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NEWS: Kunio Katō's 'La Maison en Petits Cubes' Wins Oscar

Not only that, but even those that do make themselves eligible by playing in LA often do so by having an incredibly limited screening, to the point where next to no one gets the chance to see them. It's rather difficult for the Academy to nominate a film whose existence they're barely aware of. I'd put the blame squarely on the domestic distributors, but I realize that, unless you're Disney pushing Ghibli, putting on the sort of widespread release that's necessary for mainstream exposure is about as cost-ineffective as it gets.

I'm not saying every DBZ movie and 80's OVA should stand a chance but stuff like Paprika, Perfect Blue, All of those non nominated Miyazaki movies, 5cm Per Second.
Stuff like that. Movies that you would recommend on the basis that they are good movies and not just good anime.

zanarkand princess wrote:

Yeah I feel like I need to see Departures and La Maison en Petits Cubes now. I bet we could argue all day though about how many anime films could beat the pants off of Pixar if they were given the respect they deserve but it doesn't work that way. If it did we could be looking at an Eva 2.0 nomination if it reaches the greatness of the part of the show it's adapting.

What disappoints me, just a personal opinion, is the predominance of 3D CG. Frankly, Wall-E was the only one that impressed me at on a technical level. The others looked pretty low quality. I'm happy that La Maison en Petits Cubes won, because it is more classic animation.

I'm right there with you. When I saw the nominees, my thought was, "Hm. An awful lot of CG in here." I guess I was expecting more of the shorts to still be using hand drawn styles.

I'm right there with you. When I saw the nominees, my thought was, "Hm. An awful lot of CG in here." I guess I was expecting more of the shorts to still be using hand drawn styles.

"Maison" is a feminine noun, so it's "La".

EDIT: Screencap:

I can't find this film in the encyclopedia. I really loved it.

Two Japanese works wining an Oscar is awesome indeed. Not quite as awesome as Slumdog Millionaire taking 8 out of a possible 9 Oscars, but still pretty darn close at that.

I'm gonna have to watch La Maison en Petits Cubes when I get the chance.

The problem for anime films is:

"The award is only given if there are at least eight animated feature films (with a theatrical release in Los Angeles). "

Since it's a U.S. award, not foreign, the film has to play in LA theaters. Unless a major studio licenses it, that's unlikely. The licensee has to consider whether or not the investment--possibly even having to pay for play ("renting the theater")--will give them any chance at being nominated.

I agree that Wall-E deserved the award. It was a good movie and had a theme familiar to many anime fans.....Robot love

But here's my list of why WALL-E should be a hit in Japan:

1. It's about robots.

2. It's about robots in love.

3. WALL-E is a weak nothing-going-for-him sweet romantic packrat geek;
EVE is a dominant goddess-powered never-propositioned kinda-tsundere.

4. There's hardly any dialogue to lose in translation
particularly in the first act, ~1/3rd of the movie.

5. WALL-E already mispronounces EVE's name as EV-uh.

6. The two protagonists just keep saying their names.
(Have you noticed that Japanese charas say names way too often?)

7. A future environmental moral message that'd make Hayao Miyazaki blush.

8. A social criticism about the hazards of over-reliance in technology.

But wasn't there a theatrical release of Ponyo planned for when it comes out here? If that's the case then odds are it will get a nomination especially if Pixar and Dreamworks aren't so busy. Then again Disney does have a new princess movie coming out this year right?

Greed1914 wrote:

I'm right there with you. When I saw the nominees, my thought was, "Hm. An awful lot of CG in here." I guess I was expecting more of the shorts to still be using hand drawn styles.

Yeah, that really surprised me. Pretty sure it's the first year the shorts were 3D, certainly all but one. The technology is affordable now, though it's still a lot of work. I just wonder if they are moving to 3D because the features have all gone in that direction.