Last night was the opening night. I especially enjoyed seeing Don Hertzfeldt's Wisdom Teeth (2010) followed by the world premiere of Phil Mulloy's 2nd feature in the Christies Trilogy Dead but Not Buried (2011). Two fearless, industrious and single-minded animators who know how to take an idea to it's conclusion and then many, many frames beyond. In the case of Wisdom Teeth, the action of pulling a friends stitch out of his swollen mouth stretched to five glorious minutes, whilst Phil Mulloy has used a bare 108 drawings to create his 80 minute feature film Dead but not Buried. I didn't miss the other 119,892, the characters were each properly described with just 9 drawings made on a tablet, all close ups, some from the front and some from the side. It was only Tina that we saw in long shot, and that was necessary to illustrate the results of her encounter with sharks in the Pacific ocean. In keeping with the spare imagery, the dialogue is read by the computer, the limitations of which provide a great deal of humour. The film has quite a traditional narrative structure, a quest and a denouement in a (very) dark cave in which the bad guys fight each other to the death about who is going to bring peace and love into the world. The journey is dark but transformative for all and even angry little Terry has an epiphany. It's really great, see it as soon as you can, infact see anything of Phil Mulloy's and in the meantime LIAF is on all week at the Barbican.
2 comments:
I've just started to read your blog with something of serious intent, Liz. You are very well informed and erudite. I knew you were talented all along.
oh thanks Ian, you're very kind. I'm glad your'e back!
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