Anyone ever seen Fantastic Planet?
Yeah, I know. It sounds ridiculous. Thing is, I was raised on it. There was no better way for young Paul to trip balls (apart from the prolific amounts of toxic plants which grew under my house, which I ingested with gusto on more than one occasion. I was a sick, sick child).
Fantastic Planet was (and, unelss every copy has been destroyed, still is) a surreal animated feature about tiny people, much like humans, being slaves to cruel blue aliens. It won several awards at Cannes, even without Charlotte Gainsbourg hammering a nail into an unfortunate ball, and had a soundtrack so warped it made my young brain cry. And this morning, I discovered something which brought all those memories rushing back.
This film clip for Birdy Nam Nam’s The Parachute Ending is awesome. Not only is it awesome, it’s vaguely upsetting. Which is the best, and most profound, kind of awesome. Now I just need to go and curl up someplace and wait for the baffling nostalgia to wear off.
/Paul
12 responses so far ↓
1 John // Aug 4, 2009 at 7:32 am
Paul, totally awesome, really good. Get down and boogie.
2 Alex // Aug 4, 2009 at 11:09 am
O: I remember Fantastic Planet. I saw it a couple of times late at night on SBS. Epically trippy. That video is epic and awesome too. I like it. XD
3 Anthony // Aug 4, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Those are both awesome… now what are they?
4 Dan // Aug 4, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Dear God, I was genuinely scared.
5 Will // Aug 5, 2009 at 10:08 am
ja, I used to love this one.
6 realityboy // Aug 7, 2009 at 10:30 pm
my two year old liked it when twas ended.. didnt care much for the middle nor begining.. im indifferent..
7 beckoning_ // Aug 9, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Scooby Snacks
8 Joe Citizen // Aug 9, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Wow what a blast from the past, I had completely forgotten about this film, thankyou.
Apparently a remake is on its way. Not sure what to think about that…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Planet#Remake
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0822808/
9 Chimbuku // Aug 9, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Best French movie ever! That clip reminds me more of Time Masters, Rene Laloux’s next movie after Fantastic Planet though
10 Adam // Aug 10, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I’m sensing news, bad or otherwise. It has been nearly a week since this entry and it’s still the latest.
11 Jono // Aug 11, 2009 at 10:54 am
I love Birdy Nam Nam but Charlie also did the Fantastic Planet thing a while (see 30 odd years) ago, with their video for Spacer Woman (great name).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgBzF9_CQhY
12 hannahbabble // Aug 21, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Wow, I’ve never heard of Fantastic Planet… it looks like a Hieronymous Bosch painting animated by Terry Gilliam.
Must watch…
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