jamesq: (Default)
jamesq ([personal profile] jamesq) wrote2004-02-16 08:49 am

The Triplets of Belleville

St. Valentine's day can be pretty depressing, and in years past it was very depressing indeed. This year, not so much. I even went to the movies by myself without it pissing me off (I hate going to movies alone). 2003 was my last shitty year - from now on, the years will be better.

The movie I saw was The Triplets of Belleville. If you're a connoisseur of animation I recommend it, mostly because of the grotesquely beautiful art. Try to imagine a cross between Herge and Gilbert Shelton, or just check out the official web site. Don't worry about accessibility - there is almost no dialog (maybe a sentence or two) so the characters are more like animated mimes than a typical character.

On the other hand, it's short (78 minutes), has only the most rudimentary plot, and you never really warm up to the characters (except maybe the dog Bruno, who reminds me of Athena's dog Seven - it's the eyebrows mostly). No, if you're going to go see it it's for the art which is so much different from modern standards of animation it's almost a deliberate negative image. Whereas anime has a clean look consisting mostly of beautiful characters with huge eyes, Triplets has characters with giant noses and beady little eyes. There are no non-ugly characters in Triplets.

It's not really a kids movie either. Certainly there's nothing objectionable about it, but at the same time it probably won't hold a kids attention.

It was nominated for an Academy award, but this was a slow year (hell, Brother Bear got nominated). Check out the web site before you actually go.