MIFF 2022 Film Review - Battlecry
Images courtesy of the Melbourne International Film Festival.
We live in an age where it is becoming increasingly easy for a single person with little budget to learn the tools to create art. Plenty of no-budget feature films get made by a person with a camera and a few friends, but now animation - previously a field that took large teams and larger resources - is being entered by novice creators with ideas and dedication. If given the time and patience, that single person can create an entire animated film all on their own.
Japanese animator Yanakaya has made his feature debut with Battlecry, animated entirely on his own laptop. In embracing the rough limitations of solo 3D animation, the film looks like a videogame from the 90s, complete with the flat textures, messy character designs and stilted animation, seemingly a combination of hand-animation and motion-capture. This causes confusing action sequences as punches rarely connect or the camera moves too quickly, rarely helped by the unnecessary motion blur. Small glitches pop up, like eyelines not connecting, feet floating on the ground while walking, a character smoking but the cigarette is invisible, or a ponytail that constantly moves. Were this created by a huge team these errors would make the film seem unfinished, but here it sort of adds to the charm.
The biggest strength of the film is the environmental work. There’s a lot of worldbuilding in just the shots of the scenic neon-bathed Japan, filled to the brim with visual detail, and yet never cluttered enough to become unreadable. Gorgeous colours abound the frame, yet never overwhelm, keeping the perfect level of environmental storytelling, with subtle movements like signs shaking under the speed of a train or neon signs flickering in the dark.
The story concerns ex-soldier Soji Yamagata, as he’s recruited by Haya Jalili, of Interpol-esque agency “World Bank”, to uncover a secret drug ring in Tokyo. An unstable drug known as Golden Monkey is terrorising the streets, turning those who take it into rage-fueled monsters, killing anyone in their site.
Flat voice acting and even flatter dialogue, lends very little emotional depth to the characters, excepting the occasional fun moment like Soji correcting Jalili on her Japanese phrasing, or Jalili’s constant fascination with Japanese culture. This makes for very little emotional impact, and despite the interesting backstory, the ongoing mystery feels underdeveloped by comparison. With the slow pacing, the mystery at hand is solved one small clue at a time, often underwhelmingly handed to the character in simple expository dialogue. Yet, at 75 minutes - and despite an unwarranted sequel hook - it wraps up neatly enough.
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Battlecry is screening as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, running in cinemas August 4-21 and online August 11-28. For tickets and more info, click here.