1001 Nights

This was a very interesting watch. The art mediums used alongside the music were the highlights. There is only narration in the beginning and the rest is solely music. I enjoyed the unique take on sexuality and the visuals used throughout. The story was difficult to follow, but I feel that the overall aesthetic outweighed this. If you enjoy the original Disney's Fantasia, I think you will like this. Personally I am giving this an 8 for the production itself and way that it drew me in to watching. It is less than half an hour long and easy to find online.

1001 Nights is a movie that came out in 1999 and should not be confused with the first hentai film ever that came out thirty years before it. It is loosely based on the famous collection composed of different tales of the same name.

It is necessary to clarify that this movie is essentially a musical film in the likes of Disney’s Fantasia, so its main focus is to present great visuals and music instead of a good story. In fact this movie was thought as an interpretation of an orchestration and nothing more so the visuals and music flows together spectacularly. Speaking of those elements, ... they consists of classical music and a mix between 2-D and 3-D art, more specifically, colored pencil drawings and early CGI; they somehow managed to make it right, it looks gorgeous. Isn’t it funny how a movie that came out almost two decades ago did it right while the recent attempts at doing the same thing look horrendous? The recent Berserk anime(the movie trilogy too if you want), Asura and Arve Rezzle are a few examples of what I’m talking about.

As for the story…well, it barely has one (if even). If you’ve read the original tales you can find references to some of them thrown in it but if you haven’t all you will see is erotic sequences with a most trippy art style that equals(or even tops) the sex scene from Mind Game. You could think of it as a couple dealing with the internal demons of their relationship…or just them wanted to make love but all of a sudden are being chased by an angry demon in a really intense adventure, what is this, Ghosts n’ Ghoblins?

Anyway, this movie is a great example of art in its pure form both visually and musically and one of the most unique pieces in the medium and that alone makes it worth watching despite not having much of a plot, or any.

2/7/23 update: After watching the likes of Pale Cocoon, Angel's Egg, Cat Soup, Junk Head and Mad God, I decided to stop giving a pass to movies like these that are just visuals, sound, and a setting, if your movie has nothing to say, its plot is very loose, and there are no characters in it, then it doesn't get a base score from me. Bye

RECOMMENDATIONS

Disney's Fantasia (basically the same thing but for everyone).
Interstella5555 (also a musical film, but it has way more conventional art style and music, and a much more comprehensible plot).

While this particular piece is only twenty-four minutes long, it's also rather lackluster in the art department. Sure, the animation flows smoothly with the orchestral piece, but that doesn't mean the art is good. Yes, the person who did the drawings does have an eye for the human form. This ends up a mute point when a good chunk of the scenes are so muted out because of the pastel colors the viewer struggles to make out what is going on, making it way to tempting to tune out the art work and just listen to the music. The problem with that is - despite ... the fact the music is beautiful - there are other ways for me to listen to an orchestral piece if that's what I wanted to do. Instead, I want to see art which goes with the beautiful music.

Note - The reason I rated story and character as a one is because there isn't a way to indicate that these elements aren't applicable to a particular piece, which is actually quite rare. I still recommend giving this one a pass, particularly if you're sensitive to certain animation effects.