Art for Your Own Sake
The Criterion Channel announced last week that they were the host of the streaming premier of On-Gaku: Our Sound (2019), a Japanese animated film about three high school delinquents who decide, on a whim, to start a band, even though none of them knows how to play an instrument. The style and tone are unlike most anime and are more comparable to MTV-era animated shows like Beavis & Butthead and Dr. Katz, Adult Swim programming like Home Movies and Superjail, or even an outsider comedy like Napoleon Dynamite (2004). The stiff and largely amateur look lends itself to a lot of the same type of humor, deadpan with surprising flairs of surrealism. The amateur look lends itself to the film’s themes as well.
When the central three delinquents, Kenji (bass), Asakura (another bass), and Ota (drums), get together to practice for the first time, they all feel the innate joy of creating. The music they end up producing is very naive and primitive, largely the same notes and repetitive drumming for the length of the entire “song,” but the joy hidden behind their stoic cartoon faces is palpable. They forgo their prior commitment to fight a gang leader at a rival school and decide to join up with the school’s folk music club to play at a music festival instead. Their love of music, despite their low skill level, propels them toward emotional fulfillment they couldn’t achieve as listless delinquents.
The film too is a labor of love. On-Gaku took seven years, a team of amateur animators, and a reliance on crowd-funding to make. The work itself showcases the theme of the movie: one should pursue art, even if one is not trained in it. Kenji, Asakura, and Ota are not in it to make money, to get famous, or to “be the best.” They play their music because, after the first time they all played their instruments together, they all thought the same thing: “That felt good.”
On-Gaku: Our Sound is available for streaming on The Criterion Channel and digital rental.
Stray Observations
Conversely to On-Gaku, Succession actor Jeremy Strong was recently profiled for Rolling Stone and much of the article goes into detail as to how he works tirelessly to give the best performance possible. There are some memorable flights of whimsy in the article (Jeremy Strong sincerely suggests chasing a goose) and many moments where his dedication to his craft is revealed to be deeply serious. It’s an interesting read, especially if you read his fantastic 2021 New Yorker profile (which he calls his “fifteen minutes of shame”).
While on the subject of Succession, it’s now reported that the fourth season, slated to premier this March, will be the show’s final season. One can look on the bright side and say, “at least the show is ending on its own terms and not being cancelled,” but I am sad. I am crestfallen that there won’t be more of the Roy family backstabbing, plotting, and bungling. The cast and crew will likely move on to more projects, exciting ones too, but I still shout to the heavens, “Why God? Why do you take this away from me?!”
In last week’s newsletter, I spoke at length about my dissatisfaction with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and specifically mentioned the artificial-looking effects, and it turns out there is a reported reason for this. Apparently “shortcuts” were taken by the visual effects team on Quantumania because “critical resources were diverted away to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever…which was in postproduction around the same time.” This staff and resource restriction on Quantumania created a crunch on the visual effects team. Artists complained about ridiculous hours and stress. “They’re squeezing blood out of stones,” one visual artist said. “And we’re out of blood.” You can read more on this in-depth in this Vulture article.
The latest episode of Rian Johnson’s Poker Face is possibly one of the best yet. The whole episode acts as an homage to legendary special effects artist Phil Tippett and his latest independent feature Mad God (2021). Nick Nolte as the Tippett-inspired character is a remarkable standout performance in a series of great guest stars, and Tippett and his effects team were even involved in creating the various creature effects in the episode. There are even photos of Tippet on the set of the Natasha Lyonne-directed episode.
Poker Face is available for streaming on Peacock.
Thanks for reading! Sort of a short issue this week, but I was just so excited about a lot of short little things that I couldn’t wait to publish. Don’t forget to subscribe and share. Shout out to Brandy Perry for editing again this week!