Japanese mountaineer/photogapher Fukamachi becomes obsessed with tracking legendary older mountaineer Habu, who has disappeared for several years after a tragic accident while climbing with a boy. The gruff, reclusive Habu is obsessed in turn with the simple experience of climbing -- the harder and more insane the better. There's a MacGuffin, which is the camera belonging to George Mallory, who may or may not have been the first to reach the summit of Everest. All this is woven together in an anime film that's easy to watch, and has moments of real power.
The quality of the graphics is fascinating in itself. The people are well drawn but deliberately short of fully realistic ("masking" -- it's easier to visualize yourself in the scene if the characters aren't ultra-specific). It's the mountains themselves that are rendered with the highest levels of craftsmanship and photorealism, and they are really spectacular. The final big sequence of the story, on the high southwest slopes of Everest itself, is wonderful and told largely without words. Great stuff. This is a French production and so it makes sense that this particular approach to animation follows in the footsteps of Herge and Tintin.
Why climb? Mallory famously said "Because it's there" and ultimately there's no further answer. This is a story of obsession, and rather than treat it as abnormal or psychotic, finally it's just part of being human.
One odd thing about the Netflix version I watched: the English dubbing doesn't match the English subtitles by a long shot . They're both good but obviously done by different translators.
The quality of the graphics is fascinating in itself. The people are well drawn but deliberately short of fully realistic ("masking" -- it's easier to visualize yourself in the scene if the characters aren't ultra-specific). It's the mountains themselves that are rendered with the highest levels of craftsmanship and photorealism, and they are really spectacular. The final big sequence of the story, on the high southwest slopes of Everest itself, is wonderful and told largely without words. Great stuff. This is a French production and so it makes sense that this particular approach to animation follows in the footsteps of Herge and Tintin.
Why climb? Mallory famously said "Because it's there" and ultimately there's no further answer. This is a story of obsession, and rather than treat it as abnormal or psychotic, finally it's just part of being human.
One odd thing about the Netflix version I watched: the English dubbing doesn't match the English subtitles by a long shot . They're both good but obviously done by different translators.