Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
The oddly fragmented narrative makes sense once you understand Le Roi et l'Oiseau's storied production history: released in an incomplete form in 1952 against the director's wishes, it was not completed until 1980, after decades spent acquiring the rights and further financing. A chimney sweep and a shepherdess leave their paintings and attempt to flee, only to be pursued by the king, who fancies the shepherdess for himself; parallel to this, a mockingbird, who lives atop the castle torments the king -- who, not coincidentally, likes to hunt birds.
The real star is the glorious, surreal castle and its inhabitants. The castle is 246 stories tall and contains, amongst other delights, the king's private botanic gardens and, it is later revealed, his private giant robot. Its sole industry, staffed by "volunteer" slave labourers, appears to be the mass-production of statuettes and other representations of his likeness. The film was a tremendous influence on Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, founders of Studio Ghibli, no more obviously than in the marvellous police officers and their chief, who sit atop tiny bird-shaped motorboats to cruise the palace's canals.
The pace is a little uneven and the ending tremendously bleak, but it's a wonderful, creative exercise that deserves to be seen even if only to contrast with films developed from the Disney tradition. The old clichés do not apply.