The French cartoonist known as Aurel animates the life of the Catalan illustrator Josep Bartolí, who lived in French internment camps and loved Frida Kahlo.
After Barcelona, Spain, fell to Gen. Francisco Franco’s forces in 1939, nearly half a million Spaniards fled to France in what is known as “La Retirada,” or the retreat. The Catalan illustrator and trade unionist Josep Bartolí was one of those who left.
His experiences and sketches during his detainment in a series of French internment camps fuel the rough grace of “Josep,” a hand-drawn film that is the debut feature of the French cartoonist known as Aurel.
A humane camp guard, Serge (voiced by Bruno Solo), throws Bartolí a lifeline, and their bond gives “Josep” its contemporary anchor: An elderly Serge recounts his memories to his grandson. Bartolí (Sergi López) endures the hunger of camp life and the abuse of its villainous gendarmes — one guard’s face morphs into a pig’s snout — but he rallies his spirits with other defiant, bohemian exiles. In a desperate episode, Serge even looks for Bartolí’s missing fiancée, who is feared dead.
Aurel renders the barren, dun-colored camp sequences largely through still drawings that are given slightly shimmering contours, rather than extended animated action. More vibrant colors bloom after Bartolí — bearing psychological scars — escapes, ending up in Mexico and New York, and gets to vibe with the artist Frida Kahlo (mellifluously voiced by the singer Sílvia Pérez Cruz).
The 74-minute film leaps among time frames without much warning. Occasionally, the screen erupts into crackling black-and-white images drawn directly from Bartolí’s work — as if torn from the very pages of his sketchbooks. That kind of impressionistic outlook might be the best lens for understanding the compressed storytelling of this timely tribute from one cartoonist to another.
Josep
Not rated. In French and Spanish, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 14 minutes. Watch on Ovid.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
