Regarding DMon on MDot versus Lynch and Cronenberg
I'd like to add some thoughts on Dmon's review:
How to Describe Heart String Marionette, 1 August 2012
Author: D Mon from Canada
Indie animator and one man production team M Dot Strange's latest feature Heart String Marionette follows in its predecessors footsteps, its weird, its wild, its vulgar and yet its refreshing and sublimely strange. Heart String Marionette begs the question how to describe it, a David Lynch film channeled through warped CG Animation, A Childs Nightmare turned stream of conscious poetry, edgy anime tropes coalescing into a fractured narrative, a riddle wrapped inside a mystery locked in an enigma. No matter how you may try to perceive it and describe it, you are doomed to fail, M Dot Strange has crafted something bizarre, engaging and new, devoid of any attempt at description.
No matter how I may perceive it or describe it, I am doomed to fail? So in other words, Heart String Marionette is beyond all our comprehension because M Dot Strange is way beyond us all, never mind that he doesn't even know what a satire is? I don't think so!
This sounds like mere marketing spin to me.
When one begins to dissect HSM one can easily spot M Dot's stylistic touchtones and influences. The CG animations schizophrenic shifting from crystal clear smoothness to unnerving and erratic jerking motions is reminiscent of underground Motion Capture and CG animation as well as the early works of the Brothers Quay. His obsession with samurai culture, Japanese names, anime references and archetypes conjures to mind the most gritty, action packed and self-aware of all anime series, series such as Vampire Hunter D and Blade of the Immortal.
All that is well and good, but what about the story?
His skewed narrative structure, filled with nightmarish visions whilst still somehow maintaining a level of character and in this case emotional depth brings to mind the way a David Lynch or Cronenberg film is approached, narratively speaking that is. M Dot's formula then seems to be 1 part Brothers Quay, 1 Part Anime Culture and 1 Part David Lynch and 1 Part Stream Of Conscious Spontaneity. To pool such influences together and yet come up with something provocative, watchable, intense and jarring is a tough balancing act, one most would be unable to pull off but M Dot does it with aplomb.
M Dot Strange's writing is too ham-handed to be compared to Lynch's. His characters do not achieve the level of Lynch's really hard symbolism. One example would be the disheveled homeless bum behind the garbage can in “Mulholland Drive” - we are not sure if that bum is God, or not, and the question is brought up in a conversation in the film. But it is not done in a ham-handed manner.
I read an interesting review of Lynch's work here:
http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/19/mulholland_dreams/
And I would like to quote something from it:
“Over the past ten years, Lynch has consolidated his greatness by matching this audio-visual style with bold experiments in fractured narrative in three extraordinary and increasingly accomplished films: Fire Walk with Me (1993), Lost Highway (1996) and now Mulholland Drive (2001). These films tell their stories without identifying an objective reality for the viewers to identify with. Rather, the landscape they inhabit is a subjective one, created from the troubled fantasies of his disturbed protagonists. In all three films, these fantasies can be interpreted as vain attempts to escape from events too horrible to handle. Rather than relating the facts of what has happened, Lynch’s films play out like dreams inspired by them. In effect, this means lifting the lid of narrative itself to reveal the tempestuous currents of wonder and terror thrashing about beneath the specific details of the plot. This places the audience in uncommonly raw, direct contact with the terror and confusion the characters are enduring."
This raw, direct contact with the characters is not what is going on in HSM. There are vague references to the whole story being a play, but nobody wakes up from it, not even gradually, and the play doesn't end. There is no sense of the characters escaping into fantasy because reality is too horrible to handle.
Does HSM play out like a dream inspired by a horrible reality? No. There is no poignant testimony to the fragility of our dreams. Therefore, the traditional conventions of storytelling do apply, and HSM does not live up to them.
David Lynch also does not treat his characters in a contemptible manner, not even his prostitute characters. M Dot Strange does. Even M Dot's character names indicate a ham-handed smirkiness which you do not see in Lynch's work. In short, M Dot Strange's work has only one level; Lynch's work has many.
Hm, I'm guessing that D Mon is thinking of something like David Cronenberg's “Naked Lunch” in his comparison to HSM. The whole point of the blurring of of the line between reality and fiction is to disorient you, putting you in the shoes of the protagonist, in that film.
At no point, I repeat NO point, does the viewer of HSM feel disoriented enough to experience the story in the shoes of the protagonist. In HSM, the line between reality and fiction is served by a smirky arrogance rather than a real blurring of reality and hallucination. Naked Lunch did achieve that real blurring, HSM does not.
As I've said before, the only time in the film in which Samhaine is even slightly sympathetic, is when he is wondering around with no face, not knowing who he, or his father, really is. Except that he becomes a murderer without even questioning why he was murdering people!
This is not the same as accidentally killing your wife, (as in Naked Lunch), or thinking you did, then fleeing in fear. In fact all the hallucinations in Naked Lunch could be seen as the main character's own guilt trip.
Samhaine Tsuke doesn't even have any consciousness that there is something wrong with murdering people. He wasn't written with any indications of such, none at all. As such, he is far less interesting than the main character in Naked Lunch. Samhaine Tsuke literally is a wooden puppet, and that is not a compliment.
From a story and thematic standing, the film demonstrates M Dots greatest improvements.
Kind of like being the “most improved” bowler, eh?
The story line on the surface of the film is a very simple one, one that anybody can sink their teeth into, it is a tale of redemption for Samhaine Tsuke, Siouxsie and the monster ridden country side the two seem poised to save. A simple premise and story but one that works incredibly well and one that is easy to pickup on (unlike the storyline of his first film the equally as strange and entertaining weirdo opus We Are the Strange). However deceptively simple the basic premise and story-line may be M Dot spruces it up with a fragmented and fractal approach and thematically touches upon much more than just a redemption fable. Never before has M Dot really had a social conscious about his films but thematically in HSM we are treated to comments on religion, female rights, man-kinds pitfalls, satanism and even the structure and sanctity of the family unit, its these numerous sub-themes and touchtones that bring a level of depth to what on the surface is a very easy to follow story and setup. Granted this multi-thematic approach to storytelling and symbolism has some drawbacks, it makes the point of the movie hard to grasp and feels fractured overall but that is also part of the mystery and fun of HSM, it merits repeat viewings.
Well now, how can this be – the story line is simple enough for anyone to sink their teeth into, and yet no matter how I may perceive it or describe it, I am doomed to fail? It can be one or the other, not both. The story line is not deceptively simple, it is merely hugely lacking. Strange how those lacking writing talent attempt to fall back on mystery.
The Score is worth noting as well, M Dot teamed up with composer Endika for the entirety of the score you hear and it works wonders. The musical score is contemplative, beautiful and intense. It demonstrates perfectly the power behind the tandem of sound and image, as a result the film receives a bit of extra emotional grounding, most evident in the closing stages of the film. It is this extra little emotional push that really makes HSM by the movies end feel like another weirdo opus in its own right, one that is high on the strange but also high on commentary, sentiment, forthrightness and even accessibility.
Yeah the music is great. Too bad for endika......
It is truly a step up and a step towards a more positive direction. Good job M Dot Strange, it is one of the best animated films I've seen all year.
Gosh, I hope some real intellectuals come along to comment on the film. I kind of doubt it will happen.
reprinted from:
http://tylerzamborifilmreview.blogspot.com/2012/08/heart-stringmarionette-by-m-dot-strange.html
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