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Format: One-Hour Featurette/Documentary
Channel: Starz Media Channels
Air Date: Monday, December 17th @ 9:00pm (ET)
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Images: Click to Enlarge [all]
"[This documentary] dives into the uncompromising, visually arresting, rebel art form that is influencing your world more than you realize." --Richard Roeper
Call me sentimental; but the somewhat anticipated; however presumably temporary demise of western licensor and distributor Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc. has served as a rather disquieting reminder of the fragility of the business of anime fandom. Regardless of how far immersed or how marvelously detached we may choose to be when it comes to staying familiar with the practices and behaviors of the creators, owners and/or distributors of the content we follow so dearly--it's quite cathartic to journey through various multi-media, seeing how others interpret, and reinterpret, the power of the animated form.
Such is the familiar case with the soon-to-air Starz Entertainment documentary "Anime: Drawing a Revolution," which serves as a fun little piece to the larger puzzle that serves to educate and inform viewers of both the popularity and profound influence of Japanese animation. One of the first installments of the Richard Roeper hosted Starz Ent. series Starz Inside--which apparently doesn't feature Mr. Roeper doing much in the actual featurette, discounting the ninety second introduction--"Drawing a Revolution" aims to explain how an art form such as Japanese animation has managed to seize such a benevolent influence on the international filmmaking community.
Interviewing a couple dozen Hollywood-types on how far influenced they feel their acting, directing or writing has been affected by the influx of anime into the west's entertainment and artistic cultures, "Drawing a Revolution" is a pretty decent watch. The documentary of sorts is neither introspective nor inspirational nor is it even remotely groundbreaking; the program however, is on target when it profiles the world of western filmmaking as it adapts eastern strategies.
The documentary does a pretty good job of putting into an artistic context or cultural framework the successes and intrigues that have arisen through Japanese animation over the past sixty or so years. It is yet worth noting though, that for anime fans whose interest and experience with the industry happens to stretch across years of awareness, "Drawing a Revolution" doesn't serve much of a purpose.
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Never forget that with anime, you can create a film that no one else can. |
As such, as fun as it sounds to hear people with media presence extol the brilliance of Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, one key problem with the documentary is how its content is targeted towards a rather cloudy demographic that bridges the "relatively unaware" and the "somewhat interested."
In order to get the most out of this program, it's best if the viewer is aware of Japanese animation, its presence in western arts and entertainment, and if the viewer is only somewhat eager if not shy about learning how the medium has crossed the Pacific.
It's a muddled-middle-ground that leaves me feeling half-bored and half-fascinated; because the commentary and discussion pin-pointed in the documentary on the interactive, whimsical, crazy, grounded yet fiercely artistic motives behind anime feature filmmaking have all been said before, no matter how reflective.