Ryan

Canada

2004

14 Min

Color

English

Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
1
2
3
4
5

|

EXEC Jed DeCory, Karyn Nolan, Noah Segal, David Verrall

PROD Steven Hoban, Marcy Page, Mark Smith

CAST Ryan Larkin, Chris Landreth, Felicity Fanjoy, Derek Lamb

MUSIC Fergus Marsh, Michael White

ANIM Chris Landreth, Robb Denovan, Sebastian Kapijimpanga, Paul Kohut, Jeff Panko, Alison Reiko Loader, Wadi Ejiwunmi, Terry Kalinich

Synopsis

A gentleman panhandler. One of the pioneers of Canadian animation. Oscar nominee. Poor beggar. An artist unable to create. God observing the world. Fallen angel. Arrogant. Shy. Broken. Not destroyed.

Ryan, directed by Chris Landreth, is an animated tribute to Canadian animator Ryan Larkin. Thirty years ago, at the National Film Board of Canada, Ryan produced some of the most influential animated films of his time.

In Ryan we hear the voice of Ryan Larkin and people who have known him, but these voices speak through strange, twisted, broken and disembodied 3D generated characters… people whose appearances are bizarre, humorous or disturbing. Although incredibly realistic and detailed, Ryan was created and animated without the use of live action footage, rotoscoping or motion capture…but instead from an original, personal, hand animated three-dimensional world which Chris calls ‘psychological realism’.

A world encapsulated in the words of Anais Nin:
We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are. —National Film Board of Canada

Director

Chris Landreth

Animation is a second career for Chris Landreth. He was an engineer for several years after receiving his M.Sc. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois, where he worked for three years in experimental research in fluid mechanics before making the leap to computer animation.

In 1994, he joined the animation software company Alias, where he tested software in-house before it was released to the public. His first animated short The End (1995), in which Landreth discovers he’s the character in his own work while trying to think of a decent ending for it, was widely heralded on the festival circuit and garnered an Academy Award® nomination for Best Animated Short Film. His follow-up Bingo (1998) also received numerous international awards and a Genie for Best Animated Short.

Landreth’s most recent film, Ryan (2004), is also his most acclaimed. A poignant and at times revelatory study of artists, addiction and the creative process, it is both animation… read more

Animation is a second career for Chris Landreth. He was an engineer for several years after receiving his M.Sc. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois, where he worked for three years in experimental research in fluid mechanics before making the leap to computer animation.

In 1994, he joined the animation software company Alias, where he tested software in-house before it was released to the public. His first animated short The End (1995), in which Landreth discovers he’s the character in his own work while trying to think of a decent ending for it, was widely heralded on the festival circuit and garnered an Academy Award® nomination for Best Animated Short Film. His follow-up Bingo (1998) also received numerous international awards and a Genie for Best Animated Short.

Landreth’s most recent film, Ryan (2004), is also his most acclaimed. A poignant and at times revelatory study of artists, addiction and the creative process, it is both animation and documentary, combining confessional interviews with animated interpretations to produce a narrative style that Landreth has aptly dubbed “psychological realism.” Similar to the work of Arthur Lipsett, the animation in Ryan is based on a sound recording – the film was conceived following a recorded conversation between Landreth and Larkin. Using Maya animation software, animated versions of Landreth and Larkin – who appear in the film as strange, twisted, broken and disembodied 3-D characters – were created, along with several other subjects (including legendary NFB animation producer Derek Lamb) who were interviewed about Larkin’s life and career. Even though the characters and locations in the film have the look of detailed realism, the film was created without CGI tools and utilized no live-action footage or motion-capture techniques.

Ryan won numerous awards at international film festivals – including three awards at the Festival de Cannes and the award for Best Canadian Short at the Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto – and received an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. It was also named one of Canada’s Top Ten of 2004 by an independent, national panel of filmmakers, programmers, journalists and industry professionals. —Canadian Film Encyclopedia

read less