Midweek Mention... The Red Turtle

The Red Turtle

Sidey: This is the beginning of Turtle Week. Yes. And we're kicking things off with the Red Turtle. It's a 2016 joint our main feature is also 2016. Now, it's a bit kind of controversial. But this is I think we asked a question when I announced it last week. Is it Studio Ghibli and it is.

Dan: is, it's a Clolab.

Sidey: it's with some Frenchies.

Dan: That's right, yeah.

Reegs: it has a sort of unmistakable Ghibli quality to it, even though it's definitely not a Miyazaki type

Dan: Yeah, the animation is different.

Reegs: maybe thematically some, you know, align a little bit with some of the stuff that the studio puts out,

Dan: And yeah, the, who is it? Michel

Reegs: Do Doctor Vit.

Dan: Davit. Dudok

Sidey: I think

Dan: Davit.

They're from

Sidey: they from? They're Dutch actually, aren't they? Mm-Hmm. . It, it's a CoLab with him and co-written by French screenwriter Pascal. Farran.

Dan: oui, merci.

Sidey: Farran.

Reegs: Yeah.

I think you've got a talk at least about what it's like to look at a bit, especially with something.

Dan: Yeah.

well, it's worth noting, although it's got amazing sound, there's, other than a hey, there's not

Sidey: no score or soundtrack or anything like that. It's all

Dan: natural.

Reegs: Well, there is a kind of score. There is a score,

Dan: tunes, but there's no words, I mean, there's no dialogue, it's just

Sidey: Well, when you say, it starts, it starts off with a fella. He's been cast asunder in the sea.

Yeah. It's fairly choppy, I would

Reegs: he's fighting for his life, and you don't see why.

There's no sort of origin. We don't learn why he's there in the first place. We just see him buffeted about by the waters.

Dan: That's right. And

Sidey: He's managed to scramble his way through the water to his ship, his little rowing boat. And I was thinking that you've definitely underboated there for those sea conditions.

Dan: bit choppy for

Sidey: It doesn't look suitable. No. And he does eventually he's washed up on a desert island. Yeah.

Reegs: And

Sidey: Most crabs. He's got crabs.

Reegs: Yeah. Little comical crabs. They're quite cool. Well,

Dan: actually, yeah, you're right.

It's teeming of life, actually.

Sidey: just not human

Dan: just not human

Sidey: life. Mm-Hmm.

Reegs: And just a little bit to talk about what it looks like. So that is really important, obviously, in this animation medium. So you've got these, like, a lot of the time, very beautiful backgrounds. The skies are kind of painterly

compositions and that,

Sidey: that. Yeah.

Reegs: and then the other stuff is kind of these really detailed often and intricate backgrounds and then sort of simple like 2D animation over the top of

Sidey: Yeah. The, the actual characters themselves starts off with a fella. It's actually fairly simple. Mm-Hmm. , not that I could draw it myself, but anyone with any kind of, you've like yourself, artistic flair could easily do something like that.

Reegs: that. It's the fluidity of the movement and things like shadow, the interplay of shadows and the facial expressions.

Dan: that goes a long way in a lot of the film actually how they convey as animated actors if you like, the story

It is a testament to the to the The way that they put it all together and the smooth flow of it all, because there's no words.

And what I love about the, the fact this is, it's, anybody can watch it, you know? So

Sidey: it's, it's universal.

Dan: it's universal. It's universal. And it, it's trying to grapple with really big themes as well, isn't

Reegs: it?

Through a very simple story as well,

Yeah.

good time on a tradition.

Dan: nature

Sidey: well, we're going to get him first of all exploring the island and trying to figure out, you know, where he is, what he can

Reegs: Yeah, I mean he's got to solve his, you know, there is a certain amount of realism because this first stretch of the movie is almost like kind of cast away esque.

You know, he's searching for water, he needs food, you see him getting very frustrated with his loneliness and also his like, his routine, he sort of goes into this like, His sanity slipping, not knowing the difference between real or not, you know, he hallucinates a string quartet on the beach and a bridge, which I think the bridge reaching out into the water is what gives him the idea to start building a bamboo

Dan: Yeah. And, and he's, he's just kind of floating along that, isn't he? And he's these dream lights states.

Eventually, as you say, he starts building a raft, but each time he goes out with the intention of sailing off he gets stopped by some

Sidey: Something whacks it from underneath and destroys it straight away.

Which I would imagine would be quite frustrating. So he has to get back to shore. I think he has three iterations of big each time it's slightly bigger. It's quite some impressive engineering.

Reegs: some point he finds a dead seal doesn't he and he skins it you see him vomiting as he does it and then he skins it and makes some like better equipment for himself some trousers or something But and a better part of the sail and all that stuff.

So like you say you're getting better and then it is on the third

Sidey: attempt. Yeah, he he goes under the water to find, I think he tried to see on the second go. But the third, he goes underwater and he sees it's this giant turtle.

Dan: Red

Reegs: Yeah.

