Director Pierre Földes is not an artist prone to just giving us something that’s easily digestible and worthy of leaving us dangling. “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” is probably one of the most uncommercial movies of the year, and the fact that it’s fully animated also works in its favor. The animation style that is used along with the often intentional drabness of it all allows for an almost ethereal aesthetic; it’s one that feels so dream like. It’s almost like someone just ripped random imagery from someone’s subconscious and manifested it through some pretty good rotoscoping and 3D animation.
Director Földes’ movie is one that will pair beautifully with cerebral animated films like “Waking Life” and “Tekkonkinkreet.” It’s a movie about human connection, the struggle to find human connection in a distant world, and that aching that comes from being close to everyone, but also being so far. “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” is an unusual anthology animated movie that unfolds in various chapters, all of which interconnect in various ways. One of the central plots involves the bookish Katagiri who, still reeling from a terrible Earthquake in Tokyo, arrives home to be greeted by a seven foot frog. The frog, who talks, begs for Katagiri’s help in fighting a worm that’s lurking underground and could potentially start another disaster in the form of a massive tsunami.
Meanwhile Komura is stunned when he comes home from work to learn that his wife Kyoko had left him after spending days in front of the television watching coverage of the horrible Earthquake that ensued in Tokyo. Along the way both men go on personal separate journeys across the country, thinking back to their past, and trying reconcile the sudden events that have unfolded in their present. All of it is curiously linked back to the terrible earthquake, which speaks to a lot of how individuals can process grief and trauma. As well Földes explores how the trauma can send ripples through people that have barely spoken, causing them to reflect on the minute details of their own lives, and how they can ultimately prove to be more important than they realize.
To its detriment, “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” can be immensely abstract, as well as steadily paced, but sticking with it might just prove to be worthwhile. I enjoyed the very deeply personal and fascinating peek in to humanity and our somewhat metaphysical link to each other.
Now available on Digital and Home Video from Zeitgeist Films.