Son of Rambow
17 June, 2008
I don’t want to analyze this one too hard, because I enjoyed it so much. I think I was in the mood for cute. There is a lot owed here to other directors and other films, of course- Wes Anderson springs to mind, as does The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys- and the aesthetic is a familiar one, though not yet entirely worn-out. As a whole the film rests on spindly legs, the threads that tie the segments together are very thin. There is more fluff than substance, but it is rare that music video directors make it in feature-length without feeling a bit vignette-y.
The majority of the charm comes from the relationship between the two boys- Lee Carter and Will Proudfoot- as the rest of the characters are fairly broad caricatures. The moments of childish innocence, Will’s quirky habits most especially, are delightful; and the depiction of kids’-world creativity is dead on. There is something to be said for letting the sheer joy of making something, anything, overwhelm you. If only they had managed to let that joy show through elsewhere, or had gotten someone other than their own characters to write THEIR plot, the boys of Hammer & Tongs would’ve been a bit more on top of the game.
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
15 June, 2008
I have, it could be said, a bit of a Herzog fetish. I am infatuated with him, truth be told, and with everything and everyone he has touched. My cat is named Kinski, for godsake. And I even hold a soft spot for Errol Morris, though I believe he reached a plateau quite some time ago, because it was Herzog who prodded him into making films.
Les Blank’s film is Herzogian not only in that it contains Herzog, but because it addresses Herzog as a Herzog character. Werner speaks of throwing himself onto a cactus for the cast of Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen because he said that he would; and of the perils of grown men not cooking their own meals; and of how in this life only cooking can replace filmmaking, or perhaps walking on foot. And he reveals himself to be no different from Steiner or from Aguirre. His assertions can vary wildly from one moment to the next, but they are all true, even as they are contradictory- that is the nature of Herzog. Truth can be found only in the moment. There is neither past nor future, truly.
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
(If you should choose to watch this, please be sure to set it to ‘original size’, otherwise the pixilation makes it nearly unwatchable. Smaller is better.)
Jeu
15 June, 2008
Georges Schwizgebel animates by painting on glass. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of paintings that morph, one into the next into the next. Jeu, with its Escher-feel, is the most geometric piece I have seen from him. But everything that I have seen from him is a beautiful circular carousel ride. Circuitous without becoming redundant. It feels, somehow, like a trance-song, intended to put one into a state of sublime bliss.
I would dearly love to see this piece on film, because digitally the textures are lacking and it feels like the depth of the paint is not captured. When I first saw La Course à l’abîme it was possible to see the shadows on the brushstrokes, and I have a feeling that this would be true of Jeu as well. But when something tastes as divine as this on a digital projection, it would be pure serene ecstasy to see it projected on film.
Casa de los Babys
14 June, 2008
The stereotypes here are writ broad and large, but there is at least a bit of heart beneath and behind them. The performances of all of the women are quite stunning, and there are many opportunities for the cliché to surface that are not taken. Visually, however, the film is rather uninteresting- the focus is on storytelling rather than on aesthetic- which leaves me quite disinterested after a time. Things that could be taken advantage of, especially the out-of-frame space, are largely neglected. Overall, though, the story is engaging enough and the performances are compelling enough to make up for most of what is lacking in the aesthetic.
The Strangers
12 June, 2008
I was so irritated that we left an hour in. I don’t do that, generally. I’ve only walked out of two other films- The Ring 2 and War of the Worlds- and War of the Worlds was only because the projection was so bad it was making me nauseous. Anyhow. Liv Tyler is being her usual dull self, the suspense is almost entirely music-based, the ‘scares’ are all loud noises and nothing else. I don’t know when I’ve been so bored in a ‘scary’ movie. And I’m usually the one watching through my fingers.
Yawn.
The Animation Show
10 June, 2008
First off, I have to say that, while I love The Lyric, the projection on this was disappointing. Remind me not to see anything you guys are showing on DVD, okay? Also, matte your screen properly please, and put up something black behind your silvers so that I don’t get doubled text and bounceback glare. It’s annoying, and I’m spoiled rotten.
And now, on to the show. Which was also disappointing, but my expectations were WAY up after the last three. I suppose that MTV’s involvement was never going to bode well. I’m just gonna address each piece in order, I suppose. Though there are a couple of pieces that will get their own post later, as well.
Psychotown (Oranges):
Clever in the way that Australian animation tends to be- you are laughing, and you are not quite sure why. It could be the accents.
Burning Safari:
The animation wasn’t good enough to justify the one-liner of a gag that it turned out to be. Sad, because it had potential.
Yompi, the crotch-biting sloup:
From the people who brought you Ricky, even more obnoxious claymation. Ricky was funnier though. Much funnier. I do appreciate the work that goes into any sort of claymation, but can’t it have a payoff?
