Paco and the Magical Book//

posted Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
by amy | Comments (4)

Original Title: パコと魔法の絵本
Release date: September 13, 2008
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Play by: Hiroto Goto
Screenplay by: Nobuhiro Monma, Tetsuya Nakashima
Cast: Koji Yakusho, Ayaka Wilson, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Hitori Gekidan, Jun Kimura, Takaya Yamauchi, Anna Tsuchiya, Eiko Koike, Takaya Kamikawa, Sadao Abe, Ryo Kase, Kaela Kimura

Tetsuya Nakashima’s Paco and the Magical Book tells the story of grumpy old Onuki (Yakusho) as he collapses at a board meeting and is sent to a hospital, in which he meets a whole bunch of picturesque characters, including a little girl named Paco who can only retain memories for a day.

Ever since I discovered Tetsuya Nakashima, I’ve often referred to his style as Tim-Burton-esque, not because it resembles Burton’s style, but because Nakashima’s work uses rich visual enhancements to his storytelling – thanks to his background in CMs. Do any of you guys know the Rolling Bomber Special? – He combines amazing color treatment, art direction, cinematography and mashes it all up with anything he can… be it a bit of violence, grandeur musical numbers, and animation.

Paco and the Magical Book is a dramatic comedy that meets Disney on LSD. It is one horrorific tale.

In the end, it isn’t much of a surprise when you begin watching the film and find yourself in a very Disney-nesque world, with a Lion-King-esque chant and all – after all, this is supposed to be aimed at a younger audience. However, don’t ever fool yourself thinking that this will dumb down anything that Tetsuya wants to show… which includes a punk-goth-tatooed-blond nurse (Tsuchiya), a psychologically-insane-ex-child-star-bum (Tsumabuki), a raging-drag-queen whom a lot of people are referring to as ‘gay’ (Kunimura), and a blood-sucking-neck-biting-vampiresque nurse (Koike). And don’t forget the grumpy old man who doesn’t back down when hitting even a kid.

Yes, the film is nuts, but it’s worth watching, even if the visual style might be a turn-off at the beginning, the story might surprise you by the end.

Rating:  

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