What a Yawn
I wish I could sleep, but I can't. Thursdays are notoriously unproductive, and while I didn't spend this one stewing in the
Red Shed with my academic cohorts, discussing movies, gossip, and impending strikes, there wasn't any cosmic significance to this date. After school, I went to Michelangelo's and did a little reading with friends, but then I made my way home, to watch
Survivor, among other lazy things.
...Meanwhile, the world is clearly crazy. While watching my shows tonight, Survivor was pre-emptied by a lengthy "this episode includes content that will be inappropriate for young people." Well, genius ratings move. I was glued to the tube and I was nervous to even call and chat with my mother / sister, a routine happenstance when watching Survivor in different places, because I was certain that I'd miss the mature goodness. Well, I don't see what all of the fuss is about. Richard Hatch, god bless 'em, always competes / bathes / lounges around camp naked. In this episode, he dropped trou and taunted Sue Hawk, an old cohort from the first season who is clearly unphased by Richard's nudity or even his arrogance. Just the same, ever since Janet flashed - everyone is up in arms and censorship seems legal, reasonable, and all too welcome. This gesture, while hardly "classy," surely didn't warrant the disclaimer. Hell, I am a mature audience - if you are going to get me primed to see something, CBS, make it good - or at least let me know to relax, use the bathroom if need be, or make a long distance phone call or two. But I do think the world is crazy and that our President cowtows to Jerry Falwell on a regular basis (gay marriage ban - hello?? this is preposterous, and frankly, with the divorce rate over 50%, I think the heterosexual world has screwed marriage up enough not to tell other people what they can and can't do)... ugh, sing it with me in the words of the sauve Sam Cooke: "A Change is gonna come..."
Anyway, as if I hadn't been unproductive enough, I then joined some friends at a late show of
The Triplets of Belleville (en francais, no doubt). I didn't have any substantiated expectations, just that it's up against the brilliant Nemo for the Osca-h. If you've seen this, let's chat... and surely my ranting will be cut short by my 8am wake-up time, but here's an overview. What? No story here, people. No conflict, no goals, sketchy and episodic scenarios... and even the characters each had quirks, but they didn't really have depth / traits. At moments, the animation (a very shaky-hand drawing, but lots of interesting compositions / camera angles, and even remarkable effects) is breathtaking and impressive. In watching the credits, it is clear that lots of people (and several countries) had a hand in this project. Each studio did a specific sequence and it seems not to fit together in the end... it's almost like each studio was assigned a scene, given basic characters, and then worked entirely independently until the one episode was done. As a result, the film is textured and the seams between segments are bumpy, and near-absurd. Also, there is a strange, grotesque-ness to the film that remains unexplained and haunting. While the characters never mumur a peep (the little "language" is entirely derived from diegetic narrators - on TV / radios / announcers), the story remains stagnant and way too many "chase" sequences of characters just hobbling from point A to point B without any real sense of why they should bother or no real indication why life will be better at "b." The ending is super vague... but honestly, it's hard to have closure without deep emotional investment / story complications. I just sat through two lectures on screenplay structure, and this one seemed to violate all codes and unspoken norms. While I usually applaud "thinking outside the box," a story should have some basic characteristics to demand my time...
I've been studying French film lately and the industry. Honestly, the industry has many shortcomings, including far less capital / infrastructure than America (this was true in the 1930s and still resonates). And while it is simplistic and dismissive to explain all of France's shortcomings with this fact, in some cases, it seems apt. I just imagine this project as a failed attempt to out-doAmerica's shining jewel: Pixar. Also, because the industry is so fragmented, there exists more variety - for a project like this that is hinged on collaboration between many artists / workshops, I think there needed to be more uniformity and someone had to step up and take charge. Also, what kind of film mixes haggard & grotesque women, a haunting wan figure with giant leg muscles, the "French Mafia," and many, Botero-inspired rotund residents of a satrized town called Belleville.
I'll end by saying: I didn't
not like it. Just the same, I wouldn't urge everyone to rush right out and see it, and perhaps, your $8 could be better spent on "The Passion of the Christ" or $8's worth of brewski.
posted by lmjasinski at 1:22 AM
