Movie Details
| Title: | A Town Called Panic | |
| Director: | Stéphane Aubier & Vincent Patar | |
| Year: | 2009 | |
| Genre: | Existential | |
| Times Seen: | 3 | |
| Last Seen: | 04.08.10 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 04.08.10 | Angelika - Dallas | This Screening is part of event: Dallas International Film Festival 2010 Yup. This is my third time to see A Town Called Panic. Tonight was the opening night of the Dallas International Film Festival. And while everyone else dressed up in suits and cocktail dresses and went to see pretentious indie comedies (they could be good and non-pretentious, I have no idea) me, my wife, Chase, and Damon all check out this flick in our casual duds. Sadly, even though the film screened in the Angelika's smallest theater, we weren't even at 50% capacity. Come on, Dallas! There were a few opening night problems in other theaters, so our film was delayed about 20 minutes. But it eventually got started and I'm happy to report that it's just as funny the third time as it was the first and second. This was my wife's first time seeing it and she had a serious case of the giggles anytime Gerard and his friends were on screen. I think that one of the reasons I (and other adults) love this film so much is that - even though it ultimately has no more depth than a Looney Tunes episode - the fact that it's stop motion (an esteemed art form) and in a foreign language (ooh! it must be fancy!) gives me carte blanche to laugh as if I'm watching something that - if not high art - at least isn't a kid's flick. Does that make sense? Put another way: if I'm watching a kid's cartoon, I may enjoy it, but I can't help but enjoy it at arms length. But here, the combination of the medium and the language tricks the pretentious part of my brain into thinking I'm watching something fancier than it actually is, and I can wholly enjoy it without adding the "this is good... for what it is" element. Man. That may not make any sense. It's really late. How about this: A Town Called Panic is really fucking funny. See it. |
| 01.30.10 | Alamo South Lamar | Today I woke up at 6:30 (so early for a Saturday...) and hopped on I-35 to head to Austin. Along the way, I picked up my sister in Waco for a little brother/sister road trip. I originally invited her with me to see Aliens in the afternoon, but I decided that since I was already driving down, I might as well leave Dallas a little early and make it a double feature. My options were between this and the Kids' Club screening of 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, which looks awesome (and apparently got a really good response). I ultimately decided to go with A Town Called Panic because (a) 7 Faces started 30 minutes earlier and I wasn't sure how long it was going to take us to get to Austin, and (b) 7 Faces was an unknown quantity for me and I knew that my sister would dig Panic. We actually ended up getting into town almost an hour early (I could have slept in!) so we had time to talk with Kayla, David, and Max before 7 Faces started. Jarrette showed up just before Panic started, which was a nice surprise as well. Right up until the movie started my sister had no idea what I was taking her to see other than that it was "foreign animation and funny." I mentioned her me-imposed ignorance to several people, and all of them had the same reaction: a slight pause, widening of the eyes, then a sly smile and some variation of "you're in for a *very* nice surprise." And, as I expected, she really dug the movie. And, also as I expected, I liked the movie just as much the second time as I did the first. I'm glad to see that it plays well with a non-festival audience. Everyone in the theater seemed to be laughing as much as I did. I don't have much to add to my first-viewing notes, other than that I'd pay big money for an entire line of Panic figures (including an oversized robo-penguin with snowball-throwing action and three tiny mad scientists nestled inside). I also want a soundbite of Indian yelling "oh no!!!" on my phone every time I get a text. Such a fantastic, hilarious film. |
| 09.25.09 | Alamo South Lamar | This Screening is part of event: Fantastic Fest 2009 FF Synopsis: ""Will Horse find true love? Will Steven fix his tractor? What will it take to stop the underwater pond dwellers from stealing the walls of Cowboy, Indian and Horse’s house? Yes, boys and girls, it’s the feature version of A Town Called Panic, the demented cult Belgian animation sensation. And, yes, it is truly a sight to behold - a very odd sight that will confuse some while leaving others on the floor gasping for breath from laughing so hard." Wow... this is why I love going to film festivals where things don't always "work out right." I read a lot of hype online about this film, but the trailer just left me cold. The movie is based on a long-running Belgium animated TV show that focuses on three housemates: Cowboy and Indian (who act like children and get into zany adventures) and Horse (who is the adult figure that gets them out of trouble). The animation itself is stop-motion with what looks like small 3 or 5 inch children's toys, with little-to-no articulation. In fact, the figures must be some sort of flexible molded clay, because the poses and expressions change quite a bit. But when I saw the trailer online... confined to a few-inches-wide box... the whole thing looked really stupid. And the clip they featured... just looked like weirdness for weirdness' sake. So I wasn't planning on seeing this despite the hype. Luckily (as it turns out) this was the only movie during this time slot that I could get tickets to. And man... from the very first shot of this stop-motion world, I was sold. Instead of being constrained to a tiny portion of a small computer screen, this toybox-based-world was 30 feet (I'm estimating, and probably wildly off) high. It looked amazing. It looked like the world looked in my head when I was playing with action figures growing up. Hell... it looked like the world still looks in my head when I'm playing with action figures. Everything is possible, everything is up for grabs, and there are no consequences for any actions. This movie is gloriously, stupendously engrossing. It's just over 70 minutes, but the audience (myself included) laughed the entire time at stupid sight-gag after stupid word-gag after stupid situational-comedy-bit. There's no way to describe the hilarity that comes from watching Horse's car get suddenly demolished by his hastily-constructed bbq-grill-gift, or the sight of a tractor sucking in and blowing out mounds of bricks as it clears them snow-plow style, or a fireman's work in a musical school that results in a cotton-filled room, or the brilliance that is Horse's bed (or piano for that matter)... it's really something you just have to see. From a technical standpoint, I found myself marvelling at the amount of moving pieces. I'm not sure if the creators have moved to some sort of CGI-based mock-stop-motion system like the South Park guys did once they got big enough, but in any event, it's incredibly effective. This movie screens again Sunday morning at 11:45. If you're in town and haven't seen this, do yourself a favor and check it out on the big screen. |