Isle of Dogs

I don't think cinema advertiser quite knew what they had on their hands with Wes Anderson's latest film Isle of Dogs. Our screening proceeded with trailers for kiddie drivel such as Sherlock Gnomes and Show Dogs (a trailer so bad I couldn't stop giggling) to a cinema packed with older people and film hipsters. Because no director gets the hipster vote quite like Wes Anderson. Some find his work a bit irritating. A bit too twee, too quaint, too fanciful. Me personally? I (mostly) love his films. The Royal Tenebaums is in my top 20 favourite films and his other works show a wonderful eye to detail in lovingly created worlds that mask a hidden sadness. And Isle of Dogs is probably Wes Anderson at his most ... Wes Andersony. So, if you're a convert you should have a rough idea of what you're in for. And if you're not ... then this is probably not going to convince you on why people view Anderson as one of modern cinema's most exciting talents. 

Isle of Dogs is a wonderfully inventive film packed with heart and character

The film opens in dystopian Japan where, by the order of the maniacal Mayor Kobayashi of Megasaki  City, all dogs have been exiled to an offshore trash island due to an outbreak of canine flu. Thus our dog friends live out their grim lives with no real future prospects. The film focuses on a small group - misunderstood stray Chief (Bryan Cranston), democratic Rex (Edward Norton), gossipy Duke (Jeff Goldblum), dog-food mascot King (Bob Balaban) and the sporty Boss (Bill Murray). However, things change when a boy-pilot, Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin) (the dog hating mayor's nephew), crash lands on the island in search of his beloved doggie partner Spots (Liev Schreiber). So the surrogate group of friends set out on a quest to find Spots but incite a bigger wave of social change. 

Anderson returns to the scratchy stop-motion style of Fantastic Mr. Fox to create his most lovingly hand-crafted film yet. I always love how Anderson frames his worlds as mini doll houses (just look at the way The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Royal Tenebaums and Steve Zissou are filmed for proof of this) which is arguably drawn from how the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu framed his intimate family dramas. There is little camera trickery in Anderson and Ozu films - just straight on and simply shot. And Isle of Dogs is no exception, though every still of the film is filled with visual delight for us to take in. The whole thing feels like a diorama come to life. 

The stop-motion itself is absolutely gorgeous and the character models are ingeniously designed. All canine mannerisms are re-created in striking detail right down to those big-puppy dog eye. In particular, I loved the fight scenes, recreated in the style of Looney Tunes cartoons complete with cotton wool for the kicked-up dust clouds. I also loved the little detail that all the images on TVs are rendered in 2D animation. Anderson reunited with the London based animation company 3 Mills Studios for this and their sketchy animation style contrasts beautifully with Anderson's immaculate framing. The influence of the other great Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa, can be felt with the inclusion of the theme from classic Seven Samurai, and over all Alexandre Desplat's wonderful score gets the imaginative and kind of sad world the film has created. 

The cinematography of Isle of Dogs is immaculate but works even better when contrasted against with the clearly hand-crafted animation style

And what a staggeringly good cast he has brought on. The decision to have the dogs speak in a calm, dead pan kind of way is truly inspired. "I don't think I can stomach anymore of this garbage" exclaims Edward Norton's Rex in a cool voice at the start of the film, perfectly setting the tone. No one gets this more than Bryan Cranston as Chief. He is the heart and soul of the film and Cranston just nails it 100%. Chief is a battle scarred stray who sees himself as the leader of the pack and becomes the film's central focus. He struggles to relate to anyone until he meets Scarlett Johansson's suitably dead-pan show dog Nutmeg (though their burgeoning relationship is note the focus of the film) and the boy pilot Atari. And, honestly, the relationship that is built up between Chief and Atari over the course of the film is genuinely quite moving. This is the emotional core of the movie and works to anchor all the crazy plot twists and zippy narrative stylings. For the action is not just centred on Trash Island. Megasaki City is a wonderful futurist creation that places Greta Gerwig's plucky foreign exchange student Tracey as the head of a Pro-Dog rally against the evil mayor. There are also fantastic turns from Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton (as a frankly adorable 'fortune telling' pug), F. Murray Abraham, Ken Watanabe, Anjelica Huston, Harvey Keitel and, bizarrely, Yoko Ono. That last one is the only vaguely distracting one - the rest all fit into the narrative fairly seamlessly. 

Honestly, I had a blast with Isle of Dogs. And there is a real soul to the film. Like all of Anderson's films, the characters feel real and sad in a sincere kind of way, only heightened by the hand-crafted style and stunning cinematography. The attention to detail and animation style is phenomenal, the cast are excellent and the script has a dry wit that only Anderson could write. The pace is breakneck, packing in wonderful visual cues, slightly melancholy tone, witty one-liners and new revelations to the story. It's an odd little film that contains troves of something I've started to miss in mainstream film - creativity and sincerity. 

So let's briefly talk about this chestnut; some reporters have accused Isle of Dogs of culture appropriation. The thing is, as a wise YouTube video essayist once said, "culture appropriation is a neutral term". I think there are both good examples and bad examples of appropriation in mass media. Are we going to deny film fans a quality and beautifully made film because it was directed by a White American based in a Japanese setting? Should storytellers be limited to just their own experiences? They're big questions that I don't have the answers to but I think as long as the story is respectful to the culture it is based on, I personally see no issue. It all just depends on how well it is executed and context in which it's made. And honestly, I can't really see any malicious intent in Isle of Dogs. There is a real reverence to Japanese art, music and film throughout the piece. Does one of the characters draw upon the "white saviour" trope? To a degree, yes. Is it a bit "touristy Japan"? Sure, but I think for the film to work you almost need the human characters to not speak English...as this contrasts quite nicely with the deadpan delivery of the dogs. You might as well set it in a vibrant and stylistically interesting country. Indeed, I find it fascinating that this debate has cropped up now, considering that Anderson had done arch takes on other cultures in the past - Central Europe in The Grand Budapest Hotel and Britain in Fantastic Mr Fox. 

Seriously though, I can't recommend YouTuber Lindsay Ellis' video essay about Disney's Pocahontas enough. She assesses what company learned in regards to cultural appropriation for its future films. She masterfully uses the film as an example of poorly executed cultural appropriation. However, she contrasts this against later Disney films such as Lilo & Stitch (which uses a key part of Hawaiian culture as the subtext of an emotional scene between Lilo and her older sister) and the recent Moana. Ellis is eloquent in her argument on this, so just watch the video...link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ARX0-AylFI&t=1700s