang to establish their own alchemic wonder. Where Miyazaki’s wisdom kept his prodigious imagination in the service of intimacy, “Big Fish” is daringly, if haphazardly, epic with its vision and feelings. The urge to awe may feel self-conscious at times, but it’s rarely not heartfelt, even when it’s skirting the edge of incomprehensible.
Detailing the story’s intertwined human and spiritual worlds takes some time in the early going, but the set-up’s basic gist is that life on earth is tied to the movement of the oceans, which are controlled by beings in a sky realm. The story centers on one of these otherworldly figures from above, a 16-year-old girl named Chun who is eager to explore the human world through an established ritual — one involving a massive whirlpool-like water portal — that allows an “other” to visit life below in the form of a red dolphin.
Also Read: 'Frozen 2' Star Kristen Bell Teases 'Very Good' Story and Songs
The trip can only last seven days, however, and mustn’t involving direct interaction with humans, due to the prevailing belief that they’ve made a mess of things. (And who can blame them, especially when it comes to sea mammals?)
Chun defies the rules, though, and initiates a wordless dolphin-girl connection with a kind fisherman’s son who shows an abiding respect for aquatic life. When Chun gets trapped in a fishing net, the boy saves her, but drowns in the process. Distraught and eager to right this wrong, Chun returns to her world with one of the boy’s possessions — an ocarina — and looks for a way to bring him back to life. This requires bargaining with the soul keeper, a wily, mahjong-playing figure who demands half of Chun’s life in return for the chance for her to nurture the boy’s soul, manifest in their realm as a baby dolphin, into adulthood, after which he can return to the human world.
Chun’s selflessness isn’t seen as such by the others, except for her childhood pal Qiu, a gung-ho boy with obvious feelings for Chun. Though he suffers pangs of jealousy over Chun’s attention to her human-born, dolphin-bodied charge (which she names Kun), Qiu sticks up for Chun, and eventually offers his own form of sacrifice to keep her and the ever-growing Kun safe.
See Photos: A Timeline of Stop-Motion Animation History, From 'A Trip to the Moon' to 'Isle of Dogs'
But they’re up against a concerned citizenry, who blame the increasingly unnatural weather on the human in their midst. Chun and Qiu are also in danger of being manipulated by a devious sewer queen who houses the souls of departed human sinners in the form of rats.
It may feel as if an entire encyclopedia’s worth of Chinese mythology were coursing over you in one trippy movie. Indeed, much of the integrated inspiration for Liang’s and Zhang’s story comes from such storied texts of colorful folklore as “Classic of Mountains and Seas” and “In Search of the Supernatural,” and perhaps most prominently — in the case of one character’s turning into a giant tree, and its importance to the story’s resolution — from the ancient Taoist collection of fables called “Zhuangzi.”
Also Read: Apple Gives 2 Season Order to Animated Musical Series From 'Bob's Burgers' Creator
At its visual best, “Big Fish & Begonia” makes lyrical connections between atmospheres — as when an underwater sequence, seen from a different angle, looks like creatures are swimming through the sky — or just revels in a stunning vista altered by the characters’ ability to transform themselves and the world around them.
It may be a convoluted yarn, but there are pockets of grace when it comes to Liang’s and Zhang’s sincere evocation of the responsibility behind stewardship of our and others’ souls, and a belief in sacrifice as it relates to love and death, even our relationship to the environment. (And having spent over a decade painstakingly turning a personal project into a feature-length reality, Liang and Zhang clearly know a thing or two about nurturing something beloved into existence.)
The story is ultimately defined by the trade-offs its mythical beings make that give life to some at the expense of others, and those spiritually affirming decisions eventually take pride of place amidst the overwhelming campaign of climactic set pieces (namely, the threatened destruction of Chun’s world) that dominate the second half.
Chinese animation is still feeling its way into the industry, but “Big Fish & Begonia,” with its big-canvas approach to myth, world-building, wonder and fragile humanity, announces itself as if cinema was more than ready for it.
Read original story ‘Big Fish & Begonia’ Film Review: Chinese Animated Fantasy Tells Bold, Beautiful Tale of Sacrifice At TheWrap...
- 4/5/2018
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
In 2004, directors Xuan Liang and Chun Zhang created a Flash animation for an online contest. From there they expanded it into a feature length film steeped in Chinese supernatural legend. And despite some funding snags over its twelve-year production schedule, Big Fish & Begonia turned its approximately five million-dollar budget (in today’s Us dollars) into just shy of one hundred million at the Chinese box office. Now it makes its way to America two years later for a limited release, another stellar example of the nation’s growing animation industry. With its beautiful aesthetic and distinctive tale of life, death, and love, the film should find a welcome audience.
The story takes place in a magical world that exists beneath the human world in an alternate, spiritual reality. Its inhabitants are mostly humanoid in appearance, their supernatural powers attuned to the natural forces of the world. Known as “Others,...
