Coffee falls into the stomach …ideas begin to move, things remembered arrive at full gallop … the shafts ofwit start up like sharp-shooters, similes arise, the paper is covered with ink…
- Honoréde Balzac (オノレ・ド・バルザック, 1799-1850)
Mornings are the most productivetime for me. I usually wake with a freshperspective on whatever project I am working on and as soon as the kids are offto school, I begin to write. Bymid-morning; however, my brain clouds over and things that seemed soclear when I first woke jumble together and lose focus. The remedy to this situation is coffee. Coffee has the remarkable ability to bringorder to the chaos of the mind, and to stimulate the imagination when one’simagination is ready to curl up and take a catnap.
Taku Furukawa encapsulates theability of coffee to inspire a weary mind in his 1977 animated short Coffee Break (コーヒー・ブレイク). In the film, a man sits working busily away at his desk – typing intohis typewriter, comically scratching his behind, talking on the phone, having asmoke, leafing through a book. It is aminimalistic line drawing scene with just the man and his desk and door drawnin thin black lines on white paper. The man - likely a caricature of the animator himself - then makes himself a cup of coffee and as the cup approaches his mouth we hearthe sound of a countdown to a rocket launch. As the coffee pours into the man’s mouth, the screen explodes into acolourful multi-layered image of food floating in the air like debris in outerspace. The floating objects transformfrom food into animals, then into vehicles, buildings, and people until thesound of the rocket ship is replaced by the wail of an electronic guitar thatbrings home the nirvana of the experience of drinking a good cuppa Java.
In just three short minutes, Coffee Breakdemonstrates all the qualities that make Furukawa such a genius of his craft:his ability to transform a simple concept into a thought-provoking work of art,his playful nature, and his limitless imagination. Earlier this year, in celebration of Furukawa’s 70thbirthday, two of his former students, Tomoyoshi Joko and Hiroco Ichinose, createdan homage to Coffee Break entitled CoffeeTadaiku (コーヒータダイク, 2011). The newly married animation team of Joko and Ichinose studied animation underFurukawa at Tokyo Polytechnic University and work under the name Decovocal – a namethat was suggested to them by Furukawa (see JMAF 2010 Symposia Report).
Joko and Ichinose emulate Furukawain their use of simple line drawing animation to create highly imaginativeworks. Coffee Tadaiku mimics theoriginal Coffee Break right down to the style of the opening credits. “Tadaiku” refers to Furukawa’s given name Furukawa Tadaiku 古川肇郁 – a name whichonly appears in the credits of his mentor Yoji Kuri’s films. When the international version of Kuri's Au Fou! (殺人狂時代) was released in 1967, Furukawa’s given namewas shortened to just one kanji 古川肇 in the credits and by the time he left Kuri’s studio he had adopted hiskatakana nickname 古川タクas his official nom de plume.
In thisupdated version of Coffee Break, Furukawa is depicted typing away at a computerinstead of a typewriter – but he still pauses comically to scratch his bottom. Joko and Ichinose then depict a series ofimages that they associate with their sensei: a bespectacled Furukawa workingwith a pencil on an animation table, Furukawa as a baseball fan enthusiastically watching the game on atablet computer, filing his nails at his desk, watching one of his wind-uptoys on the floor (Furukawa is a collector of White Knob wind-up toys), and soon. Instead of a closed door, CoffeeTadaiku features an open door to a staircase with a small dog quietly sittingin front of it. When the caricature ofFurukawa drinks the coffee, the scene explodes into a sky full of floatingobjects associated with celebration: cake / champagne / red snapper / onigiri /flowers. The electric guitar comes inmuch sooner in this tribute to the animation master ushering in an image ofFurukawa drinking coffee as the numbers 7 and 0 float around him followed byHappy Birthday wishes.
A brillianttribute for a brilliant animator.
A brillianttribute for a brilliant animator.
Watch itfor yourself on Youtube.
CoffeeBreak appears on Takun Films (1998) which can be ordered from Anido.
Catherine Munroe Hotes 2011
