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"Idiots and Angels," the latest feature animation by Bill Plympton, is a dark and surreal but ultimately uplifting tale about a man's moral transformation. / Courtesy of SICAF |
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Forget that cartoons are for kids ― here's a comedy noir that's rated 15 years and older. Renowned illustrator Bill Plympton, who made a name for himself through smart cartoons in publications like the New York Times, brings his latest feature animation, ``Idiots and Angels.''
After debuting at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York last month, ``Angels'' makes its Asian premiere as the opening film for the 12th Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival (SICAF). While intensely sinister and surreal, this tale of moral awakening is winged ― both literally and figuratively ― with lighthearted humor, aerial adventure and a spiritual uplift.
Devoid of dialogue, It's like a quirky indie music video told through facial expressions and music with the added dimension only animation can provide. One scene crumples into the other like rough pen sketches on scrap paper, but the minimal palette and silhouettes, in their very coarseness, are masterfully crafted.
``Angels'' takes place in a city that could well be Seoul, New York or London, where poker-faced necktie-clad men and high-heeled women battle traffic jams and urban apathy. Angel is one of them, a sullen middle-aged pistol salesman who hangs out at Bart's Bar.
Angel is probably the most unfit name for such a twisted, subnormally amoral man. Without hesitation, he indulges in setting cars on fire to win a parking spot and sexually harasses a waitress.
One day, Angel wakes up with an itch on his back ― wings. Like a scene from ``X-Men,'' he resists the ``mutation'' and tries to get rid of it ― bandaging it, chopping it off and when all that fails, chaining it down. But the, wings, too resist and reveal their form in public, humiliating Angel.
But he soon discovers his ability to fly and sees it as a chance to further abuse others from a whole new aerial level. However, the wings take on a life of their own and bar Angel from snatching people's handbags and harassing women.
Slowly, his attitude starts to change as his wings force him to do good deeds. He even saves the bar owner's beautiful wife from danger, and the two enjoy a Superman and Lois Lane moment as they waltz on the clouds, falling in love.
In a jealous rage over Angel's affair with his wife, the bar owner corners Angel with a doctor who sees the condition as a ticket to fame and fortune. They shoot him to claim the wings for themselves. But Angel does not back down so easily.
While the film is allegorical in the sense that a fallen modern man is saved by a pair of holy wings, it's not religious ― though some of the background music evoking a church choir gives it a spiritual quality.
Angel's metamorphosis from a ``morally bankrupt'' man to an angel is more bizarre than biblical, and has a ring of Kafka (except the change is a good one and he's initially resistant to it).
``Angels'' straddles existentialism and spirituality. A man learns about the consequences of his actions and tastes the triumph of mutual love over misogynistic sexual lust, but it's in the end about enjoying worldly pleasures and living a good life.
Now showing through Saturday at Lotte Cinema-Konkuk Univ. 15 and over. 78 minutes. There are 136 other quality animations available at the same venue as part of SICAF. Visit www.sicaf.org.
hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr
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무디스, 스페인·伊·포르투갈 신용등급 강등
