Emerging Singaporean writer Eric Khoo [Be With Me] has made an animation! [Tatsumi] is an homage to the life and works of 1970s manga artist Tatsumi Yoshihiro. Though the simple black and white drawing is far removed from today’s visually impressive 3D animation, it bears a profound outlook on life exceeding that of regular films. Tatsumi’s private life intermingles with many of the film’s episodes: the moral dilemma faced by the photographer of the Hiroshima atomic bomb site; an individual’s anxiety over being left behind by modernization; the psychological and physical impotence of a patriarch facing retirement; the predicament of a sick cartoonist looking for an outlet for creativity in public bathroom graffiti; the determination of a prostitute to get her father off her back. Khoo’s efforts to faithfully portray Tatsumi’s dark and realistic panels in moving pictures make a deep impression that parallels Tatsumi’s own work. But more than anything, the film is explained by the title. This is Tatsumi’s perspective on modern Japan, shown through the shocking motifs of matricide, panic disorders, prostitution, sexual impotency, and incest. (KANG Sowon)