Watching the anime movie Pompo: The Cinephile, a lot of questions race through one's head. To start with, why is it called Pompo: The Cinephile when the character of Pompo (full name Joelle Davidovich Pomponette) doesn't seem to actually love movies? She has a prodigious talent for producing them, following in the footsteps of her Roger Corman-esque grandfather J.D. Peterzen, but Pompo flat-out states she's never actually been emotionally moved by a film. If the only film that ever truly moved her was her own Oscar-bait drama Meister, is she truly a "cinephile?"
Maybe we should go easy on Pompo's lack of movie love; she is, after all, a kid -- or at least she's drawn like one. Promotional materials have only said that Pompo "looks like a girl," which implies she might somehow actually be a grown woman, but that's not really even hinted at in the movie. However, she does make some rather lewd comments towards her actresses and is introduced making what's essentially softcore tentacle hentai. Humor based on incongruity or creepy fetish material? Feels like a little of column A, a little of column B.
Pompo hires her assistant Gene to direct her Meister screenplay into a movie. Gene is possibly the least convincing director character ever seen in a movie. Throughout the shoot, he doesn't seem to really make any decisions at all or even know what he's doing; Pompo and the actors both appearing to have more creative influence than he does. Only midway through the editing process does Gene suddenly turn into a passionate filmmaker. Pompo: The Cinephile is definitely a movie that cares about editing (the scene transitions are creative and sometimes even beautiful), but it doesn't exactly feel like a remotely realistic portrayal of the creative process.
The list of things that just don't make sense about Pompo: The Cinephile goes on and on. It's entertaining to watch in a "so bad it's good" way, with genuinely good animation making the nonsense go down easier. Writer/director Takayuki Hirao's previous film GYO: Tokyo Fish Attack was also arguably in the "so bad it's good" category, and given Shogo Sugitani's source manga for Pompo: The Cinephile is far less beloved than Junji Ito's GYO, it's possible more people are likely to go with the flow of this bizarre anime movie.
Pompo: The Cinephile takes place in "Nyallywood," seemingly a version of Hollywood where everything starts with "Nya." (You know it's meant to be vaguely American because characters have such ordinary American names as Pompo, Mystia and Dalbert, and they bow when pleading for forgiveness as all Americans naturally do.) The opening song, "Dance on Fire," is downright hilarious in its overblown lyrics. It doesn't seem like the movie can beat that initial high until it comes to the least realistic business meeting/crowdfunding campaign launch imaginable.
Everyone in Pompo: The Cinephile spends a lot of time talking about how Gene and Pompo's movie is "genius," but nothing that's shown of the film-within-the-film looks worthy of its constant praise and "Nyacademy Awards." Some of the visuals -- giving Pompo a magical girl-like transformation sequence and turning Gene's editing room techniques into something out of Erased -- manage to convey the positive energy the movie wants to spread, but ultimately this anime is just too nonsensical to be truly successful at its aims. You can enjoy it for its high dosage of anime nonsense, but watch Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! instead if you want to see a genuinely great anime about young filmmaking prodigies.
Pompo: The Cinephile had its North American premiere at Fantasia Fest 2021. Further American release plans have yet to be announced.
