Blood Tea and Red String

Thanks to the library's always expanding and eclectic dvd collection, I'm constantly finding films I probably wouldn't have otherwise even known about. The internet is a good source for finding out about movies, but at least for me there is something about browsing shelves that never offers the same selection of movies, and having to chose just five films, without the convenience of just adding all of the movies that sound interesting to my Netflix queue. I mean, obviously, I could write down any of the titles and seek them out later, but that would kill the mystery and uncertainty of going to the library. I like being at the mercy of what happens to be on the shelf at the given moment I have decided to peruse the shelves morning, I refuse to completely rely on the efficiency and instant gratification of the digital age. I still enjoy the hunt and discovery of little hidden gems like this film.
I watched Blood Tea and Red String this morning (ah, the glories of being finished with school!). Full of an equal dose of charm and creepiness, to story is told completely without dialogue with stop animation. The plot revolves around the creation and adoration of a doll (who looked a little like Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas) by her creators the Oak Dwellers who are a wonderful combination of birds, pigs and some fury creature. The white mice also love the doll come in the night in their turtle-drawn carriage and steal her away. The rest of the story revolves around the Oak Dwellers on a quest to rescue her from the white mice, and the white mice being creepy. There's a incredibly gross and terrifying scene of white mice playing cards, drinking blood tea, and dancing with the doll. It may sound a little over the top but overall, I thought Christiane Cegavske, the film's brilliant creator, knew how to blend the charming and cute with the strange and eerie.
I also really liked that this was stop animation and was not done with computers. I still haven't completely warmed up to computer animation and I highly value films that put such a human touch as hand-making all the characters and sets and using the I-can't-even-fathom-it effort into doing stop animation (this film took thirteen years to complete!).
I wouldn't recommend this to everyone and for me at least, it felt like a watch-it-alone kind of movie. But it was certainly worthwhile the seventy minutes I took to watch it this morning.

La Antena (The Aerial)

I love silent films and Guy Maddin's films so this looks to be right up my alley:



Here's a brief description from Filmmaker's website:

Fri Apr 4, 7:00pm at Melwood Screening Room:
La Antena

"One of the season's most lovingly crafted and strikingly original films" – Sandra Hamer, director, IFF Rotterdam.

Acclaimed Argentinean writer-director Esteban Sapir gives us the moving tale of three families living in a world devoid of human voices where television is the primary controlling force. In a wintry metropolis in the year X, the merciless Mr. TV rules. The whole city is without a voice and he has monopolized both word and image. People watch TV and eat TV meals produced by Mr. TV, himself working on a sinister hypnotic machine to ensure that all life will be subjected to him forever. He kidnaps the only person who still has her "voice" – a stunningly beautiful singer. Shot in black and white in silent film style, with influence of German Expressionism and strains of Spain's Bunuel, Germany's Lang, Russia's Vertov, and France's Melies, La Antena is nevertheless a very modern film. (Esteban Sapir; Argentina; 2007; 90 min)

Co-presented by Faces of Mechanization International Film Festival at Carnegie Mellon University (April 4-15).

Following the screening: East End Food Co-op will provide an international sampling of hot eats and fair trade drinks. For those with a craving for the cool, Bison Grass Vodka brings you (with positive ID) the "little water" served in New York's finest restaurants.

If this looks interesting to anyone, you're welcome to join me! I'm personally pumped about the free food!