Coming Of Age Archives | Otaku No Culture

[Fantasia 2021] Un Petit Vampire is Moving on Up From Festival to Home…

In what makes The Petit Vampire enduring is the story. It borrows from many animated traditions, including Casper the Friendly Ghost.

The Petit Vampire (Lil Vampire) Movie Poster — **Playing at Fantasia Film Festi on Aug 08, 2021 3:00 PM and Aug 10, 2021 9:00 AM**

**Coming to VOD Sept 21 & Home Video Oct 5th via Shout! Factory Kids.**

Joann Sfar’s adaptation of The Petit Vampire (The Lil’ Vampire) book series to film is an amazingly well thought out story. Many people have adapted the original series by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg to either a movie (there were two prior) or a book, and none of them really gained traction till now. In this filmmaker’s case, the titular protagonist can no longer grow up. He wants to go to school in the graphic novel editions. This coming of age tale teaches us viewers something else–the value of friendship. This artist’s version takes a few cues from Casper the Friendly Ghost, and goes further because of its rich phantasmagorical mythology.

One unusual aspect in this property is that certain characters don’t have a proper name. The Captain of the Dead (Jean-Paul Rouve) leads this clan. He also protects them from Gibbous–whose face is like the crescent moon. He’s hardly a man and there are times where I think he’s a harbinger of Death. In the animated movie, these two figures desire Pandora, and I’m sure that name is taken from a certain Greek myth.

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How to Catch Peter Rabbit 2

Ed Sum
(the Vintage Tempest)

For more information, please visit the official website.

Coming to PVOD in Canada
Rent it at home July 2!

Not everyone will have seen Peter Rabbit 2. This film may have hopped, skipped or jumped past certain theatres and purists (those who know the source material by Beatrix Potter) are more likely to pass this film series up than try to watch. I enjoy this modern update as it introduces him to a new generation where he’s not quite as rascally as Bugs Bunny and nor is he a Winnie the Pooh.

Thomas McGregor (Domhnall Gleeson) is more or less considered this bunny’s (voiced by James Corden) handler. This film picks up from where the last left off. He married Bea (Rose Byrne) and she proves Pete is “marketable.” Her children’s books about the rabbit are popular enough to get the attention of a huge publisher. She’s being courted to sell the rights so that the bigwigs can send the bunny to places akin to how a certain beagle has become huge for Apple TV. This other series no longer has the same quality as Charles Schultz‘s works.

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Los (or is that Lost?) Luca

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Spoiler Alert

Not every PIXAR movie starts off with a bang. Sometimes the hook isn’t there, especially when viewers don’t really know that the world is fearful of legendary beasts in Luca. People should learn to love them and I wondered if this film may be this studio’s return to Monsters Inc.

Instead, we have another coming of age tale by Enrico Casarosa making his directorial debut. He drew upon his childhood and knowledge of local (Roman) folklore for his story. I believe he was struggling to decide in what kind of movie to make. It’s definitely inspired by A Little Mermaid. Plus, it has that The Good Dinosaur cum Finding Nemo vibe–especially when the parents go searching for their runaway son. Eventually, the perspective switches into something akin to Splash and Ponyo. This multi-tribute mix is okay, but when this film is loaded with the requisite Studio Ghibli references, I was tempted to turn this film off.

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The School Report is in: My Summer as a Goth!

Do Goths mourn? Are they always sad? The stereotypes in mass media are many, and an authentic look is rarely touched upon (to which this film tries)

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available on YouTube
Spoiler Alert

Tara Johnson-Medinger’s directorial debut, My Summer as a Goth, would certainly turn heads if it ever became a school report of what she did in those dog days. This story is about Joey Javitts’ (Natalie Shershow) time as a wannabe to win the love of a boy.

Technically, she should grieve. Her dad recently passed away, and it’s reasonable for her to become preoccupied with death, ask why him, and hide out in her room. She sulks and just doesn’t want to live life to its fullest. Mom can’t help. She’s required to go on a book tour to promote her latest. The grandparents are her only hope, if she can bear to be around them.

Johnson-Medinger’s portfolio is excellent to push the right themes to the fore. She’s the head of the Portland Oregon Women’s Film Festival and its education program, which teaches young ladies how to be innovators. Not only does this school help put them to work in this cut throat industry, but also gives these youths the mentorship needed to succeed.

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Landing at LAAPFF 2020 is Parachute!

It’s uncertain how long rich Asian families (usually Chinese) have plopped their children in a foreign land and assume they will remain fine. The plan to get them to assimilate to local culture, and welcome them home later, can backfire, as Katherine Tolentino’s short film sadly shows. The term was once called satellite kids, but these days, the media identifies these youths as Parachute–also the title of this short film.

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available to viewers in Southern California from Oct 1, 2020 at 12pm PT to Oct 31, 2020 at 11:59pm PT. Click here to watch the film on Eventive.

This filmmaker’s drama reveals how this idea to bridge cultures together can and cannot work. Part of the problem lays with how Asian parents exercise tiger parenting—a term coined by Chinese-American author Amy Chua in “The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” Their desire also includes thinking removing them from a harsh education system of the East will do some good for the child.

Nicky Zou is excellent at playing a not so idealistic Wendy Zhang, a young woman who’s turned punk because she’s had a rough go at the transition. She’s not the only one in her class. Although we don’t get the other students’ stories (they too are transplants), she’s the one who has a lot of air to grieve. Her host family and school doesn’t try to help. Usually, in real life situations, the desire by the parents to extricate youth from one extreme educational system in hopes to amalgamate them to another is thought of as a good thing. But without guidance counsellors, life can be tough.

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