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“Bill Hicks–blowtorch, excavator, truth-sayer, and brain specialist, like a reverend waving a gun around. He will correct your vision. Others will drive on the road he built.” – Tom Waits
In Roy Andersson's latest work yet another thread leads back to Iceland. Inspired by The Poetic Edda, an ancient Icelandic piece of literature, the concept of the film is "man is man's fascination". The original proverb from the ballad of Hovamol("The high one's words) states "man is man's delight". Andersson adds that man is also "the bane of man, a threat and a sorrow."
Only Andersson's fourth feature film in 37 years, the film is presented in stark settings in deep-focus with faded palettes. Scenes are brief appearing at regular intervals to introduce new characters and ideas before moving onto another subject. With dark humour and considered commentary on human existence, it is a gem of a film that feels like a natural progression from Andersson's earlier work.
Here is the trailer:
From journalists Mick Bunnage and Jon Link, Modern Toss is a Channel 4 series adapted from their independent comic and website. Making use of both live action and animation, it's one of the best British comedy sketch shows to appear in years.
Don Hertzfeldt's irreverent and funny animations have been met with unprecedented acclaim and popularity for an independent animator. The following Oscar-nominated animation, Rejected, is a sharp pastiche on television, advertising, and artists' sometimes troubled relationship with capitalism.
Having recently stumbled across the term "middle brow", I was reminded of the classic Frost Report sketch on class written by Marty Feldman and John Law featuring John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett.
Here is a typographic version with original dialogue created by Mark Eastwood:
I'm afraid this is more advertising, but there is something incredibly captivating about these surreal and sometimes sinister commercials. From Japan, these spots advertise Tarako's noodles and cod roe(eggs) and have become something of a national obsession. It isn't entirely new though it does have incredible staying power.
For those who find this captivating, it might be worth looking up Takashi Miike's The Happiness Of The Katakuris which has a similar surreal, musical feel though the promised menace does on many occasions come to fruition. (Miike is best known in the west for Audition and Ichi The Killer)
Also, don't miss the links below which are equally surreal. The Tarako site also features downloads and addition clips. What I find interesting is not just the surreal visuals, but the gambit of emotional hues these clips manage in a fractional space of time.
Watch this spot with it's melancholy and haunting opening that quickly turns...
The preview of Tony Millionaire's Drinky Crow Show, part of Adult Swim's "Night of 1000 Pilots" is online. The full pilots will be online on May 11 and on television on the 13th(North America).
The full pilot is now available HERE.
Links:
Tony Millionaire MySpace
Adult Swim
Adult Swim: Night of 1000 Pilots
It's interesting to see the the unique programming created for children's television internationally and it's often more experimental and subversive than anything dreamed up on the major networks.
This clip is from the Japanese children's program "PythagoraSwitch" and is comprised of several "algorithm dances" from the show. Just watch the expressions on the faces of the two lead men and don't miss the marches. Compiled by a YouTube user and subtitled by Dattebayo fansubs, this is great surreal fun.
Channel Frederator has a brilliant cartoon podcast featuring a wide variety of artists and styles. Most of the content is lighthearted fun, but there is some dramatic work such as The Ballyvaughan Story by Sara Pocock(episode 43).
I've not seen everything yet, but the quality of what I've seen thus far is consistently good though the inclusion of advertising is a little annoying and compares so very, very badly with the content between which it is placed. Indeed, don't let the "What the hell? TOON IN!" below put you off having a look. It's the picture to look at, not the frame.
The images above are samples from the latest, "Episode 77" featuring Deerhoof - Kidz are so Small from Face 3 Media, Libraryhead by David Bazelon, and Predators of the Sprawl: A Staggering Simian by James Buran. See all these animations(episode 77) below:
Baby Cow Productions are consistently creating great, original comedies. Their first animated effort, I am Not an Animal, written and directed by Peter Baynham(I'm Alan Partridge, Brass Eye, The Day Today) is set deep within the bowels of Vivi-Sec UK where scientist Mike Simmons is conducting an experiment called Project S, the attempt to create talking animals.
