I successfully touched down in Geneva this morning. Following a stressful dash to check in, the flight was, as you’d imagine, a mundane experience and I was happy at the though of not seeing another plane for a week. As usual there was a mad rush of bodies desperate to get off the airbus as soon as it landed, despite the fact they all then had to hang around waiting for their suitcases for half an hour. Given that Geneva is home to the Large Hadron Collider, you would think that one of the boffins might have thought to implement some of that technology within the luggage carousel. If they can shoot atoms around a huge metal hoop at close to the speed of light, then surely they can speed up a couple of suitcases. It’s sod’s law that your bag will always appear last, and I am king sod.
The shuttlebus whisked me from Switzerland and into France, to the heart of Annecy, through the picturesque Alps. Quite literally through the picturesque Alps. Last year a motorway and a network of tunnels were completed that do indeed appear to go through the rock. I didn’t get to see any of the mountainous terrain.
A quick suitcase drop at the hotel, and it was off to pick up my passes and festival satchel from the festival collection point. The bags at Annecy contain all the literature about the festival you could wish for, and ‘literature’ is the right term. It’s like carrying around the back catalogue of the entire English library. Really, rather than give you a satchel, it would be easier just to pile all the books and brochures onto a builder’s hod and make you carry that around. If I get kicked out of hotel early I can be rest assured that I can build myself an entire new hotel complex with the weighty paper bricks I am lugging around.
Aside from the brochures I got a few invites for events I’m sure I’ll cover soon, and a nice shiny pass that says ‘Press’ on it. The queue of people at the first screening must have read that word as a literal request, and I proceeded to get pressed – and squeezed and pushed and jostled and shoved – as we filed into the lush cavernous Grande Salle cinema, the main screen of the festival.
Not surprising really, as the first film of the day was the European premier of Shrek 4 (aka Shrek Forever after). Excitement was understandably running high, especially as the films director, Mike Mitchell, and Dreamworks’ baldy headed head honcho Jeffery Katenburg were appearing on stage.
I must say now that I am not a fan of the Shrek franchise. Sure, the first film was good, I’ll give you that. The second film was ok, but to me it seemed as if eyes were on the marketing, merchandise and general cash cow milking. The third film, in my journalistic, critical opinion, was dross. So as I took my seat to see the final outing of everyone’s favourite miserable green giant (not counting the Incredible Hulk, The Loch Ness Monster or the Jolly Green Giant on an off day) I was skeptical to say the least.
Annecy is not Annecy until you have been painfully stabbed in the back of the head by a sharp paper dart. Sure enough, it happened to me almost instantly. Having earlier felt pleased to leave planes behind me at the airport I was now in a theatre that was full of paper ones gliding around everywhere. Usually I have a great fear that one of these lethal projectiles will catch me in the eye, fortunately Shrek 4 was playing in 3D, so any fears I had of catching one in the eye was allayed when I donned the protective 3D safety goggles. Occasionally a well-crafted paper dart soared straight over the entire crowd of the Grande Salle and hit the cinema screen, to huge cheers and bawdy eruptions of applause. I just hoped that the film would garner a fraction of the appreciation a paper dart did for hitting a wall.
As the lights went down and the hubbub calmed, I realised that the European premier of Shrek 4 was in French, and, what is more, without English subtitles. Being a mono lingual thick Brit I was clearly going to struggle. However, being British the very thought of getting up to leave was completely out of the question. When I booked these tickets it was online and I hadn’t paid close enough attention to the screening language, which now seemed to be something of a faux pas… sorry: ‘mistake’.
Within the first two minutes though there was joke that involved a baby projectile urinating into the face of Shrek, and into his mouth. Aha ha! Baby piss in a mouth! I settled happily into my seat. This was not a film for which the language barrier was going to be an insurmountable hurdle to straddle.. Sure enough, a few minutes later and Shrek is sitting on the toilet. Aha haa! Toilets! And look! Now Shrek is creating snow angels, but he is in a pigsty filled with pig’s shit, instead of snow. Aha ha haaa!
The plot, from what I could tell, is that Shrek the nasty ogre has mellowed as a result of fatherhood. He is no longer angry and scary, and everyone loves him. Shrek misses being a scary big ogre, and actually wishes that people didn’t like him very much. Perhaps he should just stick on a DVD of Shrek 3.
Instead he strikes up a deal with Rumplestiltskin, one of the few classic fairy tale characters not yet to have been adopted by the franchise up until this point. I’m afraid I’m a bit sketchy on the details of said deal; the dialogue flew over my head like so many of the paper darts earlier. Also, I was trying to work out who Rumplestiltskin reminded me of, until I realised he owes quite a lot to Buddy – or Syndrome – from the Incredibles.
The result of the deal is that all magic stuff happens, and somehow Shrek gets transported to a world were everyone still considers him a scary ogre. After initially having a laugh terrifying the local townsfolk, Shrek reailses that in this reality he never rescued the Princess Fiona and his one true love has no idea who he is. Realising that perhaps things weren’t too bad before after all he must woo Fiona quickly, before time runs out and something something French French French.
This final Shrek adventure turns out to be a corker. Wisely playing down the tedious pop culture references that shall surely badly date the previous films, this is a story that in fact owes more to ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ than a rehash of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Judging by the reaction of the French speakers in the audience, there are some great lines of dialogue here too.