The story takes place in a magical world that exists beneath the human world in an alternate, spiritual reality. Its inhabitants are mostly humanoid in appearance, their supernatural powers attuned to the natural forces of the world. Known as “Others,...
- 4/5/2018
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Author: Zehra Phelan
An emotional and beautiful new trailer has arrived for Manga’s Big Fish & Begonia.
The animation, which has been Twelve years in the making, is a cinematic adventure that captures the unique aesthetics, mystique and rich cultural traditions of ancient China. The film entwines new storytelling, mythical legends and lyrical characters from notable Chinese classics In Search of the Supernatural, The Classic of Mountains and Seas, and Daoist classic Zhuangzi.
The film premiered in competition at Annecy International Animation Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, and has been selected to screen at New York International Children’s Film Festival in February 2018.
Directed by Xuan Liang and Chun Zhang, it has a cast of Guanlin Ji and Guangtao Jian.
The film will screen in selected cinemas across the UK and Ireland on Wednesday 18th April.
Big Fish & Begonia Official Synopsis In a world within our world, yet unseen by any human,...
An emotional and beautiful new trailer has arrived for Manga’s Big Fish & Begonia.
The animation, which has been Twelve years in the making, is a cinematic adventure that captures the unique aesthetics, mystique and rich cultural traditions of ancient China. The film entwines new storytelling, mythical legends and lyrical characters from notable Chinese classics In Search of the Supernatural, The Classic of Mountains and Seas, and Daoist classic Zhuangzi.
The film premiered in competition at Annecy International Animation Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, and has been selected to screen at New York International Children’s Film Festival in February 2018.
Directed by Xuan Liang and Chun Zhang, it has a cast of Guanlin Ji and Guangtao Jian.
The film will screen in selected cinemas across the UK and Ireland on Wednesday 18th April.
Big Fish & Begonia Official Synopsis In a world within our world, yet unseen by any human,...
- 2/16/2018
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
With this weekend’s launch in Hollywood of the Animation Is Film Festival at the Tcl Chinese 6 Theater, there’s an opportunity to expand industry tastes while influencing the Oscar race. “It’s for film people to find a highly curated selection of the best feature filmmaking from around the world [for that particular year] in one place,” said Aif founder Eric Beckman, the co-founder and president of GKids, which organized the festival in collaboration with the Annecy International Animation Festival, Variety, and Acifa-Hollywood.
After 20 years of success with the New York International Children’s Film Festival, Beckman thought it was time to broaden the appeal in Hollywood with an emphasis on global production and distribution.
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Animated Feature
Why launch a new festival?
The timing couldn’t be better: New Academy rules now allow all eligible members to vote for animated features, using preferential voting. However, it remains to...
After 20 years of success with the New York International Children’s Film Festival, Beckman thought it was time to broaden the appeal in Hollywood with an emphasis on global production and distribution.
Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Animated Feature
Why launch a new festival?
The timing couldn’t be better: New Academy rules now allow all eligible members to vote for animated features, using preferential voting. However, it remains to...
- 10/17/2017
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Aiming to make an impact this Oscar season, the inaugural Animation Is Film Festival from GKids, the Annecy International Animation Festival, Variety, and Acifa-Hollywood launches October 20-22 at the Tcl Chinese 6 Theater.
The festival will present a selection of new animated feature films from Asia, Europe, South America, and North America, with juried and audience prizes and filmmakers attending most screenings. Additionally, the festival will feature studio events, special screenings, short film programs, and a Vr lounge.
Aif seems well timed: The Academy now allows all members to vote for animated features, using preferential voting. However, it remains to be seen what the dynamic will be in terms of mainstream versus indie nominees.
GKids, which has nine Oscar nominations (including this year’s “My Life as a Zucchini”), has seven movies in contention this season; four showcase in competition at Aif. The highlight is “The Breadwinner” (October 20), a coproduction of Ireland,...
The festival will present a selection of new animated feature films from Asia, Europe, South America, and North America, with juried and audience prizes and filmmakers attending most screenings. Additionally, the festival will feature studio events, special screenings, short film programs, and a Vr lounge.
Aif seems well timed: The Academy now allows all members to vote for animated features, using preferential voting. However, it remains to be seen what the dynamic will be in terms of mainstream versus indie nominees.
GKids, which has nine Oscar nominations (including this year’s “My Life as a Zucchini”), has seven movies in contention this season; four showcase in competition at Aif. The highlight is “The Breadwinner” (October 20), a coproduction of Ireland,...
- 9/21/2017
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Zombillenium announced as opener; China named as guest country, Guillermo del Toro to return.
French animator and illustrator Arthur de Pin’s child-friendly comedy-horror tale Zombillenium (pictured) - set against the backdrop of an amusement-terror park were the staff are a motley crew of vampires, zombies and werewolves - will open this year’s edition of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, running June 12-17 this year.
