A perennially compelling statement against conformity and violence, nothing else has ever looked or felt like René Laloux’s cutout stop motion animated marvel Fantastic Planet (La Planète Sauvage), a visually inventive work of science fiction released in 1973. The film is set on a distant planet called Ygam, where enslaved humans (Oms) are the playthings of giant blue native inhabitants (Draags). With its eerie, surreal animation by Roland Topor; brilliant psychedelic jazz score by Alain Goraguer; and wondrous creatures and landscapes, this Cannes-awarded counterculture film is a classic.
