cyberinsekt Reviews

Toy Story (1995)

Cynical and disturbing

[6/10 · 3 January 2002]

This is one film that left me with a very sour aftertaste. Yes, it's animated with character and vigour, and there are some fine -- if over the top -- voice performances. However, there are some very disturbing aspects to the film. The first is that it's like nothing so much as watching a 90 minute advert. Even if merchandising hadn't been released to support the film, all the supporting cast could already by bought in your local toy shop. I'm sure I wasn't the only viewer who found this more than a little suspect.

[Possible spoiler:]

The second, perhaps larger, point against the film lies in the characterisation of the two boys, Andy and Sid. Andy is the "good" boy. He plays safely and passively with his toys, they don't do anything toys wouldn't do. Sid, the "bad" boy is more creative. He adapts toys to fit his own vision, he's an innovator, a creator. It's this very creativity of his that is portrayed as a bad thing. Sid isn't the ideal target audience for this film: he wouldn't be satisfied with row after row of identical shop-bought toys, he would much rather make his own. I guess this review is being written for all the Sids out there, who are demonised and vilified by this ultra-corporate nightmare of a film.

Eaux d'artifice (1953)

Spellbinding chiaroscuro

[8/10 · 13 September 2001]

Somewhat atypical of Anger's films, this seems to be a pure visual treat with none of his trademark homoeroticism or occult references. To a soundtrack of "The Four Seasons", a woman wearing eighteenth century clothes wanders through a garden carrying a fan, until she comes across a fountain. She enters the waters, and fades to nothingness. Anger's camerawork is nothing less than sensational, catching the play of light on the water superbly. This short film was shot in b&w, and printed with a coloured tint, with the fan hand-tinted in a separate colour. Simple, and beautifully effective.

Tromeo and Juliet (1996)

Astonishing

[8/10 · 13 July 2001]

I don't think the world was ready for this film. I know I wasn't. I'd been expected a standard low-budget schlock exploitation potboiler. Instead, I got the most intelligent reworking of Shakespeare since Peter Greenaway's "Prospero's Books". This should become the definitive film version of Romeo And Juliet. It won't of course. But that's the world's loss.