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Community Corner

Ferndale Library Lists: Lindsey's Offbeat Animated Films

Offbeat, indeed! 
Lindsey tipped me to some pretty sensational, surreal and strange cinema when she turned in this list, for our weekly post of recommendations. 

One of FPL's five Circulation Specialists, Lindsey Harnish, also picked one of my all-time favorites (a modern classic) with offbeat indie-director Wes Anderson's foray into stop-motion animation, adapting Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox (from 2009). 

It makes sense for Lindsey to go the animation route (i.e. the markedly more artistically inclined expression for filmmakers from her list,), as she's not only an artist herself, specializing in mixed-media, painting and encaustics, but she's also a board-member for Ferndale Public Library's Art & Exhibitions Committee, which hosts monthly Artists Roundtables for local creative-types (fourth Thursday of every month.) 
For more information on the A&E Committee, as well as its upcoming show (March 3 - April 12: "For The Love Of Reading Vol. 2") follow on Facebook

Take it away, Lindsey

Lindsey's Offbeat Animation Picks

Animation can really stretch the imagination and push the boundaries of normalcy in film. I’m particularly drawn to ones that are a bit odd. Most of these titles are a bit too dark for children or get into edgy subjects.

 

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Fantastic Mr. Fox

DVD CHILDREN'S F

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A sparkling and witty adventure that captures the whimsy of the original story by Roald Dahl and expands on it to magical proportions. Following the antics of the rakish Mr. Fox, who can’t quite settle down into a quiet, domestic life when the nearby farm fowl is so irresistable. A charming soundtrack (with that includes a score Alexandre Desplat and songs by  Burl Ives, the Beach Boys) and an autumnal tinged finish to the film lend it a nostalgic glow.

 

Persepolis

DVD DRAMA P

If you were in an oppressive country under tyranny, you'd want to be a rebel, too, right? Feisty young Marji comes of age during the turmoil of her homeland, 1970s Iran. Among her ways of fighting the forced fundamentalism are through bootlegged copies of Michael Jackson and Iron Maiden and other contraband. Inspired by Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel of the same title, Persepolis holds true to crisp, stylized art, but it’s marvelous to see the work literally transformed into a moving story.

 

Town Called Panic

DVD FOREIGN T

When a well-intentioned birthday gift winds up being a crushing disaster, Cowboy, Indian and Horse find themselves on a whirling adventure to the center of the earth, the frozen tundras and beyond. Marvelously ludicrous and hilariously absurd. It’s been described as “Toy Story on Absinthe.”

 

Alice

(Available through TLN)

Possibly among the creepiest interpretations of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland.”  Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer’s adaptation combines the live performance of one quiet young waif with stop-motion animation, the story’s extraordinary cast of characters being played by taxidermy creatures, skeletons and other oddities.That it’s a dark, rust-stained and faded Wonderland doesn’t make it any less breathtaking.

 

Aeon Flux

(Available through TLN)

The live action film might have killed interest in this twisted animated series, although it’s a mirthless loose interpretation. The original animated series, which aired on MTV’s Liquid Television, was edgy and groundbreaking.

 In the futuristic country of Bregna, Chairman Trevor Goodchild is always maneuvering to make things more perfect, because what society is not improved without ubiquitous surveillance...or cloning….or borders reinforced with lazers? His efforts are always sabotaged by the mercenary Aeon Flux, who always manages to slip through security from the rival neighboring country of Monica to literally explode his plans. Their charged rivalry is impressive--rife with sardonic banter, frequent chase sequences and shootouts and plenty of sexual frustration. , with its gaunt, stylized figures (which remind me of artist Egon Schiele) and impossible constructions off futuristic industrial design (seriously neat contraptions on the show), its a show for a special kind of geek. 

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