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A Whisker Away, Slightly Fanciful but not Feline Free

30 Jun

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

A Whisker Away is likely to have accolades who love Shōjo manga more than curious cats wanting the supernatural to play more into this anime. I’m of the latter persuasion and want to know if the mysterious fat cat known as Mask Seller is a Nekomata. This particular type of trickster spirit loves to toy with humans.

Miyo Sasaki (Mirai Shida) is unfortunate to have a chance encounter with him, and part of it is due to finding out her parents are splitting. The Cheshire Cat can take lessons from this guy, and Keith Silverstein in the dubbed version is amazing in the role. It’s familiar and might be inspired by Jemaine Clement’s performance of Tamatoa the Hermit Crab from Moana, As the devil may care feline who trades in noa masks, he has his own agenda. Part of the deal allows the wearer to transform into another species for “immortality.”

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Marona’s Fantastic Tale is Fanciful and Care Free

28 Jun

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

GKIDs Virtual Cinema Release

Marona’s Fantastic Tale is more than just a meditation on life—a reflection of what was—of a beloved dog fading away. Unlike The Call of the Wild which is based on Jack London’s novel of the same name, with a happy ending this animated movie is an original work written and directed by Anca Damian and her son, Anghel, which is much more sombre and philosophical.

The titular character voiced by Lizzy Brochere reveals all that she’s experienced in a Parisian town filled with colourful humans. Sometimes, what the pup dealt with in the beginning is not as telling as her other encounters. There are some weird people out there, and they are definitely caricatures of people exhibiting some weird vices.

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Hopping on the Promare Bandwagon Late

24 Jun

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available on iTunes and Regular Release Now

Collector’s Edition
August 4th, 2020

When humans are spontaneously combusting like nobody’s business, a new type of firefighter is needed to keep the peace in the feature-film length film, Promare. Some of these “victims” have learned how to control this pyrokinetic ability so they don’t die. They’re known as the Burnish and Lio Fotia rallied the bad ones together to form a terrorist organization to which the Freeze Force has to put (pardoning the pun) on ice.

30 years later, the struggle continues on. The Earth is undergoing a geologic change, and only a select few mutants can escape since they can “teleport” away. But nobody knows that there’s another race, the Promare, who resides in this planet’s inner core. They are in pain, and what’s happening results from the enemy toying with them.

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Doxa Docs in Review, Part Two

20 Jun

DOXA FestivalBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

* Playing from June 18 to 26. Tickets to an online screening can be purchased here. For information, please visit their faq.

The Doxa Documentary Film Festival continues to stream direct to your home, and in part two, I look beyond the Pacific Northwest. This time, I’m travelling East to get a taste of what living in Toronto was once like, when a person of my namesake helped change the scene long ago. But home is where the heart is, no matter where you live. This includes finding love in a digital age.

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