It speaks to the current state of both animation and live-action historical dramas that “The Violinist” took hand-drawn form, an epic about the Japanese invasion of Singapore during World War II that may take some adjustment from the typical fans of either to fully enjoy, but becomes quite involving after any initial trepidation. Certainly, co-directors Raul Garcia and Ervin Han ease audiences in by way of a classical music critic from Spain who seeks out the renowned musician Madam Lee after seeing her make a rare appearance in the crowd of a concert and follows her home, bearing a photograph from her youth that helps get him past her heavy security. Though his interest is in the violin in the photo that she has played for the 40 years that followed, her eyes are drawn elsewhere to her childhood friend Kai and their eventual separation drives the drama, which doubles as an elegy for the Singapore that existed before occupation.
Able to recreate what that looked like in all its splendor without having to build sets, “The Violinist” takes on a scale that it seems would no longer be achievable in live action and one is able to see the life Madam Lee was once accustomed to when she was primarily known as Fei, the daughter of a wealthy businessman whose servant Ying Je is allowed to take in someone of her own when she spots Kai, an orphan on the streets who is being mercilessly bullied. Fei isn’t much kinder to Kai when he’s brought into the house and starts to mimic her during her music lessons from a Japanese teacher named Miss Keiko, but she soon learns that he isn’t mocking her with his imitation, but rather listening intently and taking in the music, which he has a natural ear for and when finally given a proper instrument, he can play without reading notes. Fei is jealous at first when his talent clearly exceeds hers, but eventually they begin playing as a tandem when Kai wants nothing more than a friendship, making it particularly cruel when shortly after they start making beautiful music together, playing anywhere and everywhere they can from storied concert halls to shipyards, the war begins.
While the elegance of the visuals make “The Violinist” easy on the eyes, the straightforward storytelling to match makes it slightly jarring when the kindly tale of friendship abruptly starts depicting the horrors of the mass casualty events that Japanese troops perpetrated, leading Kai to put down his violin to somehow contribute to the war effort. While he ends up accompanying Lim Bo Sung, the primary benefactor for his musical career on a surely futile mission to form a resistance effort, Fei is left in the bombed out shell of the country she once knew, taking in an orphaned brother and sister and harassed by the occupying soldiers. Garcia, Han and co-writer Jordan Katherine See don’t spare the gruesome details about how the Japanese army treated the Singaporeans, which is a considerable shift from the genteel first half of the film and the lack of subtlety in either part can be a bit frustrating when the film may be sophisticated in all respects but its dramatic elements are most basic.
Although simplicity can be a liability, it also yields one of the most powerful sequences in “The Violinist” when after the end of World War II, Singapore has their freedom returned, Garcia and Han stage a somber succession of still frames detailing how the destabilization created by the occupation led to a series of conflicts that kept the country in limbo for the next half-century and the strength of the relationship between Kai and Fei at its core is what keeps the film compelling throughout. Naturally, the film is also carried quite a bit by a soaring score from Ricky Ho and Isabel Latorre that brings out the song in Fei and Kai’s hearts that keeps them connected in spirit even if they’re physically a world apart and overall, “The Violinist” seems bound to pull audiences together from wherever they are when it effectively taps into such a universal sense of longing.
“The Violinist” will next play at the Animation is Film Festival in Los Angeles on October 18th at noon at the TCL Chinese 1.