Naturally there have been many technical advances since our last date with Shrek, and the ugly beast looks better than ever. His green porous skin is more well defined than ever, and Katzenburg revealed that this film gobbled up 46 million render hours. I think that means it would take one computer 46 million hours to produce, which is slightly less time than it took to produce the ‘Thief and the Cobbler’.
As the final titles roll, we are treated to a montage of Shrek’s ‘best bits’, but we can allow Dreamwork’s this indulgence as they have allowed Shrek to leave on a high, with his dignity reinstated, This film’s original working title was ‘Shrek Goes Fourth’. Then it was changed to ‘Shrek Forever After’. It could also quite easily carry the title ‘Shrek Forgiven’.
Okay, I’m going to rattle through the next screening, quick. As this is the festival of the short film, I intend to see each ‘Shorts in Competition’ program.
Logorama: You know, the short that won the Oscar recently. Completed filled with logos and big brand mascots. At first you think you’re being really clever for spotting them – hey, well done you – but it soon becomes clear that it’s completely impossible to miss the bloody things, and even sooner after that the novelty wears off and you have to try to enjoy the story, of which there is very little substance.
In fact by the end the film-makers seemingly gave up on any kind of story or point they were trying to make and just got on with the job of cramming in as many clever uses of logos as they could think of. Is it a tale about the world drowning under a sea of commercials? Is it subversive, or is it actually just giving these brands even more ad space? Oh, who cares, look! The Audi Logo is being used as a bridge! Tee hee. Clever me.
Get the Picture: A sweet, dialogue free piece here. Using drawings that kind of resemble a simplified Charles Schultz illustration, if such a thing is possible, this tells the story of a young girl with a digital camera. It becomes really quite creative and inventive, as the things she takes pictures of become trapped in the camera, or on the printout of the image. Suitably, subtlety scored by piano, this is a lovely film that proves that simplicity is on occasion, key.
Lets Pollute: Another case of ‘lovely to look at but let down by story’. Lets Pollute is a mock infomercial, the kind you got in the 50s if you were American and alive back then. As such the UPA art style reflects this, and it really does look great. There are touches here of Teddy Newton’s style, as showcased in many of the sumptuous ‘Art of…’ Pixar books. It’s like a moving copy of ‘Cartoon Modern’.
However, the message here is all about how we are killing the world. And it’s done as a joke, turning the message on it’s head, and actually advocating pollution. This comes across as very preachy and self rightous – “Oh, look at you, you lazy ignorant fool, can’t be bothered to recycle? Oh, just shove it in a bin then, why don’t you, oh yes, it’s fine, we’ll take care of it on a landfill somewere, don’t you bother yourself when all dolphins are dying because of YOU, just go and watch tv and consume more energy why don’t you, you fat useless lump”. It’s all the more annoying because, personally, I DO take time out to recycle! Why am I being told off? Films should speak to you as an individual, but this one keeps prodding me in the ribs and not allowing me to get a word in edgeways to defend myself.
Angry Man: Shown in Norwegian with French subtitles, so I may have missed much of what this film was about, but initially it seemed to be about domestic abuse. A man flips out and attacks his wife, made all the more disturbing – and powerful – by the fact we don’t see any of it, rather, we hear it from the bedroom of their son, who cowers terrified under the blankets.
The terrified boy, with the help of a beautifully animated wirey black dog (reminiscent of the famous ‘Black Dog’), writes a letter to the King, who turns up, and takes the Angry Man away. The King soon fixes the Angry Man, and he and his son start to slowly rebuild their relationship.
It’s worth mentioning the animation style, it is mostly drawings and cutout in a naïve young child’s scrappy style. This look however, is deceptive, as the animation on display here is very accomplished, and there are some very clever, effective examples of forced perspective. The child’s drawings especially help us as an audience to see the goings on through the eyes of the frightened child character. This is one short I will be going back to, if only for the fact I need to see it in English to fully understand the story.
Light Forms: Initially abstract, the colourful shapes and images on screen develop gradually like amoebas under a microscope, becoming everso slightly less abstract. I found this film to be mesmerizing, like looking into clouds and trying to spots shapes. The backing track features some great sound design, and all from the same one animator.
Whistleless: A delightful little tale of a finger painted type bird who is sadly unable to whistle and so can’t join in with everybody else who is whistling a tune. When she steals a policeman’s whistle, chaos ensues, and so the poor bird must return the whistle. Don’t worry though, there is a happy ending. Hooray for the charming little bird. Aw look, you made me go all soft.
The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Burger: Bill Plympton doesn’t half rattle these off. His latest short is, oddly enough, about a cow who wants to be a burger, having spotted a roadside hoarding that clearly does a great job of advertising meat patties.
Not in his usual sketchy pencil keyframed style, this is a bold and bright, garish offering, made up of colours that look sampled from a packet of ‘Laughing Cow’. Though the look may be different from what we have become accustomed to, the story is definitely classic twisted Plympton.
Red End and the Seemingly Symbiotic Society: Were to start here? Christ knows. It’s late and I think I have to go. I really don’t have time to do this film the justice it deserves. It’s got ants in it, is that good enough? I’ll come back to this one when I have had a proper chance to reflect on it. At the moment I’m knackered and my arm aches – not from typing, but from carrying my builders hod around. More tomorrow…
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Filip Vandueren, Oddball Media. Oddball Media said: Shrek 4 'review'. Sort of. http://www.oddballmedia.com/annecy/2010/06/08/day-two/ [...]