Its story takes place in an isolated town-state where the sky is obscured by smoke from an abundance of mines and factories. In fact, the occupants no longer believe there IS a sky, and the few who have ever seen a star peeking through are viewed by the townsfolk as liars, rebels or dangerously mad. The young boy Lubicchi is a chimney sweep who believes his late father's stories of having seen stars in the sky, and hopes to see them himself one day. This seems to stay a dream though, until he meets Poupelle, a monstrous figure made of garbage, seemingly having come alive from nothing. Poupelle is friendly and says the stories of a sky full of stars are real. Intrigued, Lubicchi hatches a plan to travel beyond the smoke and see for himself, but Poupelle has already been targeted by the authorities as a dangerous influence. Will Lubicchi and Poupelle manage to punch a hole in the sky and prove once and for all to all people that there is a world, a universe even, outside of the smoke of Chimney Town?
But that is as mean as I'm willing to be towards this film, as its characters are likeable, the artwork-style is unique and often amazing, several emotional scenes fall on the right side of sentimentality, and the end result is often a delight to watch. And good grief, this thing is polished to a sheen. Stay watching through the end credits for yet another amazing design-sequence. This was chosen as the closing film of the June theatrical leg of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and as a crowd-pleaser to see on a BIG screen you could hardly wish for a better title.
Audiences in Rotterdam thought so too, and the film ended in the Top-10 of the festival with a very respectable awarded score of 4.2 out of 5.
Poupelle of Chimney Town is currently travelling festivals worldwide and will be shown this August at Fantasia 2021.