Sidey: Turtle has been

Reegs: And it's also animated slightly differently as well, right? Because it's a, it's a comp, it's clearly a CG animation where everything else is sort of hand drawn and painted.

So it's like, it's this bright red CG turtle.

Dan: Yeah. And He's eventually this turtle comes onto the beach and he's just so frustrated that he gets a big stick and kills

Sidey: it.

He whacks it over the head with a then

Reegs: at that point. I mean, yeah, he's violent towards it

Sidey: He flips it upside down,

Reegs: down to die in the sun.

It's awful. Yeah.

Sidey: he has, you know feeling like absolutely horrendously guilty about it. And so he goes back To the beach to see if

Dan: And again, just how they they get that across, you know Just how with no words this guy on a beach feeling guilty about that, you know, it's it's really clever

Sidey: He's not strong enough to flip it back over so he's tipping water he's got he's got this sort of Crude sort of cup. He's he's got a bamboo, isn't it? There's coconut was it and he's tipping water on it, but nothing.

Dan: Not enough yeah

Sidey: So

Reegs: And I think at one night is he sleeping next to it and then it's like the crack down the middle of its body. You can imagine it's a massive turtle on its back and it's at

Sidey: Yeah. The shell cracks and then we just, we just see the flipper, I think morphs into an arm.

Reegs: an

Sidey: And you're like, oh, . Okay.

Dan: A woman appears from it.

Reegs: A red haired woman.

Dan: haired woman. Yeah. And and then so from this, and you're thinking now, so this is quite bizarre. It's gone into kind of a fantasy where you, you weren't really expecting so much of that up until this point or you weren't sure what was going

Sidey: Well, we've had a few bits of him clearly having some hallucinations or some, you know, maybe he's lost his marbles or whatever, but those were always shown in black and white, I thought, up to that

Reegs: that point. So

Sidey: So it was quite clear what was fantasy and what was reality, whereas here now you're just presented with it being a woman, which obviously there's

Dan: and she kind of floats out the, the shell into the water.

Reegs: Yeah, well, he builds her a little, he sort of looks after her and nurtures her, right? He builds her a little shelter and brings her water and all that stuff. And yeah, eventually, like

Dan: Yeah. They, they, they look after each other and and there, there's one scene where he and her are under the moonlight and he's thinking back to what he did. And they have this kind of just really touching moment where she kind of strokes his face and sort of like, I forgive you and things like that.

And again, you know, just really, there's no words. So, but the, the emotion that the, the kind of gets through with the animation and the, the soft sounds of nature and the sea lapping up and

Reegs: And the stunningly beautiful artwork as well and it's not like a dynamic camera so because the the plot is paced fairly slowly the animation can be paced fairly slowly as well but though you do get little details like somebody will stand in a stream and you'll see them and then it'll go cut to underwater and you'll see the fish swimming around their feet for a few seconds and then cut back to a far shot like it's got storytelling and and atmosphere in it

Dan: And, and you're right, like that, the director there, his, his Kind of I want to see it from this point of view this point of view there and with the animation Then you've got the tools if you can draw it, you know, that's it You want a turtle that turns into a woman?

Not a problem. We'll draw it, you know So it does so much in this medium, but it it really is is real, you know, you you forget it's a cartoon because it's so

Sidey: Were you still awake at this point chris?

Cris: No

No. I made it until the second boat, until the second kind of bamboo thing, and then I was just, I don't know what happened afterwards, because I did not

Reegs: a very ambient movie. So if you were recovering from any thing yesterday,

Cris: I tried twice, I tried twice and I think the first time I didn't even make it past the intro.

Sidey: It's I mean, yeah, it is a meditative kind of slow pace,

Reegs: it was perfect for me today.

Sidey: it was just what I needed to get

Reegs: needed to get out of

Sidey: Anyway, the the the redhead woman and uh uh fella, they fall in love and they do the wild thing. They do. And they have a little

Reegs: love and they do the one thing. And they have a little

Dan: Yeah, and well, that's it. They've got this, this child who is growing up and, and all the time we're still, you know, thinking about the, these wider themes that are around nature and around family now,

Reegs: The cycle of life. The

Dan: of life and everything.

And the boy, he becomes a good swimmer, doesn't

Sidey: Well, the, earlier on we didn't mention it, but earlier on, the fellow, when he is exploring the island, he slips and falls down and sort of casse. Yeah. And this could have been a, a disaster. 'cause it's, it's

Reegs: Oh man, I was panicking

Sidey: If you're claustrophobic in any way, this, it looks like an in.

closed kind of cave, but he's able to and people actually do this shit for fun caving and whatever, where he has to, whilst holding his breath, just squeeze his way through this tiny little passage to get out and get out and see it and, and escape from there. And the kid falls in and they just, they just, she just waves at him and goes, just, you know, points their arm and goes to him and the kid just swims straight out, no bother.

