Sun Xun’s “Magic Atlas” is a hand-crafted animated feature made over a decade using a wide range of materials and methods, including paint, pen and ink, canvas, newspapers and woodcut. Produced in Singapore by Pi Animation Studio, the film repeatedly changes its visual approach, favouring tactile detail and shifting textures over a single, consistent style.
The story centres on Luocha, a coal empire ruled by fascist industrialists. An orphan boy, Xiao Zhi, encounters an imprisoned magician who has returned memories taken from the population by the government. But the plot takes a back seat to the film’s atmosphere and imagery, and Xiao often recedes from view as the film unfolds.
“Magic Atlas” moves through surreal scenes featuring painted creatures, hybrid animals and a landscape where factories intrude on mountains. Its images range from black-and-white ink drawings to bursts of colour and more traditional-looking painted compositions. Abstract electronic music adds to the sense of disorientation as the film’s setting and style keep changing.
The film’s authoritarian themes emerge through its depictions of surveillance and the suppression of memory. One grotesque idea is a monitoring system made up of giant mosquitoes. In another scene, officials accuse a child of possessing “false memories”—the memories the state does not allow people to have.
The review finds the film more compelling visually than narratively, describing its storytelling as fragmented and sometimes difficult to follow. Yet its technical ambition and changing visual language keep it from becoming entirely alienating, even as its story turns increasingly metaphysical.
Sources: Variety.