re:mote voices

Title: Sky Blue [aka Wonderful Day]
Cast: Marc Worden, Cathy Cavadini, David Naughton
Director: Moon-saeng Kim, Park Sunmin

Sky Blue is a South Korean animated science fiction film, with the version that is currently playing in the UK being the US voiced edition. The story follows a post-eco-apocalyptic future, where society has been split in two - those who survived the apocalypse within their purpose built city Ecoban and those that were forced to shelter outside, who have become workers, digging to support the city's needs.

Jay is a member of Ecoban's security forces, who has become increasingly concerned about the excesses of those in charge. When Shua breaks into the city's security core, he is confronted by Jay before he can escape the city with the stolen data. However with Jay's doubts he is able to get out, though the fact that the two of them knew each other as children throws the two of them into turmoil. This sets up a conflict between the city dwellers and those outside, with a kind of love triangle formed between Shua, Jay and one of the other security agents.

Plot wise Sky Blue is pretty light, people in city wear tight uniforms, consume resources and are bad, people outside the city are hard working, a bit punk and are abused by the people in the city – though there is also the assertion that people inside the city are believers in order, while those outside are shiftless criminals. The plot has clear parallels with material like Princess Monoke and the evil iron city, or Final Fantasy and the city dwellers holed up against the outside. There are also references to Akira, the way the security forces zip about on their motorbike contraptions. Early on there is a celebration of the city's centenary, which recalls scenes from Spirited Away.

With the interaction of the key characters we get impressions of a past, which goes someway to providing the film with a little depth. But with all the side characters we only have the slightest grasp of the culture and the nature of the disaster that happened in the past. Which is a pity, because that is more of the kind of material that could have made the film more memorable. An extra half hour of material used in a clever manner to flesh out the background, the context and the conflict would have served Sky Blue well. One plot element that is included relates to a myth, that of the mythical island of Gibraltar, where the sky is always blue - a curious inclusion, though I guess Gibraltar seems more remote and mysterious from Korea.

The most interesting thing about Sky Blue is the animation. The film uses a range of styles, layering it together into a dense visual demonstration. The characters are animated using cell animation – which ranges from having a quickly drawn feel, to having more detail, depending on the shadowing effects that have been added - though for the most part the characters have a kind of comic book feel in the line work. Much of the environment - the vehicles and structures - seems to have been done using model work, giving a particularly solid and tactile sensation, especially with the vehicles since we see them move. A peculiar contrast is created between the characters and the vehicles, since we are fully aware of the two different techniques being used. There is also an element of CGI, this is most clearly being used with some of the internal city scenes - energy ripples and strange lights, kind of thing - though more subtlety there is the manipulation of shadows, and no doubt a gelling of the whole.