Review: TATSUMI
Tatsumi, directed by Eric Khoo, is based on Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s autobiographical manga A Drifting Life and includes five other of his favourite short stories: Hell, Beloved Monkey, Just A Man, Occupied and Goodbye. A Drifiting life was awarded the ‘Tezuka Osama Cultural Prize’ as well as Eisner Awards for both ‘Best Reality Based Work’ and ‘Best U.S Edition of International Material’. The manga instantly captivated Khoo who was moved by the beauty and sadness of the story. Eric Khoo is a Singaporean filmmaker who can only be described as the perfect fit for directing this film. Khoo’s own live action films tend to revolve around realist urban themes; designed to explore alienation within current society in Singapore that is in search of a nostalgic and more humane past. From isolated protagonists with suicidal tendencies, sex addictions and necrophilia to outstanding model citizens, his anti-heroes are usually in conflict with themselves, dysfunctional and incapable of coping under strict and regimented social doctrines. Khoo manages to capture with ease the uncomfortable dilapidated underworld of Singapore revealing within it a true sense of artistic fascination and beauty making him the ideal candidate for directing Tatsumi’s film.
Tatsumi is renowned for his work as a manga artist and for coining the term Gekiga or literally translated as ‘dramatic pictures’ in 1957. His belief that it was necessary to distinguish between manga for children and those for adults effectively encouraged this new genre, also, his frustration at this lack of distinction is present in his physical work and throughout film. Some of the more provocative themes in his short stories emphasise the notion that a division is necessary. Manga does not solely have to be for children and an adult audience can appreciate the finesse of the genre in more depth.
His memoires, intertwined with these five short stories, explore his development from when he was a 10-year-old child with an absentee father, an ailing brother who spends most of his days in bed resenting the world and a crowded family of 6. Plunging himself into an alternate reality of comics fuelled by his compulsive passion to draw and inspired by his hero, Osama Tezuka creator of Astro Boy, Tatsumi learns to utilize his comic genius as a means of supporting his family and the story follows through to his maturing into a fully fledged manga artist unable at times to control the full force of his artistic urges.
If you are expecting an epic Studio Ghibli film with a post apocalyptic Akira plot in the side lines you have clearly walked into the wrong film. Tatsumi is definitely not for the faint hearted, nor for those who are known for their jaw dropping with a simultaneous backhand to the forehead ‘oh!’ shock reactions. Although a majority of the animation is in black and white with a storyboard animatic style that takes a few scenes to get used to, this animation is none the less effortlessly beautiful, poignant and animated with accuracy in relation to Tatsumi’s original artwork. With awkward, embarrassing, hilarious as well as some truly brutally shocking moments Tastusmi leaves you feeling stunned, awed, disturbed and inspired along with a few unexpected and deeply hidden emotions I am still unsure of.
