Random Anime Blu-ray Review: Pompo the Cinephile Collector’s Edition
It’s been a while coming, but I finally saw an anime movie I’ve wanted to see ever since distributor All the Anime advertised it as part of their 2022 “Cine Matsuri” UK movie season. While my local cinema got a few of the films — namely Inu-Oh, Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, and The Deer King, for some reason they neglected to show this delightful movie about movies.
Anime Limited released their Collector’s Edition blu-ray last year, but my writing schedule’s been so packed I’ve struggled to find a place to watch and review random films as often as I used to. This is an issue, as I’ve built up an enormous backlog of anime movies I’m desperate to cover.
As much as I enjoy seasonal TV anime, the sheer volume of C.O.N.T.E.N.T. every season is overwhelming to follow, and I’m worried that I may eventually develop burnout. There’s something almost rejuvenating about watching a single, one-and-done, movie that’s unrelated to any gargantuan franchises, that’s short enough not to overstay its welcome, and where the staff have been granted enough time and resources to make something special.
Although some TV anime reaches the quality of theatrical productions, this isn’t common, and often comes at a price — look at how studios like MAPPA burn through talented staff to produce incredible-looking shows like Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man — but at what price? Theatrical anime isn’t beholden to the same time pressures as the seasonal anime grind, and that’s not to say it isn’t hard work for the animators, and that they don’t also have tight deadlines, but I don’t feel my conscience is as compromised when watching them.
Watching Pompo the Cinephile was like balm to my exhausted soul. It’s a tight, snappy and witty ode to the art of movie production, clipped to a precise ninety-minute runtime. Such brevity is unusual for modern movies, and ties into a meta-commentary about the medium that plays directly into the film’s premise.
The titular Pompo looks like a tiny child — a whirling ball of orange-haired energy, though her actual age is unspecified — presumably she’s significantly older than her grade-school appearance. After all, during the film’s introduction, she’s already credited as producer of a plethora of entertaining and successful B-movies. Pompo is a girl who adores movies — not specifically animated films, but actual live action films featuring live actors, so it’s a little odd that this is an anime relaying her story.
Of course a live action film focusing on a caricature of a hyperactive precocious child ordering directors and assistants around imperiously would likely be insufferable . In the medium of anime, with its inherent abstractions from real life actor performances, it’s easier to accept Pompo’s existence as merely an absurd part of a (slightly) fantastical world.
Pompo produces movies in Nyallywood, a fictionalised version of Hollywood, where the stars on the Walk of Fame are instead cute cat faces, and merchandise like drinks cups sport cat designs. This name change is mostly for superficial gags only — it might as well be Hollywood in our world, albeit a Hollywood where one of the most successful producers stands at less than four feet tall.
Pompo’s grandfather was a legendary producer, and upon retiring handed his business down to his grand-daughter. Because films were all he knew, he brought up Pompo by having him sit with him through hundreds of movies, teaching her about what makes a good film. This has left her with an incredible eye for quality — she’s able to shine the most incredibly derivatively turdy B-movie script into cinematic perfection — but has also given her an intolerance for long, boring movies. In Pompo’s eyes, the best films stick to a strict 90-minute duration.
Surprisingly, Pompo herself, despite being the driving force behind the events of the entire film, isn’t the main character. Mostly we follow the viewpoint of perpetually exhausted, eye-bagged Gene Fini, Pompo’s assistant. Like Pompo, he’s been obsessed with film since a tender age, using movies to stave off loneliness and social isolation. He obsessively keeps notebooks detailing filmaking techniques (he’s not dissimilar to My Hero Academia’s Izuku Midoriya in the rabid fanboy stakes), and seems to rarely sleep.
Gene is surprised to learn that Pompo chose him as her assistant because she saw potential in him — the fact that he has a dead-eyed, exhausted stare instead of the sparking eyes of a would-be star, full of optimism. His cynicism and social awkwardness mark him out as someone with a rich internal life, someone with the drive and imagination to create entire worlds through the medium of celluloid. Therefore, she then chooses him as director of her next movie, from a script she wrote herself, starring the most famous actor in the world.
Finding his life turned upside down by the whims of his terrifyingly competent boss, Gene jets off to Switzerland, cast and crew in tow, to make a movie that Pompo assures him will be Academy Award-winning. What Gene doesn’t (at least initially) realise is that this effort will almost kill him!
