Pompo: The Cinéphile

A rather strange anime about loving and making films. It's not necessarily a niche I like (certainly not like most other cinephiles seem to do), but director Hirao made it quite light, without trying to mystify the profession too much. The result is a fun and rather easily digestible film.

Gene is the young assistant of Pomponette, the granddaughter of a famous film studio owner. She produces shlocky B-films, but her ambition is to produce more classy work. One day she writes a script and hires Gene to direct. Besides his love for film, Gene has no directing experience, but he has the will to learn and to make something great for Pomponette.

The film offers some reflections on cinema, some I agreed with, others quite removed from my personal experiences. The film in the film looked absolutely crap, so there's certainly that, but the characters are fun, the animation is solid, and the overall vibe is pretty easy-going. A very charming film.