‘Michael Dudok de Wit: A Life in Animation’ Book Review
Michael Dudok de Wit: A Life in Animation
Andrijana Ružić
Focus Animation (CRC Press/Focal Press)
Ahead of its author presentation this week at Animafest Zagreb, today on Skwigly we’re taking a look at independent scholar Andrijana Ružić’s monograph Michael Dudok de Wit: A Life in Animation, a considered overview and study of the oeuvre of one the true living greats of animation today.
The book is part of Focal/CRC’s Focus Animation series – a strand exploring and analysing specific artists and niche areas edited by animation historian Giannalberto Bendazzi, a former professor and mentor of Ružić – and to anyone familiar with the uniqueness, charm and undeniable inspiration of Dudok de Wit’s work it’s easy to see why he would be an ideal candidate for such a study.
It’s fair to assume that the animation fan more casually aware of his filmography will, on hearing his name, most likely to go to his celebrated Studio Ghibli feature film The Red Turtle or his Academy Award-winning short Father and Daughter in their head. Of course the broader spectrum of his work offers up other fascinating shorts, projects and experimentations that all warrant discussion, and as such it’s enormously valuable to finally have a published volume dedicated to doing precisely that.
Beginning with a brief introduction that outlines the personal significance of Dudok de Wit to the author alongside a general overview of his career and firsthand glimpses of the emotional effect his work has on its audience, the book quickly shifts its attention onto the subject at hand. While in its brevity one couldn’t consider this a biography in the traditional sense, the biographical notes laid out make for a fascinating capsule overview of some of the key milestones of his life’s journey and how they informed his career. These include but aren’t limited to discussions of major influences (spanning literature, art, music and film) and his education, which neatly leads into his student film The Interview. From there we’re presented with a keenly-researched breakdown of his formative experiences in the wider world of animation – as a freelancer for commercial advertisements, much of which for Richard Purdum Productions, as well as stints on projects such as Heavy Metal, the unrealised European version of Beauty and the Beast and his 1992 quasi-pilot Tom Sweep, retrospectively regarded as a short in its own right – and how he learned and grew from each of them.
The book’s chapter on his 1994 short The Monk and the Fish marks its shift to truly in-depth analysis and deconstruction, establishing itself as the first of several chapter-length focuses on the major individual projects to come. Though not so rigid as to seem clinical, these chapters are largely structured to first explore the circumstances that allowed each project to get off the ground followed by a synopsis of their respective storylines. From there we’re treated to meatier overviews of the production process, the author and various contributors including Dudok de Wit himself detailing locales, key figures involved and how crucial elements were informed by external factors and circumstances alongside musings on how films were informed by predecessors, and how they in turn played a role in the development of the next. These chapters also make a point of scrutinising the uniqueness of the artist’s evolving process and design style, certainly an area that readers who appreciate the sense of variety and vast range of emotional responses his films earn will have an appetite for.
While the contributions and citations are largely positive, the book doesn’t shy away from the less favourable critical responses to his work, notably in the case of The Red Turtle which, although clearly a career high point, has by that same measure proved unexpectedly divisive. His intimate relationship with sound and music – and its importance as regards a successful end result – is also brought up regularly, The Red Turtle again proving a particularly interesting case study in this regard. While the chapter on Father and Daughter is likely one many will skip to (indeed the film is worthy of a monograph itself), the measure of the Ružić’s sincere enthusiasm toward the filmmaker as a whole is evidenced in the considerable attention being given to other films that generated less critical acclaim, such as 2006’s The Aroma of Tea, a charming experimental work doomed to be overshadowed by its predecessor.
A particularly refreshing quality of the book is Ružić’s overall writing style; there’s no pomposity or verbosity, just a sincere and earnest appreciation for the subject matter. Points and observations are made plainly and endearingly while remaining authentic and enlightening; this is often a tricky balance to get right.
More crucially, it deserves mentioning that this isn’t a detached, one-sided take on another’s body of work in which the author has put forward their own projected theories and analyses as factual (another pervasive issue when it comes to writings on cinema) but one in which the filmmaker himself is readily and consistently engaged. Indeed, much of the meat of the book is predicated on direct conversations and firsthand interactions with Dudok de Wit, which undoubtedly helps shape it for the better. The last third of the page count is devoted to glossaries and appendices – the most valuable of which being direct contributions from the artist including interviews, thematic discussions and an offering-up of his own favourite films that make for a top-tier list of recommended further viewing.
By nature of the format Michael Dudok de Wit: A Life in Animation is brief, but with it, focused and to the point, with little room to meander. Most importantly it reminds the reader that these are films to be watched, savoured and watched again.
Michael Dudok de Wit: A Life in Animation is available now from CRC Press. Animafest Zagreb festivalgoers can see Andrijana Ružić’s book presentation this Wednesday June 9th, 5pm at Kino Tuškanac.
For more on the work of Michael Dudok de Wit check out our interviews The Films of Michael Dudok de Wit and episode 71 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast.