SAT, NOV 1 / 9 pm
Dir. Bill Plympton | USA 2008 | 78min. | 35mm | Animated Drama/Comedy | Rated 14A
It’s always a pleasure when Bill Plympton emerges with new work, and his latest feature is no exception. A seedy nameless man goes about the routines of his daily life, angrily getting out of bed, showering in a daze, then getting hammered for hours at Bart’s Bar, where he mocks other patrons and generally acts like a nuisance. He also happens to be a gun dealer. His routine is broken only by the occasional fights he picks with whoever happens to be nearby. One morning, he wakes up with angel wings inexplicably growing out of his back. He can now fly and do somewhat incredible things. But he is no angel.
After his large-scale, colour-drenched, celebrity-voiced indie epic HAIR HIGH, Bill Plympton has taken shelter in the opposite extreme, creating a raw, stripped-down feature that returns to the basics of his award-winning cult shorts. Poetic, nasty and sweetened with an oddly optimistic flavour of misanthropy, IDIOTS AND ANGELS is Plympton at his purest. There is no dialogue. There are few characters. Pencil lines and scratch-shadows lend gritty texture to everything. As always, he takes wicked pleasure in deconstructing human behaviour and imaginatively accentuating mundane, everyday actions into twisted absurdities and sometimes, revolting grotesquery. IDIOTS AND ANGELS is further proof that Plympton is a true original. (Mitch Davis)
plays with the short films:
HOT DOG
A film by Bill Plympton
In the newest Plymptoon, an enthusiastic pup will do anything to become the fire station’s resident pooch.
EYE SPY
A film by Biljana Labovic
A girl’s inner world is filled with dreams and memories. She peeks into her own heart to find the forgotten feelings. She’s her own personal spy.
