Bill Plympton's "Idiots and Angels" is much different than anything the animator has done in the past. Unlike his earlier full-length films like "I Married a Strange Person" and "Mutant Aliens", this one is a lot more "artistic" feeling as well as more of a refined quality. It's about a unlikable guy living a daily routine of sitting in a gloomy bar and acting belligerent, when he begins noticing growths on his back one morning. They soon reveal themselves as bird-like wings and, due to excessive ridicule from spectators, he tries immensely to remove them. Nothing seems to keep them from growing back and eventually, he has to fight off a conniving doctor and bar tender who want to cut off his wings and become renowned "heros"... I've been a big fan of Plympton's work for a long time and, having seen all of his short films and features, "Idiots and Angels" is probably my favorite. It's a good balance of many different styles - it's not as child-friendly as "The Tune" and not extremely crude like "Mutant Aliens". It's really the first feature he's done that actually has a legitimately serious 'storyline' and a very solid and surprisingly 'deep' one, at that. The animation is basically black-and-white pencil sketch, all done in Plympton's signature hand-drawn technique and there is absolutely no dialog. Plenty of bizarre humor and a creative "noir" tone that helps characterize Plympton's latest mastery. If you're a fan of independent animation you can't go wrong with Plympton!
No comments:
Post a Comment