It’s a shame that Michel Ocelot’s charming, visually stunning Azur & Asmar has had such little exposure to date. The film first screened in France in 2006, and yet is credited with only some festival appearances and a limited release this past fall – its weeklong run this month at the Gene Siskel Film Center is its Chicago premier. With a distinctively surreal animation style, the film tells the story of two “brothers” (Asmar’s mother having been Azur’s nanny cum surrogate mother) whose lives diverge down remarkably different paths only to reunite by their common fascination with the legend Asmar’s mother tells of the Djinn-fairy, a legend from her unnamed homeland across the sea. The film’s narrative languidly flutters between expectation and surprise, subtly interposing themes and lessons which, like the experience itself, should stimulate both children and adults in equally abundant measure.
Azur & Asmar
January 8th, 2009 · No Comments
Tags: Animation · Capsule · Drama · Family · Foreign Language · Romance
Here are this morning’s Oscar-nominated films, alphabetically. The nominees for foreign language film and documentary feature are compiled at the end of the list. (Short format nominees are listed in a 
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