This tall tale directed by Chris Sanders
is the latest of many versions ostensibly inspired by the 1903 Jack London
novel. The main character is a large
canine named “Buck”, apparently some kind of splotchy brown-and-white St.
Bernard/Shepherd cross. Actually our furry
hero is created through computer-generated technology and motion capture (by
Terry Notary) as are the other critters (husky sled dogs, wolves, a bear …) Buck goes from being a one-dog wrecking crew
to being dog-napped and traded for duties from Alaska to Yukon during the gold
rush. His first new owners are dog-friendly—an
unlikely pairing of a supposedly francophone black man “Perreault” and vaguely
Inuit-looking woman “Françoise” doing a mail route by sled—though Buck has to
overcome their jealous dogteam alpha male named “Spitz”. Then the route gets cancelled and Buck is
acquired by a greedy gold-seeker (Dan Stevens) who turns evil pursuer after
Buck is saved by grieving, graying, geriatric John Thornton (Harrison Ford
looking even shaggier than Buck) who’s been serving as story narrator and now
takes over as good-hearted owner. Cue more rescues, adventures, and incidents
until Buck heeds the “call” with a white wolf mate. Unfortunately the ersatz realism produced by laboured
visual effects (so many creators listed in the closing credits) doesn’t make
the scenario or settings seem less artificial.
I can’t say it better than Fionualla Halligan of Screen Daily: “it isn’t live action, it isn’t fish, fowl, or dog
and somewhere in between it falls off its sled.” C-
These days most mentions of China are
viral. But this unusual award-winning
documentary from directors S. Leo Chang and Yang Sun conjures some inspiring
and evocative artistic visions within the telling of an affectionate family
story. The creative force is Maleonn, a
bald, bearded Chinese man in his 40s, a master designer and maker of ingenious
life-size puppets who leads a devoted team and develops a theatrical project
“Papa’s Time Machine” to pay tribute to his father Ma Ke who directed over 80
shows for the Shanghai Chinese Opera Theatre but is now suffering from
dementia. (Like many artists, Maleonn’s
parents had suffered under Mao’s “cultural revolution”.) Maleonn conceives his performance piece as a
way to recapture and record memories drawn from autobiographical father-son
experience. Although a trip to New York
doesn’t generate new funding and there are other challenges, the finished
play—a wonder of lifelike puppetry as well as a mechanical marvel—does have a
limited run in Shanghai. The story of its conception open with a quote from
H.G.Wells: “We all have time machines, don’t we? Those that take us back are
memories …And those that carry us forward, are dreams.” After mounting his time
machine play we see Maleonn becoming a father himself and reflecting on how the
circle of life must continue. It’s both
moving and visually enchanting. A
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