A Tree of Palme

Story is not easy but it is deep and good. Animations are lovely. Sound is ok. Not everyone will understand this movie and will say " i dont like it" I really like this film very much.

This has got to be one of the most trippy, esoteric, surreal and all around bizarre things I have ever witnessed. You know how creepy and weird all the freaky dreams of giant oozing teddy bears that sing and destroy hospitals Tetsuo had in Akira? Imagine two hours of THAT being used to tell a Pinocchio "I want to become a real boy!" story, except the story is very confusing and Pinocchio is highly manic. Watching the movie, you can see the underpinnings of what in concept would be a decent story, but Takashi Nakamura mangles it so much with bland characters, muddled storytelling, heaps ofunexplained occurences, and dragged-out scenes that result is 2 hours of vegetative confusion as the viewer watches, their brain struggling to comprehend what's going on by gaining what little cognitive traction it can from the small kernals of coherrant storytelling underneath all the failure. The mood in the movie changes a few times as well, and is a little jarring. It starts out with a little action in the beginning, but quickly slows down to a slow, plodding pace. After a certain event, things pep up and it almost feels like Disney movie. Then after another event, the movie begins a long, hour and a half descent into the aforementioned confusion, muddled story, and throws in plenty of strange, bizarre and sometimes disturbing imagery that heralds the collapse of a good concept into a rotting pile of failure. Its as if different parts of the story were written at different times when Namakura was in different moods then mashed together in some kind of horrid amalgamation that everyone was too polite to point out was rubbish. The only redeeming qualities this movie has is that the animation is very fluid and well done (even if the character designs look a little uninspired and dated) and the sound is good. Other than that, there is plenty to write home about, none of which is complimentary. Avoid this like the plague. Don't even accept it if someone is giving it to you for free. If someone gives it to you as a gift, smile as you accept it and then throw it away when they leave. Its that bad.

This film was bizarre. From character and setting to the story itself, it was downright strange. The story is basically that of Pinoccio, but quickly dispel the Disney images from your mind. This is the story of an emotionally disturbed puppet with a sever lack of empathy who is posessed by an equally emotionally disturbed amazoness who wants to become a real boy. And while that might sound interesting, trust me, it isn't. The ending impression is a feeling of 'what did I just witness' and 'I'm glad I didn't actually pay money to see that/I hope I can geta refund.' The imagery is stunning, and gorgeous, such as Palm and Popo in a canoo on a river filled with glowing lotus. The setting was reallly beautiful. However, that juxtaposed with a dying woman being attacked by what honestly look like giant phalac symbols is just plain strange and jarring, like watching a Dali Painting in motion. Characters are also designed to look childish, which seems at odds with the dark story. The characters, overall, are an uninteresting bunch. Two of the main group seem to be there to look cute but serve no real purpose to the plot or development of other characters. Popo, the main heroine simply seems to be the world's whipping girl with no backbone. Palme is manic and seemingl has some kind of bipolar disorder coupled with a serious empathy problem, even going so far as killing something because he feels like it and is curious and practically kidnaps and hurts Popo, who he claims to love. Shaka, who becomes Palme's sidekick and son of one of the antagonists seems to be the most able bodied, mentally stable and interesting character but takes the back seat to our bipolar puppet friend. The story itself is straightforward. The puppet wants to be a real boy and has to go on a journey to do so. However, the plot advances very slowly leaving the audience to watch Palme's psychotic episodes, watch Popo be abused, and be subjected to trippy imagery. With such a straightforward plot, one might have thought either the story could have been wrapped up sooner, or a little more effort could have been placed on characters. It also becomes more complicated than it really needs to be. Just when you think you have a grasp on Palme's psyche, or where the story is headed, it suddenly takes an unexplained, unnecessary manic change. What really should have been a fairly simple story was taken too far, filled with unnecessary or two dimensional characters and filled with more disturbed disorders and surrealist imagery than you can shake a stick at. It's completely disorienting. This is certainly not a children's movie! If my descriptions of weird creatures shaped like male anatomy and psychotic puppets and violence were not enough to explain this, I'm not sure what will. Sound and imagery are beautiful though. If anyone is interested in surealism or revisionist fairy tales, I would reccomend this, however for the general viewer it is simply trippy, boring and confusing to watch. It is overall a disorienting experience and a waste of two otherwise productive hours.