Commentary 19 Dec 2009 09:29 am
Panic Attack
– I haven’t given a lot of attention to the animated epic now playing at the Film Forum in NY. A Town Called Panic is an oddity that I can’t quite figure out.
When I was 12 I’d bought my first movie camera – a regular 8mm camera (pre super-8mm days) with paralax viewfinder (meaning you could properly frame animation) that was able to shoot single frame images (so you could shoot animation.) I bagan filming my first drawn films – that usually lasted about 10 or 20 seconds apiece.
The challenge was that the roll of film was 100 ft long (3 minutes) and you had to do something with the rest of the roll of film before you could send it away to get it developed (via the local pharmacy.) So I filmed some pics of my siblings playing and quickly got bored with that number.
That’s when I started filming the massive collection of cowboys and indians that I owned. I’d set up the charge of the light brigade and animate it. I recreate the battles in a John Wayne (meaning John Ford) film I’d watched in animation. Hundreds of cowboys and Indians crashing into each other while galloping over my bedroom linoleum and recreated scenery.
I ultimately shot about a half hour of this stuff trying to fill up the rolls of film that incorporated the paper-drawn animation I was so desperate to see.
So now comes a movie out of France, “A Town Called Panic,” and I’m not sure what to make of it. From the YouTube trailer and short film called cake of these pieces, I’m hardly sold on it. It seems like little more than what I did when I was 12 with a snappy, loud, screaming voice track added on to it.
But then comes recvommendations by people I know (like Elliot Cowna and Mike Rauch) who’ve seen it as well as extremely positive newspaper reviews (NYTimes “Mr. Aubier and Mr. Patar are up to much more than pop-culture parody, though they do their share of that.” NYDaily News – 4 stars “. . . best saved for those who like to find surprises under their tree.”)
I guess my difficulty is that I don’t really think of it as animation – of course it is, just not very sophisticated animation. The telling is in the sound track, and I’m a bit tired of that type film. South Park did it and still does it best, while at the same time surprising you with infrequent bits of superb animation. With A Town Called Panic, I have no expectations of superb animation, but when A.O.Scott uses words like “lyricism” and “Michel Gondry” it has to pique my interest.
I know I’ll eventually see it, and should take all the positive comments as a reason to recommend others see it, but it’s still hard for me to get up the energy. The difficulty is that there’s only a limited window of time to see it. I have to get off my rocker.
The Film Forum is showing it
through Tuesday, December 29 with showtimes at: 1, 2:40, 4:15, 6, 8, and 10.
- Last night I went to a screening of AVATAR. This film promises a lot that I dislike in movies: 3D, science fantasy (full of weird names like Na’vi and Pandora etc.), fantastic “Art”, and MoCap, just to name a few. For me, it all blends together in one big word that I have trouble getting past – “FAKE”.
Surprise, surprise. I loved the movie. It’s borderline pretentious in some places but the rest! Not only was I pulled in by the 3D (despite my watering eyes through the last half of the film), but I had a hard time taking off my glasses. The story was absorbing enough that it was hard to feel the 2 hr. 40 min. running time. The acting was watchable (though a number of lines really popped out as laughable).
The big thing about it was the imagined world, that just seemed real. You get totally absorbed into Cameron’s animation that you buy it wholly. While watching it, a fleeting thought kept passing the front of my brain. This is what we’re going to get in the future. This is what movies will be like in another 3 or 4 years. Not real and not animated. Some kind of bastard child that will be poorly handled by most filmmakers, but will come alive in the hands of a James Cameron. It’s terrifyingly sad in some ways because I think we’re already there.
(Johnny Knoxville is already promising “AVATAR-like effects” with his 3rd installment of “Jackass” !)
Scott Tobias, in his review at the Onion’s AV Club, wrote a prophetic line: “As the film’s technical marvels grow commonplace, it will look like a clunky old theme-park attraction, a Captain EO for our time.”
Maybe that’s why I champion The Fantastic Mr. Fox – because it’s such a hand-made picture. Lovingly finger-touched heart winning animation. It’s the antithesis of Avatar and will probably remain more evergreen. Bite the bullet and see both of them – in a theater.
on 19 Dec 2009 at 10:59 am 1.Dave Levy said …
I found “A Town Called Panic” to be challenging viewing. Better than I thought it would be, but difficult for my eyeballs and eardrums to take it. I’m a “character” guy, so I don’t easily make the leap to a film that is a series of seemingly never ending events. And while the film is not my cup of tea I’m glad I saw it.
on 19 Dec 2009 at 11:27 am 2.Elliot Cowan said …
“It seems like little more than what I did when I was 12 with a snappy, loud, screaming voice track added on to it.”
It’s actually a lot like this, but it’s also very funny and embraces animation possibilities in a way that most features don’t even bother to attempt.
