Sky Blue (film)

Wonderful Days
Movie poster for Wonderful Days
Directed by	Kim Moon-saeng
Written by	Kim Moon-saeng Park Jun-Yong
Produced by	Hwang K. S. Kyeong Hag Lee
Starring	Marc Worden Cathy Cavadini
Music by	Won II
Release date	July 17, 2003 (2003-07-17)
Running time	86 min
Country	South Korea
Languages	Korean, English

Wonderful Days (also known as Sky Blue) is a South Korean animated science fiction film, released in 2003, written and directed by Kim Moon-saeng. It features backdrops rendered using photo-realistic computer-generated imagery, comparable to those in the film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, along with the use of highly detailed models for some of the backdrops into which the cel animated characters were then animated. However, convincing CGI animation of humans (especially human movement) was not attempted. The backgrounds in the film were shot with traditional motion control techniques, then processed to look like CG. The vehicles were all rendered, and the characters were cel animated.

Plot

Wonderful Days is set in 2142. Environmental pollution has led to a breakdown of human civilization. A technologically advanced city named Ecoban was built and it harvests energy from the DELOS System, which uses pollution in a carbonite catalyzed reaction to generate power. Carbonite extraction is carried out by people who live outside the city in the surrounding wasteland. Among them is an enigmatic young man known as Shua (Marc Worden). He ends up in a love triangle with his childhood friend, Jay (Cathy Cavadini), and her superior, Ecoban security commander Cade (Kirk Thornton).

The film deals with environmental destruction, pollution and class struggle.

Production

Along with CG effects, a set of miniatures for buildings, mechanics, and characters were built and filmed with HDW-F900 which was codeveloped by Sony and Lucasfilm and one of two prototype Frazier lens (the other was used for Star Wars by Lucasfilm).

Releases

The film has been released in numerous Western countries such as the U.S. and Great Britain under the title Sky Blue. These versions have been slightly distorted, with the loss of two minutes' running time compared to an original Korean cut. Other Western countries such as France and Finland have kept its original title—which is a Hangul transliteration of the English phrase "Wonderful Days" (it would be rendered in Revised Romanization as "Wondeopul Deijeu"). The film was scheduled for release in the US on Blu-ray disc on June 28, 2008. As that date neared, it was re-scheduled for June 23, 2009, however the financial situation of Palisades Tartan in America has thrown a U.S. domestic release into doubt.

In Japan, the film was adapted by Gainax. According to adaptation director Hiroshi Yamaga, Gainax changed the direction of the film to make the dialogue less "alien" to Japanese viewers.

English cast

• Marc Worden - Shua
• Cathy Cavadini - Jay, Young Shua, Cheyenne
• David Naughton - Commander Locke, Dr. Noah
• Bob Papenbrook - Goliath, Governor, Typon
• Jamie Simone - Dispatcher
• Kirk Thornton - Cade
• Andrew Ableson - Zed, Digger Leader
• Karl Wiedergott - Moe, Digger Foreman
• Rebecca Wink - Woody, Young Jay
• Sunmin Park - Maya
• Jamie Simone - Dispatcher
• Jeffrey Winter - Trooper
• Marc Scarpa - Trooper
• Mark Lindsay - Trooper, Sentry

Festivals

Wonderful Days was screened at the following film festivals:

• Sitges International Film Festival, 2003;
• San Sebastian International Film Festival, 2003;
• Cannes Film Festival, 2003;
• Sundance Film Festival, 2004;
• Brussels Fantasy Film Festival, 2004;
• Annecy International Animation Film Festival, 2004;
• Venice Film Festival, 2004;
• Tokyo Film Festival, 2004;
• London Film Festival, 2004;
• Holland Animation Film Festival, 2004;
• San Francisco Film Festival, 2004;
• Grand Prix Anim'arts, Gérardmer, 2004;

External links

• Sky Blue at IMDb
• Sky Blue at Metacritic
• Sky Blue at HanCinema
• Sky Blue at the Korean Movie Database
• Review at Cyberpunkreview.com