The Little Gray Wolf Will Come

November 19, 2016 9:52 PM

Inside the world of the greatest living animator and the masterpiece he knows he may never finish

Cinephiles of Moscow, your evening’s entertainment: Yuri Norstein, 74, white-bearded, small, stout, urbane, rumpled, and mischievous. Sitting in front of a pale gold curtain, with a bump on his nose the size of a pistachio shell. Considered by many to be a great, if tragically self-defeating, Russian artist. Considered by many to be the finest animator in the world.

posted by the man of twists and turns (4 comments total)

For anyone unfamiliar with Norstein's films, here are links to Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales mentioned in the article. Definitely worth watching for animation fans, or pretty much anyone who likes a good short film.
posted by gusottertrout at 10:17 PM on November 19, 2016 [7 favorites]

I enjoy pretty much anything Brian Phillips writes about. Except when he's mean about my soccer team. That is how I discovered him, though, as the voice of Run of Play, an excellent soccer blog.

By and large the things he's tackled at Grantland and MTV have been both educational and amazing. This is no exception.
posted by taterpie at 11:33 PM on November 19, 2016

As soon as I saw it mentioned near the start of the piece, I looked up the Weary Sun Tango on youtube. I highly recommend it as background music for this article.
posted by moonmilk at 5:15 AM on November 20, 2016

That was a really good read. Now I must watch the videos. I love this little man, and I love that The Overcoat belongs to him, and he can finish it as he pleases, or not. Like Jay Smooth has said of Lauryn Hill, artists are not vending machines that you can shake until your hohos come out.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 6:04 AM on November 20, 2016 [1 favorite]