Two weeks later, I returned to Detroit as the DIA was showing The Glassworker, Pakistan's first ever hand drawn animated feature film at the DIA's Detroit Film Theatre.
Visually, it was like watching 'Ghibli-lite', and that's not a criticism. If you're going to study the art of animation, you'd be hard pressed to find a better example than Studio Ghibli. Story-wise, it was... interesting. It felt like there were no heroes in this story, just a lot of normal people who were victims of circumstances beyond their control as well as experiencing the consequences from the bad decisions that they made. There was a fair amount of complexity and there were some interesting explorations between patriotism and pacifism, classism, along with a very unexpected twist at the end. Mano Animation Studios and director Usman Riaz are off to a good start. Looking forward to seeing what they do next.
Afterwards, in keeping with the theme of the film, I took a moment to appreciate some of the glassworks in the DIA's collection.
 |
| Bowl, about 1927-29 Glass Frederick Carder |
 |
| Compote, about 1917 Glass Frederick Carder |
The year is off to a good start.
* * *
