Away (U)

A boy dangles from a tree, the canopy of his parachute snagged on gnarled fingers of a sun-scorched branch. Eventually, he tumbles from the tree and runs into a cave to escape a shape-shifting colossus with glowing white eyes. This behemoth relentlessly pursues the child after he stumbles upon a rucksack and motorcycle and follows a route marked on a map, that seemingly leads back to humanity on the eastern side of the island.

LondonNet Film Review
Away (U)

More than three years in the making, Away is a mesmerising computer-animated odyssey, which disproves the notion that film is a collaborative experience fuelled by the imaginations and toil of hundreds of creative minds. Latvian animator Gints Zilbalodis directed, wrote, edited, produced and composed the score for his impressive debut feature – a dialogue-free labour of love that nods affectionately to puzzle-solving video games including the PlayStation adventures Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus….

From the tantalising opening image of a boy dangling from a tree, the canopy of his parachute snagged on gnarled fingers of a sun-scorched branch, we are spellbound passengers on a fantastical journey along the spine of an unnamed island. Working alone, Zilbalodis makes some bold artistic choices to realise his haunting vision within a tight time frame. Animation on the central character’s face is predominantly restricted to altering the shape and size of brown eyes, which peer out beneath a jumble of hair that resembles a mound of dark chocolate-coloured cheese puffs.

Viewed from a distance, backgrounds are richly detailed, moving seamlessly from vast desertscapes and swaying forests of trees to treacherously steep, snow-laden mountains. Ambient sounds (chirruping birds, cascading waves, the crunch of sand beneath walking feet, a motorcycle engine coughing and spluttering to life) ebb and flow with Zilbalodis’ evocative soundtrack, which draws inspiration from Max Richter and Sigur Ros.

Bookmarked into four self-explanatory chapters – Forbidden Oasis, Mirror Lake, Dream Well and Cloud Harbor – the story begins with the boy tumbling from the tree and running into a cave to escape a shape-shifting giant with glowing white eyes. This behemoth relentlessly pursues the child after he stumbles upon a rucksack and motorcycle and follows a trail marked on a map that seemingly leads back to humanity on the eastern side of the island. On route, a hungry yellow chick becomes the boy’s attentive travelling companion, staring intently back at the colossus chasing them as they pass beneath a series of primitive stone archways that neatly mark the path to salvation.

Away is a wildly ambitious trek through a dreamlike world not far removed from Studio Ghibli (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away), where a hungry llama grazes in a field of swaying daisies and wide-eyed cats congregate around a geyser sinkhole waiting for a thunderous gush of refreshment. In the space of 75 minutes, Zilbalodis subjects his young hero to various weather systems and orchestrates some impressively elaborate sequences including a vertiginous walk along a rotting wooden bridge and a hair-raising mountain descent in the shadow of an avalanche. On every technical level, it’s a mightily impressive achievement.

– Jo Planter