Although Isle of Dogs is a stop-motion animation, director Wes Anderson's labels are all at a glance — unmistakable visual style, expressionless dialogue, and themes of disillusionment with family relationships.
Like Laika's stop-motion animation Legend of the Magic String, which is rooted in Japanese culture, Isle of Dogs has an aesthetic inherited from Akira Kurosawa's films and ukiyo-e, and even Wes Anderson's beloved Ozu-style composition is fully displayed, and the sense of form is very strong.
In previous interviews, Wes Anderson had made it clear that he had paid tribute to Akira Kurosawa. And today, let's focus on the Kurosawa element in "Isle of Dogs":
Akira Kurosawa, "Wild Dogs"
"Nora Dog" is a "dog" film made by Akira Kurosawa, and "dog" is just a metaphor. The story revolves around the search for the police officer who lost the gun, and follows the line to the darkest corner of the city to start a gun hunt. Through his sharp gaze like a wild dog, it serves as a metaphor for the "wild dog".
《Stray Dog》
"Isle of Dogs" also revolves around the search, the boy is looking for the missing dog "Dot". The boy also became a "wild dog" like the criminal police officer of "Wild Dog", originally a "good dog" but lost his home, abandoned by human society, and was associated with the dog herd, and was regarded as a wild dog in human society.
There is also a scene in which the boy bathes the leader (washing it white) and the words "Wild Dog" appear in japanese.
Akira Kurosawa, "Heaven and Hell"
Kurosawa Akira's royal actor Toshiro Mifune is really a hit, and in the just-released movie "Ready Player One", Daito's appearance in the virtual world is still from Toshiro Mifune in "Spider's Nest City".
The dictatorial Mayor Kobayashi in "Isle of Dogs" is the bearded executive Kwon Fuji Imigo played by Toshiro Mifune in "Heaven and Hell", the big black beard, wrinkled eyebrows, big back and white suit are all classic combinations in the film, and the bearded executive is also fighting with the faction in the national shoe company he governs.
Kingdom of Heaven and Hell
Mayor Kobayashi's political environment also has a reference to the urban landscape of Heaven and Hell.
Orson Wells, Citizen Kane
Mayor Kobayashi's portrait is used as the main visual giant poster in the scene of the re-election campaign in the city hall, and he stands on the stage to give a speech, referring to Kane's political campaign scene in Orson Wells's film Citizen Kane.
Citizen Kane
Trump said many years ago that Citizen Kane was his favorite film. Considering Trump's immigration policy, it feels like this image can be linked to it.
Akira Kurosawa,"Stick of Heart"
In the beginning, the five dog protagonists try to duel with another group of dogs to grab a garbage bag. Among them, there are also two tumbleweeds that appear, which will give people the feeling that they are paying tribute to Italian Westerns.
If you want to contact Akira Kurosawa's film, what is imitated here is the camera switch before the duel between the two groups of people in "Heart Stick", and the close-up of each person's face. Some of the techniques of Italian Westerns are also influenced by Akira Kurosawa ("Red Dead Redemption" is a remake of "Heart Stick").
"Stick of the Heart"
Kunyuan Intruding
After opening the garbage bag, an elevation shot appears, which is Quentin's favorite 45-degree angle upward look-up character, and the character's 135-degree top-down shot often appears in the subjective shot of opening the trunk of the car. Of course, there are such scenes as early as "Once Upon a Time in the West" and "Shura Xueji".
Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai
Drum beats can be seen everywhere in the film, and the opening drum beat is the soundtrack of "Seven Samurai":
The boy and six dogs: the chief, the boss, the monarch, the duke, the king, and the dots found later, happen to be the "Seven Samurai".
The gang also looks like they started along the path of the Seven Samurai adventures, a group of homeless dogs from different backgrounds, facing a common enemy after some setbacks.
The dog's position also has a lot of shadows of "Seven Samurai"
The Seven Samurai
The rough, grumpy stray dog leader, who is always reluctant to be tamed and associated with other dogs, also corresponds to the ronin in "Heart Stick" and Kikuchiyo in "Seven Samurai".
Akira Kurosawa, "Red Beard"
The dog's position in the film has a lot of shadows of "Red Beard".
Red Beard
Akira Kurosawa "Tsubaki Sanjuro"
The feeling of lifting the cage out of the palanquin reminds you of Tsubaki Sanjuro.
Akira Kurosawa "Chaos"
The old man who appears at the beginning and the end is the shape of a text tiger played by Nakadai Tatsuya in "Chaos".
"Chaos"
Akira Kurosawa's Spider's Nest
As we all know, Weiss's films are known for their rich colors. But in most of the scenes on the garbage island, he abandons color, which is contrary to his aesthetic style.
They are preserved in the scenes of the city, and most of the scenes of the garbage island are dominated by black, white or gray and brown. Seeing that there is a kind of foreign netizens, I think it is very reliable. This monochromatic system is an aesthetic feature inherited from Akira Kurosawa's film Spider's Nest City.
Spider's Nest City
Akira Kurosawa,"Train Mania"
The design of Garbage Island was inspired by the photographs of American designer Chris Jordan on environmental themes and Canadian photographer Edward Burtingski.
But Akira Kurosawa's "TramMania" also seems to have inspired the environment of the garbage island in the film, and most of the scenes in this film take place in the slums, and the choice of colors in some night scenes seems to have been referenced.
"TramMania"
Kun Ichikawa, WildFire
The rumor about dog-eating dogs on the garbage island is the tragedy of human eating people in the context of war in "Wildfire", and human beings are completely lost in order to survive.
Wildfire
Akira Kurosawa,"Drunken Angel"
According to the OST of "Isle of Dogs", it can be known that the soundtrack of Akira Kurosawa's other film "Drunken Angel" also appears in the film, which seems to appear in the middle finger island paragraph.
In addition, I would like to add a few points.
Ozu
Wes Anderson's slow-paced, fixed camera position is also similar to Ozu's aesthetic style, and the visual grammar of Inuyasha is more pronounced when the stage is set in Japan. According to the film's set designer, Ozu was also inspired by the interior and family scenes in Isle of Dogs, including a scene in which Japanese cooking and cutting sashimi was the most impressive.
There are also TV scenes that appear in Ozu's films, and can be seen a lot in "Isle of Dogs".
"Good Morning"
The Taste of Saury
Ukiyo-e
There are also various ukiyo-e in the film, but one is more characteristic of one based on Katsushika Hokusai's "Kanagawa Surfing":
Tsuguharu Fujita
The hacker's shape seems to come from the portrait that Picasso painted for the Japanese painter Fujita Tsurugi:
Yoko Ono
Mayor Kobayashi's assistant scientist is named Yoko Ono, and interestingly, the character is also voiced by Yoko Ono.
"Isle of Dogs" is a Wes Anderson film disguised as a Japanese film, taking Japan as the stage, integrating into Japanese culture, praising the Japanese classical tradition, without losing the characteristics of Wes's freedom and the spirit of the film, injecting his thinking, respectable.