[aside]Corto Maltese FRANCE/ITALY 2002 (92′)- Dir.: Pascal Morelli. Official site [/aside]I saw Corto Maltese by accident at a screening at Cannes. I actually planned to see another film, but due to a rich lunch, I arrived too late. I therefore had no expectations about this French animated film. Being not prepared usually is a good thing, especially in this case.
Corto Maltese is an enigmatic comic book figure, but he is far from Superman or Spiderman. He is a European antihero, which means he is classy and smoking. The original comic books are in black and white, but the film is in colour. The drawings have an enormous warmth, and succeed amazingly in reproducing the books’ spirit, created by Hugo Pratt in 1967. The full title of the film is La cour secrète des Arcanes, a psychological action adventure set during the first World War. I have heard that 4 more episodes of the enigmatic Corto Maltese are in preparation. If they are all of the same quality as this one, than I can’t wait to see them.
