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The Burning

It speaks to the strength of The Burning’s reputation among cult-film fans that what’s most memorable about the 1981 slasher is not that it was written by the Weinstein brothers, nor that it represents early appearances of the likes of Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter and Fisher Stevens. It’s that its Cropsy is just a damned good villain.
05/24/2013 | Comments 0

Dexter: The Seventh Season

There's no way to discuss the seventh and penultimate season of Showtime's hit Dexter without acknowledging how the previous year ended. Therefore, if you haven't finished the sixth season, stop reading now. You've got work to do.
05/21/2013 | Comments 0

Nightfall

As Simon Lam gets older, he gets better. The veteran actor has appeared in such in seminal HK action films of the 1990s as Once Upon a Time in China (opposite Jet Li) and Bullet in the Head (directed by John Woo); in the aughts, he graced audience and critical favorites Election and Ip Man.
05/20/2013 | Comments 0

Grand Duel

Lee Van Cleef enjoyed a secondary career in Italy cranking out spaghetti Westerns, with little regard to quality. However, 1972’s Grand Duel — aka The Big Showdown — is deserving of its Grand label. No wonder Quentin Tarantino borrowed its sweeping theme song by Luis Bacalov for Kill Bill; you'll recognize it in two notes.
05/20/2013 | Comments 0

The Last Stand

Early in The Last Stand, the small-town sheriff played by Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "It's my day off. Should be a quiet weekend." That's the new way of saying, "I've got one week to retirement," because it signals — with flashing neon and everything — that life is going to royally upend those plans.
05/17/2013 | Comments 0
Home · Articles · Movies · Drama · Idiots & Angels
Drama

Idiots & Angels


Clipped wings

Rod Lott January 25th, 2011  

Animator Bill Plympton’s “Idiots & Angels” is not what you’d think, for several reasons.

First, it’s not a short, but at 78 minutes, his first feature since 2004. Second, it’s decidedly darker than his usual terrain. Third ... well, in the opening scene, what looks like the main character’s morning wood rustling under the covers is actually an alarm clock. (The end scene? That’s another story.)

The film plays 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, along with Plympton’s latest short, “The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger,” a colorful, five-minute piece that looks more like the work of Gary Larson than Plympton.

But back to “Idiots”: Free of dialogue, its unconventional, oft-frustrating story concerns a man who becomes a literal angel, although his behavior is more devilish.

For example, he drinks heavily at his neighborhood bar, to the point where he molests a woman who works there. Once his wings make their surprise sprouting, he wants nothing to do with them.

But when cutting them off just makes them grow back, he gives them a spin, allowing for activities like spying on nude sunbathers. Yeah, he gets shot at a lot.

With its scenes of sex and violence, neither too graphic, it’s definitely not for kids. Plympton has a distinct style recognizable to many who’ve never seen his work in motion; hand-drawn rather than created by computer, “Idiots” should be seen by those more interested in the sheer craftsmanship behind the flighty, freaky events that may not sit well with mainstream tastes. In storytelling terms, it would work infinitely better at a fraction of its length.

 
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