Tag: Steampunk

The Secrets Are Revealed in Poupelle in Chimney Town’s Home Video Release

Poupelle in Chimney Town’s adventures are far from over, and this home video release reveals plans on where it can go! Worth picking up for those enamoured with this world.

Poupelle of Chimney Town Blu-Ray & DVD Cover
Available to preorder on Amazon USA

Shout Factory
Release Date: May 31, 2022

Poupelle in Chimney Town (映画 えんとつ町のプペル) will soon be available on home video, and if the bonus material is any indication, his adventures are far from over. This highly anticipated release is available to stream (Amazon Prime), but my money is on the physical release. It has everything for fans to fawn over and it comes with a nice mini booklet to introduce and explain what this story is all about–a young man daring to dream.

There might be plans for a 4K release down the road, but there’s no official news yet. I can see this film shine with a higher resolution release. There’s a lot of detail to appreciate, and when it’s been wholly animated in CGI, I like to know who those figures are in the background. In what’s offered in this blu-ray version is crisp. The original 5.1 sonic presentation is perfect.

I read more into this movie and expressed it in my article, “From Book to Film and Beyond Poupelle in Chimney Town!” and in what I understood, it’s also about not letting the past get the better of you. The tale is also comparable to the themes explored in the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from Wizard of Oz after I finished watching the bonus material.

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Poupelle of Chimney Town is Coming Home!

Poupelle of Chimney Town Blu-ray + DVD

Shout! Factory
Eleven Arts

Coming to VOD on May 3, and Home Video on May 17, 2022

Read our movie review here.

Based on a popular Japanese picture book by celebrated author and creator Akihiro Nishino, the fantastical tale of Lubicchi and Poupelle leaps from pages to the screen. Poupelle of Chimney Town will certainly delight fans of all ages.

Directed by Yusuke Hirota and produced at Tokyo’s famed STUDIO4ºC, this movie brings to life a unique and inspiring tale about friendship, courage, hope, and perseverance to reach for the stars through an awe-inspiring adventure filled with whimsical characters, stunning animation, and unforgettable performances. The film boasts the stellar English-language voice cast of Tony Hale (Being the Ricardos, Veep), Antonio Raul Corbo (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Stephen Root (Finding Nemo, King of the Hill), Misty Lee (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Ultimate Spider-Man), and Hasan Minhaj (The Daily Show, The Morning Show).

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From Book to Film and Beyond! Poupelle of Chimney Town

Poupelle of Chimney Town may well share similiarities with other films, like Urinetown, and thankfully how it wraps up is very different!

Poupelle of Chimney Town Film Poster – GenkinahitoScreening at Spark Film Festival 2022

The cinematic adaptation of Akihiro Nishino’s picture book, Poupelle of Chimney Town (映画 えんとつ町のプペル), is a wonder to behold. Its vibrant and highly detailed backgrounds spotlight a world not too different from Victorian Age Paris, and here, the skies are forever clouded by industry. Instead of a city covered in soot, the life we find on the streets is brought alive with autumn colours.

Who we are following in this film is Lubicchi (Mana Ashida). This boy lost his father some years ago, and on Halloween, a mysterious golem made of garbage emerges from the sewers and finds the boy by a quirk of fate. Its design is amazing, and some may think it’s a robot. Plus, this animated work is only scratching the surface of how this story can be retold as a Broadway play, perhaps in the style of Les Miserables. The fact that’s in the works (teasers can be found on YouTube) has me excited to see how many more songs are going to be offered.

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[Fantasia 2019] Making that Steampunk Connection with the Everyday

Steampunk may simply be characterized as Victorian age sensibilities with technology powered by steam, but there’s more to it than just that.

Steampunk PosterBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

To find upcoming showtimes, please visit the official website here.

Steampunk may simply be characterized as Victorian age sensibilities with technology powered by steam, but there’s more to it than just that. The literary worlds of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells are just one example of what this genre represents. Another is in how it invites the imagination to ponder alternate possibilities if western civilization went a different way.

The documentary, Steampunk Connection, made its world premiere at Fantasia Fest 2019 on August 1st, 2019 and it describes this genre as a fictitious, futuristic trope that gives us the means to question today’s technological revolution by comparing it to an obsolete technology of a bygone era.

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[Fantasia 2019] The Moon in the Hidden Woods, A Movie Review

Had The Moon in the Hidden Woods been expanded to a television series, I’m sure more could be done to expand the narrative.

The Moon in the Hidden Woods Movie PosterWhen the The Moon in the Hidden Woods is longer illuminating the night sky, the kingdom around Trade City is thrown into chaos. Elsewhere, just what rises is Muju, the red sky, and what he wants is to destroy the world. On land, his agent, Count Tar is far more dangerous than anyone can realize, and there’s nobody to stop him!

Only the brave dare to cross the desert wasteland to find the Moon, and what we get to see is a truly fantastical tale to marvel at. The title sets the tone of this South Korean animated film, and when it borrows heavily on local folklore to tell its tale, I was hooked!

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The Vintage Tempest’s Picks of the Fantasia International Film Festival 2019

Image result for fantasia film festival 2019Runs: July 11 – August 1st
Montreal, Quebec

The Fantasia International Film Festival is in full swing, taking place in Montreal, Quebec with plenty of works to view and a wonderful look into all things fantastic. The genres also include horror, science-fiction and drama. In this show, the focus is on the extraordinary, hence the name. I encourage anyone who loves these genres to come to this show and see the world premieres that take place here.

Of particular note is a premiere screening of Shelagh McLeod’s Astronaut (review coming) starring Richard Dreyfuss. Arielle Dombasle’s Crystal Palace is a French production which only some can describe–a hallucinatory experience, a kitsch and camp kaleidoscope with surrealist dialogue and cardboard costumes (literally), all with a dash of meta-cinema. I’m particularly excited for the release of Takahiro Umehara’s The Moon in the Hidden Woods which blends steampunk, Korean folk styles and otherworldly fantasy into a tale of a world bereft of a lunar guardian. Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s Night God is said to be a waking nightmare, an unknowable maze of gigantic moving paintings, reminding one at times of the painter Carel Willink.

But it’s not the movies that defines a show. The huge list of shorts showcase the imagination of many a new filmmaker. Swiss animator Nils Hedinger’s Kuap looks like it may borrow from Hayao Miyazaki in narrative, Simon Beaupré’s Evil James Bond vs World War Z is a must for those who love crazy crossover ideas. Those who love Chinese folklore should look at Wan Jinyue and Du Jinzhi‘s The Girl and the Serpent.

The list does not end here. From the press release:

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