It is among nine special event screenings including Pixar’s Cars 3, which will be proceeded by a presentation of footage from Mexico-set, Day of the Dead-inspired drama Coco in the presence of director Lee Unkrich, producer Darla K. Anderson and co-director Adrian Molina; Despicable Me 3 and The Big Bad Fox And Other Animals.
Zombillenium will also compete in the 10-title feature film competition.
Other contenders for Annecy’s Cristal for best feature film include Iranian director Ali Soozandeh’s Tehran Taboo, exploring sexuality...
French animator and illustrator Arthur de Pin’s child-friendly comedy-horror tale Zombillenium (pictured) - set against the backdrop of an amusement-terror park were the staff are a motley crew of vampires, zombies and werewolves - will open this year’s edition of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, running June 12-17 this year.
It is among nine special event screenings including Pixar’s Cars 3, which will be proceeded by a presentation of footage from Mexico-set, Day of the Dead-inspired drama Coco in the presence of director Lee Unkrich, producer Darla K. Anderson and co-director Adrian Molina; Despicable Me 3 and The Big Bad Fox And Other Animals.
Zombillenium will also compete in the 10-title feature film competition.
Other contenders for Annecy’s Cristal for best feature film include Iranian director Ali Soozandeh’s Tehran Taboo, exploring sexuality...
- 4/25/2017
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Sc Films International has picked up the hit animation.
Sc Films International continues to grow its ties with China following the acquisition of hit Chinese family movie Big Fish And Begonia, which grossed more than $85m at the local box office earlier this year.
The fantasy animation, inspired by classic Chinese literature, tells the story of a deity, in the form of a young girl (Chun) who seeks adventure in the human world. She encounters a human fisherman (Kun), and an unlikely friendship and bond forms between the two, putting both of them in great danger.
Big Fish And Begonia
Xuan Liang and Chun Zhang direct from an original screenplay by Liang. Zhang also doubles as the production designer. Music is by Japanese composer Kiyoshi Yoshida (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time). Producers are B&T Studio and Coloroom Pictures.
The film, 12 years in the making, is the second-highest grossing Chinese animation ever at the local...
Sc Films International continues to grow its ties with China following the acquisition of hit Chinese family movie Big Fish And Begonia, which grossed more than $85m at the local box office earlier this year.
The fantasy animation, inspired by classic Chinese literature, tells the story of a deity, in the form of a young girl (Chun) who seeks adventure in the human world. She encounters a human fisherman (Kun), and an unlikely friendship and bond forms between the two, putting both of them in great danger.
Big Fish And Begonia
Xuan Liang and Chun Zhang direct from an original screenplay by Liang. Zhang also doubles as the production designer. Music is by Japanese composer Kiyoshi Yoshida (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time). Producers are B&T Studio and Coloroom Pictures.
The film, 12 years in the making, is the second-highest grossing Chinese animation ever at the local...
- 9/8/2016
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
A beautiful trailer has surfaced for an upcoming Chinese animated film called Big Fish and Begonia. I’ve never heard of this project until today, but it looks like quite the spectacle. The movie is being developed by Liang Xuan and Zhang Chun with Studio Mir, which is the South Korean animation studio that worked on Legend of Korra. Apparently this film has been in development for over a decade, so it’s definitely a labor of love.
The film follows a sixteen-year-old girl named Chun from a mystical world hidden within the world of humans who transforms into a dolphin to explore the human world, encountering a mysterious young boy who sacrifices his life to save her—leading her on a journey to protect his soul and revive him.
Big Fish and Begonia will be released in China on July 8th.
Via: io9...
The film follows a sixteen-year-old girl named Chun from a mystical world hidden within the world of humans who transforms into a dolphin to explore the human world, encountering a mysterious young boy who sacrifices his life to save her—leading her on a journey to protect his soul and revive him.
Big Fish and Begonia will be released in China on July 8th.
Via: io9...
- 4/21/2016
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
After twelve years in the making, the Chinese animation by by Liang Xuan and Zhang Chun will be finally released by Beijing Enlight Media on July 8, 2016. Yesterday, the first trailer was revealed
The plot is as follows: It is a world within our world, yet unseen by any human, and the beings here control time and tide and the changing of the seasons. On the day Chun turns sixteen, she is transformed into a dolphin to explore the human world. She is rescued from a vortex by a human boy at the cost of his own life. Chun is so moved by the boy’s kindness and courage that she decides to give him life again. But to do this, she must protect the boy’s soul, a tiny fish, and nurture it to grow. Through adventure and sacrifice, love grows, yet now she must release him back to the sea,...
The plot is as follows: It is a world within our world, yet unseen by any human, and the beings here control time and tide and the changing of the seasons. On the day Chun turns sixteen, she is transformed into a dolphin to explore the human world. She is rescued from a vortex by a human boy at the cost of his own life. Chun is so moved by the boy’s kindness and courage that she decides to give him life again. But to do this, she must protect the boy’s soul, a tiny fish, and nurture it to grow. Through adventure and sacrifice, love grows, yet now she must release him back to the sea,...
- 4/20/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
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