Reegs: When he comes out there are turtles waiting for him, aren't they because they they sort of accompany he's part turtle this kid I guess so, um as as we shall see I suppose

Dan: See

Sidey: now we get just him growing the family growing older.

It all kind of happens quite

Dan: Yeah, it does. It moves along and the, the little boy becomes a young man and the waves and the sea is looking more and more appealing.

Sidey: bit like Moana at this

Dan: and yeah, it's a bit like you know, the, well, the kids are getting up and growing up and leaving home and

Reegs: are getting up and growing up and leaving home. all flying off in one direction and the guy looks up at the sky and then she knows straight away doesn't she she comes running to grab him and before you see it the waters have gone out and

Sidey: just a big wall in

Dan: Yeah,

Reegs: has just started emerging from the water and it devastates the island.

Sidey: Yeah, the bamboo forest basically gone.

Dan: That's right, yeah.

Sidey: and

Dan: Which was another brilliant kind of animation and everything. And the nature and everything you see in the forest there, the spiders and the ants and everything within the life of the

Reegs: the forest. He's looking for his parents. He finds his

Sidey: Yeah. He's, he's, he calls out he's looking for his parents. He finds his mother. She's wounded. She's got a, a cut on her leg. Yeah. Looks fairly beaten up, but she's okay. But no sign of the old man. But he swims out into the sea. And we do see the old man. He's beginning to drown. He's

Reegs: Oh, he's clinging to like one last bit of

Sidey: his strength is gone and he he's not able to hold on to the bamboo anymore So he's starting to go but there's there's three Turtles are with the sun and

Reegs: lead him out

Sidey: They show him where he is effectively and he swims down and gets gets the old man and is able to rescue him and bring him back up so the turtles are starting to become quite prevalent in the film

Reegs: and then when they go back, I think in that there's like all of the sort of broken bits of bamboo and all that stuff and they make this enormous bonfire.

It looks stunning and they burn it like all the way they do the shadow and stuff looks incredible. And they burn it all. I wondered if it was going to be like a signal fire and that they would be rescued or something, but I don't think it is quite that is it's just a big.

Sidey: No,

he there's also this glass bottle that's been knocking about.

He found it when he was a baby. Yeah. And it turns up again.

Reegs: Again. I don't know if it's a message

Sidey: it's obviously,

Dan: or

Sidey: it's meant to represent something, but I, I was a bit, I didn't get that

Dan: he starts to, there's a lot around this film that I think, you know, has meanings that could be drawn differently by whatever filters you've got and

Sidey: I think it's deliberately so, it's very much open to your

Dan: Which makes it great as well because you fill in a lot of blanks with understanding of your own but um The the kid eventually sort of grows up and I think that's part of a message it comes through from a dream as well where the water just stills doesn't

Sidey: That was cool.

Yeah.

Reegs: That is brilliant, it's like the time has stopped

Sidey: So, it's an enormous wave that's just about to break and it's but it's paused and he's able to swim to the top of that and wave at his parents. And he's I guess kind of takes that as his calling to you know, to leave.

Reegs: Yeah, well, that is, I guess, you know, it's hard not to think of message in a bottle when you see the bottle, right?

That's what you think of on a desert island. So that maybe was his wake up call to go and, go and do it as well as part of this vision. Because he does, he goes off with the turtles, doesn't he? Right? See you later, mum and dad, I'm off. And then you get kind of like the beginning of Up. The movie up, but you get that for the last few minutes of this film.

Dan: all sad.

Reegs: sad.

Well, it's not sad. It's, it's a matter of fact, like handling it. You see, he, they grow old together. They have a life together. You see, and then one night she wakes up and he doesn't. And she holds his hand and then it turns into a flipper and she's gone. She's done.

Dan: nature as something and even though man is gone, she's kind of carry on and going on her way and we'll find a man again.

I don't know. There's lots of different ways you can look at it and square it, but it's genius. I don't know you know how to. really describe it in a way that I would understand all the bits, but the, the whole film works so well. It's just, it's lovely. It's absolutely just it's notes that you just think, how is it with no words?

You know, just the plot and the animation in, in the faces of the characters and everything is brilliant.

Sidey: It's cleverly done because it, I think you're absolutely right what you said earlier, it's completely not abstract, but there's no, like, What you would say like an anchored meaning or anything to it.

It's obviously the people who made it probably had what they thought it was but It's completely open for you as you as the viewer to put your own lens on it and and take away what you want from it

Dan: your own lens on it and take away what you want from it. So it's that same thing about

Reegs: certainly that same thing about how nature and man are kind of linked and all that stuff, so, yeah.

Dan: Really,

and just so easy to watch and I've seen this before with kids of different ages and They're just transfixed by the animation by the the the way it makes you feel

because you you don't

have to follow any of it

Reegs: Yeah, it's a bit shape of water like that, isn't it?

Sidey: isn't it? Yeah, it's

Reegs: Oh, it's perfect, wasn't it?

Dan: Yeah.

it's good medicine.

Sidey: Strong, strong

Cris: Strong. Recommend. Yeah.