A Tree of Palme ( no spoilers )
Anthony D. Baranyi
R2 DVD, TDV2700D, 136 minutes, 16:9 aspect ratio, with optional English
subtitles, 6000 Yen. This science fantasy movie by Takashi Nakamura was a
co-production of Genco and the Japanese satellite TV channel Wowow, and
received a lot of publicity on Wowow when it first came out. Subsequently,
however, I heard little of it until its DVD release at the end of December
2002.
I knew from the TV ads on Wowow in 2001 that "A Tree of Palme" was a
Pinocchio-like story set in a far distant future, but I wasn't sure ahead of
time what I was getting into when I ordered it. One thing that stood out
from the Wowow previews was that they were hyping the artwork and
backgrounds heavily. And at the same time seeing that it was "A Tree of
Palme Committee Production" was a bit worrisome if you subscribe to the
theory that committees exist for the sole purpose of producing nothing.
However, since the original story, screenplay and direction were by Takashi
Nakamura of "Akira" fame, and who cut his teeth on the animation for
"Nausicaa" there was always the hope that the "Committee" was simply the
money men behind the movie.
Well, right off the bat the artwork, both 3DCG and 2D, was striking and
easily justified all the hype surrounding the original release. At the same
time, there were many obvious references to various predecessor stories in
the plot and characterization. To a good extent, "A Tree of Palme" looked
and felt like a combination of "Pinocchio", "Nausicaa", "Oliver Twist" and
"Ima Soku ni Iru Boku", with the mood leaning heavily towards the later.
"Palme" is a very dark and brooding story for much of its length. Although
some of the character designs are reminiscent of US animations such as "An
American Tail", there is no US animation-style comic relief from the
intensity of the story.
What is it about? In some far distant future, or far distant world, after an
almost forgotten collapse of civilizations, people of various species coexis
t in a world full of giant exotic plants, some of which are sentient, and
some of which are God-like. This world feels as if it exists ages after the
world of "Nausicaa". A bio-robot named Palme – part semi-sentient tree and
part mechanical – awakens from a lengthy torpor to become inspired to take
on a quest to deliver a mysterious egg to a lost underground city, and to
visit the home town of his long dead mistress.
At first Palme wanders aimlessly until he accidentally falls in with some
street urchins in an endlessly corrupt town. The leader of the street
urchins has his own reasons for finding the lost underground city and
volunteers to lead Palme on his quest. Palme also brings along an abused
girl named Popo who reminds him of his long lost mistress. At the same time,
there are a group of men from the underground world who want Palme's egg,
and others in the world who just want Palme for the value he would bring due
to his novelty.
Along the way we get to see numerous impressive visions of a nearly
incomprehensible world. Most of what we see is never really explained – it's
as if the audience is expected to be familiar with "Nausicaa" and "Laputa"
ahead of time. At the same time, Palme is "inspired" by Popo to want to
become a person without really knowing what that means, which strengthens
the parallel to "Pinocchio".
The movie ends well, and surprisingly, in not too obvious a manner. The
score to the movie is appropriate and skillfully written and performed, but
isn't terribly memorable. The English subtitles are quite good, and appear
to be aimed at a general Western audience rather than anime fans in
particular. All-in-all, while "A Tree of Palme" doesn't quite achieve the
levels of the Miyazaki classics that it emulates, it is quite good on its
own and deserves wider recognition in North America.
For more information on the movie, check out the official website at :
BTW – the bola's in the movie reminded me of nothing so much as the dancing
saguaro cactus in the "Three Caballeros".
Dave Baranyi