Post by Pulpmariachi on Dec 3, 2005 18:47:37 GMT -5
SPOILERS PROBABLY PRESENT
I think if I only had one word to describe Mirrormask, I'd use...
"Bizarre."
Luckily though, I'm not going to use only one word about this movie. As an English major I like using loads of words.
Neil Gaiman is probably science-fiction/fantasy's darling child at the moment. What, with American Gods winning the Hugo a couple years ago and him just doing loads of other things, including more stuff about Sandman, the graphic novels (which I've never read), when Gaiman's name pops up, the science-fiction/fantasy community tends to look up.
I'm not really "in" the science-fiction/fantasy community, but I do know that his name comes up a lot. I used to subscribe to Asimovs and he was often mentioned there. And then just browsing the magazines at Barnes and Nobel I've seen his face plastered all over the sci-fi/fantasy magazines (as well as some literary ones). I've read a few of his works and they've all be nothing less than brilliant.
So one day I was reading our schoolnewspaper and was looking at the movie times (to see if there was anything interesting happening. Aeon Flux was coming up but that looked retarded and it was looking like I might be seeing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire again) when this ad on the side caught my attention. It was just a strange ad, declaring its advertising of NEIL GAIMAN'S MIRRORMASK. Gaiman's name registered with me and I thought it looked interesting. Later that night I checked out the trailer on the Internet and decided I was going to see this movie.
And I did.
Obviously.
Mirrormask is basically an inter-dimension tale. It's about this little girl in the circus whose mother falls ill. This girl's name is Helena.
Anywho, the night they are operating on her mum to see if what's wrong with her, Helena hears this fiddle playing and then sees these street performers practicing. She converses with them when, suddenly, two of them are sucked up by the shadows. They go through a door and into this other world where shadows are taking over and bringing about the end of the world. There's this thing she finds out she must looks for, called the Mirrormask which is also a potion thing that's needed to save the White Queen and help diminsh the Queen of Shadows.
Basically, we get an inter-dimensional treasure adventure, where Helena must figure out something about Anti-Helena and restore order to the world.
But I don't think this movie was about the story.
It was about the visuals.
And Lord, it's a visual movie.
I think the only thing I can compare it to would be that old Red Hot Chili Pepper's video "Otherside."
The film was directed by Dave McKean (another good piece of evidence for my theory that if your name is David and you're a director, you make strange movies) who I think is an illustrator for the books of Gaiman. Yeah, I think he drew up Coraline or something.
Well, if you've seen anything he drew you kind of get a peek into what this movie looks like. I can't really explain it, but it's good.
The theater I saw it in had some problems with framing in the beginning, but it was all fixed up, and it literally took me to a new, different, bizarre world.
Yeah, if you get a chance you should totally go see it.
***/****
I think if I only had one word to describe Mirrormask, I'd use...
"Bizarre."
Luckily though, I'm not going to use only one word about this movie. As an English major I like using loads of words.
Neil Gaiman is probably science-fiction/fantasy's darling child at the moment. What, with American Gods winning the Hugo a couple years ago and him just doing loads of other things, including more stuff about Sandman, the graphic novels (which I've never read), when Gaiman's name pops up, the science-fiction/fantasy community tends to look up.
I'm not really "in" the science-fiction/fantasy community, but I do know that his name comes up a lot. I used to subscribe to Asimovs and he was often mentioned there. And then just browsing the magazines at Barnes and Nobel I've seen his face plastered all over the sci-fi/fantasy magazines (as well as some literary ones). I've read a few of his works and they've all be nothing less than brilliant.
So one day I was reading our schoolnewspaper and was looking at the movie times (to see if there was anything interesting happening. Aeon Flux was coming up but that looked retarded and it was looking like I might be seeing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire again) when this ad on the side caught my attention. It was just a strange ad, declaring its advertising of NEIL GAIMAN'S MIRRORMASK. Gaiman's name registered with me and I thought it looked interesting. Later that night I checked out the trailer on the Internet and decided I was going to see this movie.
And I did.
Obviously.
Mirrormask is basically an inter-dimension tale. It's about this little girl in the circus whose mother falls ill. This girl's name is Helena.
Anywho, the night they are operating on her mum to see if what's wrong with her, Helena hears this fiddle playing and then sees these street performers practicing. She converses with them when, suddenly, two of them are sucked up by the shadows. They go through a door and into this other world where shadows are taking over and bringing about the end of the world. There's this thing she finds out she must looks for, called the Mirrormask which is also a potion thing that's needed to save the White Queen and help diminsh the Queen of Shadows.
Basically, we get an inter-dimensional treasure adventure, where Helena must figure out something about Anti-Helena and restore order to the world.
But I don't think this movie was about the story.
It was about the visuals.
And Lord, it's a visual movie.
I think the only thing I can compare it to would be that old Red Hot Chili Pepper's video "Otherside."
The film was directed by Dave McKean (another good piece of evidence for my theory that if your name is David and you're a director, you make strange movies) who I think is an illustrator for the books of Gaiman. Yeah, I think he drew up Coraline or something.
Well, if you've seen anything he drew you kind of get a peek into what this movie looks like. I can't really explain it, but it's good.
The theater I saw it in had some problems with framing in the beginning, but it was all fixed up, and it literally took me to a new, different, bizarre world.
Yeah, if you get a chance you should totally go see it.
***/****