Batch 4 (the latest attempt) brings together a horse called Philip Masterson-Bowie, a dog(Winona Matthews), a monkey(Hugh Gape), a mouse(Clare Franchetti), a bird(Mark Andrews), and a cat called Keiron. The series features the voice talents of Steve Coogan, Julia Davis, Amelia Bulmore, Kevin Eldon, Simon Pegg, and Arthur Mathews.
Clips are available via BBC Worldwide on YouTube:
As far as contrasts between posts go, this has to be one of the more dramatic which means things are ticking over nicely. If Ziggy Stardust and Iggy Pop had a love child, it would be Bobby Conn. His music has had a consistent and unique voice since his self titled LP arrived in 1997. His anti-aesthetic aesthetic, frantic stage performance, and good humour rank him among my favourites.
What is the first album you ever bought? And what music was playing around the Conn household when you were a child?
The first album I purchased was "Panorama" by The Cars; that would have been in 1980 or so. Not the best Cars record, for sure. My parents listened to lots of classical music, opera, and show tunes. My older brother was deeply, tragically into Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Rush, Yes and similar druid based music. I rebelled against these influences when I was a teenager, but now I'm absolutely charmed by combining everything into one nasty mess.
Has becoming a parent affected your music?
Not really, but it has improved my focus. I have less time to wallow in bullshit.
Takeshi Kitano is the type of renaissance artist that we don't see often. He's a film director, an author, a poet, painter, video game designer, television presenter, actor and comedian. His films are equally varied and have brought him acclaim internationally. Furthermore, he is very good at what he does creating idiosyncratic, individual pieces of work.
His latest film, tells the story of Takeshi(played by Takeshi), a director trying to make a hit movie, cycling through various genres. It seems to be a continuation of his last film, Takeshis, which was similar in many ways to Fellini's 8 1/2. The trailer itself looks like a patchwork of his various films and their styles.
See it at Office Kitano HERE in its intended format or watch below.
From a team of five students of the Gobelins l'école de l'image, this short animation was created for the opening of the Annecy 2006 international animation festival. Created over 7 months using traditional 2d animation buttressed by some 3d and Flash elements, it's another example of the talent coming from Gobelins.
It's a fun trinket which quickly establishes five distinct characters in a short space of time, wastes no time telling its action packed story, and showcases the talents of the animators involved.
See the full short in various formats at the official site. Alternatively, you can watch the low quality flash video below. Also, visit the home pages of the creators for more interesting work.
After completing his vengeance trilogy and Old Boy, Park Chan-Wook turned his attention toward comedy with I'm a Cyborg But That's OK.
This tale of love in a mental institution is to be released on DVD in Korea (with English subtitles) on 30 April though westward, there's still time to catch it at your favourite independent cinema. No news as yet on DVD releases in Europe and North America.
Watch the teaser with it's incredible visuals and introduction to the 7 great (cyborg) evils...
Another unusual turn from a director who constantly challenges himself and his audience, The Boss of it All (Direktoren for det Hele) is a comedy from Lars Von Trier featuring Jens Albinus and Iben Hjejle, reunited from their earlier work with Von Trier on The Idiots.
Synopsis:
The owner of an IT firm wants to sell up. There is just one problem: back when he started the firm he invented a fictitious boss to hide behind when there were unpopular decisions to make.The film also employs Automavision, a principle for shooting a film and sound recording developed with the intention of limiting human influence by inviting chance and giving the work an "idealess" surface free of the force of habit and aesthetics.
The would-be buyers insist on negotiating with the boss in the flesh so the owner resorts to employing a down-at-heel actor to play the part.
See the trailer HERE and now HERE.
I tried interviewing Hal Hartley a couple of years ago and though he didn't have the time for an interview, he did very politely explain this and supported my project. With new film Fay Grim, which is billed as a follow up to Hartley's
Stumble it!
Stumble it!
