2/19/04

Triplets of Belleville

"Triplets of Belleville" is beautifully animated. It uses a lot of CGI but not in the obvious manner, not in a cliched manner. Lovely little details, including the poster of Tati's "Mr. Hulot Takes a Holiday" and a clip from "Jour de Fete." I think Sylvain Chomet takes his cue from Tati's brand of humor, mainly visual, mainly slapstick with a touch of grace.

Yes I suppose it can be considered something of a cold fish, but the French have never made many overly sentimental art films--it has the melancholy air of people who are oppressed but never give up.  They don't really change either, but you don't look for character development in a, say Road Runner cartoon--what's supposed to sustain you is the inventiveness, of which there is some; maybe, to my mind at least, not as chaotically funny as Dante's "Looney Tunes," but some. Chomet doesn't have the kind of control over emotional tone that Miyazaki does (maybe he didn't bother to try), but he does come up with a gorgeous-looking film.

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