Montage - Isle of Dogs

At the time of writing this, this film is the newest film from Wes Anderson.
But, he has just released a trailer for his upcoming film "The French Dispatch"

The Isle of Dogs has numerous montage moments, one could almost make the argument that the whole film is one large montage, as the colors, scenes, and storytelling blend together in a flurry of beautiful stop-motion animation.

 Not Wes Anderson's first foray into animation, as he has the Fantastic Mr. Fox under his belt, but definitely a welcome one. For two reasons. First being that animated films are still on the periphery of most average film-goers and that the first oscar to be given an animated film, happened in 2002, for the legendary Shrek. The more creative we can be in making a beautiful story, the better.

The second reason is that this film is set in Japan, my personal favorite country (after Scotland). Also, the film has pulled a massive amount of inspiration from Japan, namely Hiroshige, Hokusai
(2 Japanese infamous artists), and Akira Kurosawa (legendary Japanese filmmaker). 

By Hiroshige - Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum, Public Domain.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3790905

By Katsushika Hokusai - Google Cultural Institute, Public Domain
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22655682

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Writer: Akira Kurosawa (Screenplay)

Let's get into the montage after an extremely brief story overview. I try not to divulge much, but if you have not watched this lovely film, I try not to spoil things, but we do need common points of reference if you want to understand what I'm talking about. That in mind, spoilers ahead.

Essentially, the film is about a boy Atari (Koyu Rankin) finding his dog with the help of a group of banished dogs, there's a huge political and medical reason as to why dogs are banished, this has led to Atari's dog being lost/banished along with the main group of dogs that help Atari.

 The first montage is an extremely detailed, (even though all the film could be described this way) prologue at the beginning of the film, where we're told in stunning historical Japanese fashion about the history of the city, where the story takes place. The main focus is on the history and implications of dogs in this society.

https://youtu.be/N7bpIbnS7JA

Link to the montage.

Hiroshige and Hokusai's styles clearly influenced the visual style in this montage, the 2D slightly abstract and detailed work here is a beautiful hommage and reference to them, also it creates something new, and visually sets the tone for the upcoming story, aka, you're going to be in a Japanese story now, buckle up. But not only this, the visual story is essentially a slide show, almost (in my perspective) a comic book. In Japan, they are called manga, and Hokusai had crafted manga of his own 100's of years ago, it's still as popular then, as it is today, if not more so.

I feel this is a tonal montage use to set a Japanese feel to the story, and to ease your perspective on what is about to come. The way the camera pans or slides along a scene/painting to make you feel as if you're looking at a piece of historical art, and not a film, It’s trying to make you think, “this is what has happened in history, and here's proof". Deepening our emersion. 

 Also, it could play into the Japanese daily life usage of sliding panels, doors, partitions...etc, in perspective of the panels of the montage being shown and editing methods. But this could all just be a stunning mix of the old and new, to start the film off with a flurry of Japanese culture.   

International Poster for Wes Anderson's 'Isle Of Dogs'
Made by Katsuhiro Otomo (AKA the man who made Akira)

The basic story of this montage is of one group (cats,) who are firmly against another group (dogs) and what they do to try and remove them. A young boy rallies to the dog's aid and stops them from being obliterated. A prelude to the main story and a rather large spoiler, even though you would not necessarily figure this out until 1/2 way through the film.

Rhythmic would be a way in which we could talk about this montage as it clearly shows a passage of time that leads us to the present day (in the film).  Especially when the first sentence is "ten centuries ago". Then, in the end, the camera pans right, into a cemetery with modern-day skyscrapers in the background with the final sentence being "they never forgave their conquered foe", leading us into the current timeline.

Cut from the film

I plan to go into more depth with this film, as I have only scratched the first 2min surface of it with this montage, and there are entire books of info that I could type, everything from the creative process, to how long it took to move and create all the tiny props, truly a mountain of a project. Wes Anderson has a fantastically creative mind and one I will happily be delving into once again, I hope to one day work with such a brilliant mind, cast and crew.

People: Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Liev Schreiber, Bob Balaban, Jason Schwartzman, Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Bryan Cranston, Mari Natsuki, Tilda Swinton, Akira Takayama, Kunichi Nomura, Greta Gerwig, Yôjirô Noda, Koyu Rankin Photo by Charlie Gray - © Fox Searchlight