Pompo the Cinephile doesn’t sugarcoat the moviemaking industry — producers, directors, actors and crewmembers are all shown to be incredibly hardworking professionals. The finished product that we as viewers see is the result of many thousands of human hours, blood, sweat and tears. In Gene’s case, the actual filming isn’t the hardest part — it’s the brutality of editing 72 hours of painstakingly shot footage into a ninety-minute whole, without sacrificing the heart of the story, or the actor’s performances. Suffice to say Gene’s permanently sleepless look doesn’t exactly improve…
The whole post-production process doesn’t run smoothly either — Gene and Pompo must weather delays, reshoots, loss of funding, amongst other problems. What keeps Gene going is Pompo’s unwavering confidence in her choice as director, and her consummate skill as an organiser. Gene also receives help from his actors and crewmembers, who offer him advice and support. Veteran male lead Martin Bradford offers creative advice, but tells him that Gene’s the director, so he can choose whether to pay attention or not. Thankfully Gene has a very specific audience (or in fact a single person) in mind for his film, which keeps him focused. He’s advised that as director, he’ll never make everyone happy, in fact it’s pointless to even try. If keeps that narrow focus on that one person, and what he wants to do for them, whatever film he completes will be singular, and meaningful. Perhaps this is a subtle criticism against the proliferation of focus groups and test screenings in modern Hollywood, about Studio films made by committee.
Pompo’s small core cast are great fun. Although Gene gets most character development, Pompo is a force of nature who launches into each of her scenes like a lightning bolt, electrifying those around her with enthusiasm and craziness. Lead actress Natalie Woodward is a super-cute and energetic girl who, after her short-bob haircut partway through, reminds me of the irrepressible Mako from Kill la Kill. She’s another underdog character plucked from obscurity by the sharp-eyed Pompo, and destined for greatness. Lead male actor Martin Bradford is suprisingly un-diva like, taking his role extremely seriously (though he does have a habit of trying to pick up younger actresses…) I do sometimes wonder that perhaps everyone gets on a little too well, there isn’t a whole lot of conflict here in an industry that usually attracts big personalities with egos to match.
The late introduction of Gene’s former schoolfriend Alan Gardner as a banker/financier does add something of a slightly far-fetched wish fulfillment/Deus ex machina aspect to the plot, though the whole film’s so ridiculously daft that his role almost fits. Alan’s ultimate plan to secure last-minute cash using secret live-streaming and crowdfunding seems a little too convenient, and unlikely, despite its timeliness.
As befitting a film about the craft of moviemaking, writer/director Takayuki Hirao (who directed my favourite Kara no Kyoukai movie Paradox Spiral) is almost showing off here — almost every scene transition or cut is creative, or bizarre, or unexpected. He does tend to repeat one particular transition often, as the screen is split into three equal vertical sections with a new image gradually replacing the previous. This seems to be a direct reference to the oft-referenced “Rule of Three” used when constructing an image. I thought it was cute, but some might find this technique overused in Pompo.
There’s always multiple things happening in every scene — Nyallywood seems like a living, breathing place, with each background “extra” having their own goals, their own story. You rarely see such details in TV animation, made in such a rush to meet a weekly schedule that anything not directly related to foreground action, to the main characters, may as well not exist. Here, there are lots of little blink-and-you’ll-miss-them visual gags and movie references. It’s fun to pick them out, and I bet if I watched this again I’d notice hundreds more. It’s not only Pompo and Gene who are obviously movie lovers — the crew working on this entire anime demonstrate their infectious love of the medium.
While normally I watch most anime subtitled, in this case the film is set in a fictionalised version of the United States, so the characters speaking English makes more sense. The dub is excellent, and the actress playing Pompo captures her energetic, juvenile energy. Gene’s actor sounds appropriately browbeaten yet determined. I didn’t watch any of the sub at all, so I can’t comment on how the Japanese actors sound.
While this is an animated film about live action, the animation itself is wonderfully smooth and expressive — there are some incredibly high quality cuts in this, from the excellent character animation, to the bright and vibrant backgrounds. Pompo could be studied in film schools as an example of how to make a successful and entertaining film. At only ninety minutes, as per Pompo’s own preference, it never overstays its welcome, and is very much worth such a small segment of your time.
Ultimately, Pompo the Cinephile is a movie about the power of dreams, and what are movies if not the dreams of producers, directors, writers, and actors made tangible? While the ending may be a little saccharine, it’s heartfelt in a way that feels real. The very best movies move people. They inspire hearts and minds, they’re not merely empty entertainment. Pompo may be primarily known as a B-movie producer, but in this film she sets out, by inspiring her chosen director and actors, to produce something more. We could do with a bit more of that inspiration from live action Hollywood movies right about now.
If you enjoy movies, and movies about movies, give Pompo the Cinephile a look. It may well inspire you to seek out more, similarly worthwhile films to experience, whether animated or not. Why not start with the selection of anime movies I’ve previously reviewed, listed below?
Pompo the Cinephile
Director: Takayuki Hirao
Writer: Takayuki Hirao
Based on the manga by: Shogo Sugitani
Music: Kenta Matsukuma
Character designer: Shingo Adachi
Studio: CLAP
JP theatrical release: 4th June, 2001
NA theatrical release: 29th April, 2022
UK theatrical release: 29th June, 2022
US blu-ray release: 12th July, 2022 (GKIDS)
UK blu-ray release: 17th July, 2023 (Anime Limited)
Runtime: 90 minutes
BBFC rating: 12
Languages: Japanese audio with English subtitles, English audio