David is right though – it is a little hard on the eyes.
on 19 Dec 2009 at 2:26 pm 3.Tim Rauch said …
The style of animation in “Panic” suits the spirit of the story. It’s a perfect example of creating a vocabulary of movement that is unique to the material being used and the content of the film. In that regard, it’s brilliantly done. If the film has a weakness, it’s the rambling structure of the whole thing. Still, I found it a lot of fun and actually quite full of character. Everyone in the film is a “village idiot”, but the relationships and dialogue that play out make for some great comedy.
on 19 Dec 2009 at 7:23 pm 4.Larry Ruppel said …
“A Town Called Panic” is actually from Belgium, not France. I know this because I’ve just spent the last two years as Head of Animation on the other Belgian animated feature of 2009 (yes, there are two- incredible as it seems for such a small country) titled “Bob et Bobette: Les Daibles du Texas”/ Suske en Wiske & de Texas Rakkers.
Many things of Belgian origin are often mistaken for French, such as French Fries. The Belgians are kind of used to this.
And don’t forget– “A Town Called Panic”, or “Panique au Village” (French title), opened this year’s Annecy Animation Festival.
on 19 Dec 2009 at 9:16 pm 5.Pouch said …
Panique au Village is great movie and hilarious. very buster keaton well my english is terrific sorry. eheh Im french.
But love this is movie good to see another things that consensual cg movies.
on 19 Dec 2009 at 11:26 pm 6.Jenny said …
Unfortunately for me almost all the lines in Avatar popped out as laughable. Result being it took me out of the suspension of disbelief that would have had me totally enthralled by it.
I was ultimately disappointed in it, simply because the truly beautiful virtual world that was created was so badly served(in my opinion) by a paint-by-numbers story and godawful dialogue. The characters were either two dimensional or total cardboard ciphers. In the end, I wouldn’t have minded a film that was a travelogue of visiting Pandora(even that struck me as corny, but never mind)rather than a hackneyed “big bad comic book corporation vs. native americans-aka Nabi or Navi or what you will”. In sum: great visual achievement, lousy storytelling. My hat’s off to the animators, CG technicians and especially the (very likely exhausted) storyboard artists. They deserve an Oscar or 20 to split amongst them.
on 20 Dec 2009 at 5:20 am 7.Grant said …
WOW! I just got out of Avatar, and I was bored silly. It’s ugly, and boring to boot. Looks like a bad Yes album cover by way of Thomas Kinkade. I really wouldn’t have minded so much had the script given me characters to care about, with dialogue worth listening to. It’s at least an hour too long for it’s thin story, and it’s pseudo-spiritual mumbo jumbo is trite and frankly ridiculous. The stereo glasses gave me a headache, and the dim image made my eyes tired from strain.
Titanic had many of the same problem, but at least you got to watch the Titanic sink.
on 20 Dec 2009 at 9:19 am 8.Michael said …
Aware of the kitschy art style going into the film and aware of the second rate screewriter the author had been in the past, I was steeled to put that stuff aside and take in the bigger picture. Movies are going to be like this … and soon. (Thank god the super-low budget paranormal was a bigger success pound for pound. Studios will likely invest less in $300 million potential failures than with dime-store movies.)
I was impressed with what the cgi guys did (which I assume includes tired story artists). I don’t want to see the film again. Been there done that. But then I have not been able to watch Titanic a second time despite Kate and Leo and the sinking ship.
More the disappoint was The Princess and the Frog, at least for me. Lots of fluid movement. Amateurishly written script/story. I’ve tried watching it a second time with the Academy screener. It’s not easy.
on 20 Dec 2009 at 2:21 pm 9.Jenny said …
I wouldn’t put storyboard people in the CG category!
My films are CG but I’m still drawing boards. But I don’t know Cameron’s working method, so…hmmm.
on 20 Dec 2009 at 2:36 pm 10.Elliot Cowan said …
It’s interesting you should write about Avatar and ATCP in the same post.
Polar opposites, I think.
on 23 Dec 2009 at 2:12 am 11.Mac said …
I agree, both Avatar and Fantastic Mr. Fox were great movies. Both shared a strong visual direction. I didn’t think I would like either but they proved me wrong. The black light, day glow look of the alien planet in Avatar was a bit over the top for me at first but I soon accepted it and moved on, I understand it is being used to emphasize the magical quality of their world. The motion capture is right up there with Benjamin Button except there is about 1000 times more. It passed the “forget your watching CG” test for me.
on 30 Dec 2009 at 8:56 am 12.Marco said …
With all respect I would like to express my opinion here.
Avatar is unquestionably an incredible evolution technique but the most important part of the film is its message for the World.
The World is perceiving Avatar as an political criticism to the American behaviour. Is an alert in form of metaphor. Pandora represents our planet Earth. It can be Iraq, full of oil, like Pandora is full of some kind of ore, or the Amazon rainforest, full of richness and the floating mountains can be the Afghanistan mountains, very difficult to have access and easy to hide of the American soldiers. The humans are obvious American people, the scientists, the entrepreneur and the army. The scientists are the good people but they are minority.
The Avatar people are from the developing countries
who do not possess great technology.
on 18 Feb 2010 at 8:43 am 13.Martin said …
James Cameron has definately made another winner this time. Avatar is incredible, and although the actual story is a bit rehashed, the movie experience more than makes up for this. Will we see an Avatar 2? I hope so
on 29 Dec 2010 at 2:48 pm 14.gundam said …
Movie is just a common hobby. It is strange.