Operator:
This was honestly incredibly clever, well animated, expressive, and mildly touching. I really, really enjoy intra-frame reactions, and the cat was a clever one. Animation is exceptionally good at pulling off this sort of gag.
Mr. Scwartz, Mr. Hazen, and Mr. Horlocken:
The animation was exceptional for the most part, especially the POV bits. And the story made me laugh, though the end shot didn’t really need to happen. I could’ve done without certain extra MSPaint looking bits, but mostly it was really lovely.
Love Sport: Paintball:
Completely pointless and completely entertaining.
Angry Unpaid Hooker:
Falls in the Home Movies school of really amusing, deliberately poorly animated stories about complete misunderstandings. I love it.
Psychotown (Therapy):
The first mini-sode was cute, this one was brilliant.
Blind Spot:
The tendency of animation to exploit sight gags and little else notwithstanding, this piece was absolutely brilliant. Subtle, properly built-up, incredibly well animated. The interplay of the seen and the not seen is a lovely comment on the idea of filmmaking and the frame/window that is the screen. I’ll have more on this later.
Jeu:
In the first installation of The Animation Show, Georges Schwizgebel’s piece La Course à l’abîme utterly astounded me. His painted-on-glass animations are transcendent and mesmerizing, and compete with the work of Stacy Steers in terms of sheer devotion to the craft of animation. Again, there will be more on this piece later. Suffice it to say, I was blown away.
Prof. Nieto Show Ep. 1:
There is a good idea here. A great idea, even. But the execution is sorely lacking. At any rate, I look forward to seeing how Nieto evolves.
Voodoo:
Clever, light, and funny. Not much to it, but it was well animated and it made me laugh.
John and Karen:
Nick Park, by way of Creature Comforts, already did this sort of thing. And much better. It was sweet, but not much to look at.
(I didn’t catch the name of the next piece because the titles were HORRID):
It was about chickens. That’s about all I recall. Chickens in a race to see who can make it to the pressure cooker first. Not offensive, not memorable.
Key-lime Pie:
OK, death has a retractable scythe hidden inside a tommygun. I can get behind this. Kind of an amusing take on vice/virtue. The animation was very lovingly done.
Raymond:
Fabulous. Reminds me a bit of last year’s City Paradise. Very very well done, and incredibly funny. I’ll have to watch it again, of course, but I really liked what I saw.
Forgetfulness:
Totally charming. The animation (is that AfterEffects? I think it is) was a bit choppy, but nothing terrible. And I really enjoy the collision of animation and spoken poetry.
Psychotown (Coup):
Ok, so the first one was clever, the second one brilliant, and this one is astoundingly funny. Because re-creating the scene in The Wild Bunch where they all die… great idea.
Hot Dog:
Plympton’s little dog just tries so damn hard. I love Bill’s combination of utterly charming pencil animations and incredibly subtle lewdness. Well, occasionally subtle. Sometimes not so subtle.
USAvich:
So goddamn obnoxious that I want to remove my eyeballs and soak them in lye.
Western Spaghetti:
I lack fondness for PES. I don’t know quite why. I think perhaps it is my annoyance with the lack of depth displayed. Someone so clever ought to be going a little further than the visual riffs he seems stuck in.
This Way Up:
This piece owes a bit to Tim Burton, but it stands alone incredibly well. I love the pacing of it. Much less MTV than a lot of the other pieces, much more conducive to thought.
And that’s a wrap. I am disappointed that Don and Mike seem to be playing to their new-found MTV audience, because I hardly think that these are the best animated films to be found. And the programming was choppy at best- things could’ve been organized a bit better. But I thank them for it anyhow, because seeing Jeu was worth the rest.
Let’s make this interesting
2 June, 2008
I would like to solicit suggestions from anyone who cares to tell me what to watch. Please leave them either as a reply on this post or send them to me via e-mail. striegl(at)gmail(dot)com.
Once Upon a Time in the West
1 June, 2008
What can I say about this film that I have not already said to someone, at some point?
I will never cease to be awestruck at the first sequence. As in every Western, it all comes down to land. And more importantly, to water, and who controls it.
I could go on in rapture over Charles Bronson’s face, over Henry Fonda’s eyes, over Jason Robard’s beautiful chops. Instead, though, I will leave you with this: The first time I saw this film, I knew nothing. When I left the screening, I knew even less. But the snow was falling and I was well and truly in love with celluloid.
My Blueberry Nights
1 June, 2008
Wong Kar Wai is much more interesting when he is working in Hong Kong. Also, I hate conversations that sound normal but are occurring on the other side of a pane of glass. With that much effort to be visually interesting, shouldn’t the sound be interesting as well? The visual gimmicks are overdone in a way that makes me think he is hiding something… in fact, he is hiding something. He is hiding his discomfort with the English language, hiding that he cannot seem to guide his actors properly, hiding a story that is generally either unbelievable or rather drab. But the blueberry pie is awfully pretty.
