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Friday, October 31, 2008

The Triplets of Belleville

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: Nothing right now

Steve and I watched the animated film "The Triplets of Belleville" a few nights ago. I was actually looking forward to it because it rated a 94% on the tomato meter at Rottentomatoes.com--and it's not very often that they would rate a film that high. Here's the movie poster and a synopsis of the plot:

In this animated French film, a boy named Champion trains relentlessly for the Tour de France, with the help of his loyal grandmother and overweight dog, Bruno (who loves to bark at passing trains). When the big race comes, Champion and a few of his fellow racers are kidnapped by some box-shouldered thugs who spirit them off to Belleville (a surreal impression of 1930s-1950s Manhattan) where they are forced to pedal as part of a clandestine gambling operation. Bruno and Grandma set out across the sea in a paddle boat to rescue their boy, but once ashore they soon become lost, hungry and penniless--that is, until the frog-eating Triplets of Belleville, former scat-singing jazz prodigies turned experimental musicians, come to their rescue. Filled with inspired, twisted imagery, this nearly dialogue-free film is a crowd-pleaser of unusual power, with the strange, measured pacing of a dream, and a great soundtrack of bizarre, alternate-reality '30s jazz. It also offers a touching and believable evocation of a dog's life. A great throwback to the time before animation became dominated by CGI effects, Triplets of Belleville is a very strange, very loving, and very French salute to obsession, affection, and persistence.

So Steve and I watched it. That was one weird film. I had to admit, it was kind of impressive that the story was told with practically no dialogue. No conversations, nothing. Steve wasn't as impressed, though, because he said it's not like that's a novel thing--that's how movies were made before "talkies" came in.

It was definitely the kind of film that, at the end, would make you say, "What the HECK was that?" And then later on it kind of spurs conversations as you both try to make sense of it.

There were only 2 things that stayed with me after I watched the film:

that it was a story of how much a grandmother loved her grandson--how far she goes to make sure he's safe and happy, and
that was the first time I'd ever seen anyone try to depict a dog's dream. We know dogs dream, and we've always wondered what they dream about, this is the first time I'd seen anyone try to present it.

Critics LOVED it, of course, and Steve and I are still trying to figure out why.

Here's the trailer. You'll probably see what I mean :-).

Labels: Arts

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