Belleville Rendezvous
Seamless. There are a few different styles of animation in this film, and this is probably the best word to describe the combined whole. The 3d stuff looks as organic as the hand-inked lines around the faces of our stars, and there are nods to other influences (the opening 30’s club scene is a nice wacky homage to Steamboat Willy), which slip in perfectly amongst the rest of the film. The style comes as something of a cross between Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Hitchcock – brilliantly skewing camera angles and noir-ing it up whenever the mafia come on screen (always accompanied by a pink panther-esque theme, of course…) and otherwise featuring a weird kind of post-apocalyptic filth that you quickly grow to like. Belleville Rendezvous also features at least one of the most exciting, jaw-dropping moments in recent animated – or indeed otherwise – cinematic history: The Cruise Liner Vs. Pedlo chase scene shits all over anything you could find to put up against it; somehow sea-sickness-inducing and beautiful at the same time, you’ll wonder how they pulled it off. The characters are all fantastic too – even throwaway ones such as the Maitre d' will have you grinning from ear to ear.
One thing that really does stand out about this film is the sound design. If it doesn’t receive some sort of accolade from any of the awards ceremonies for all the beautiful soundscapes found here, I’ll take a chainsaw to my towering pile of Oscars. It does seem strange that in a film like this, where you’d completely expect to find the visuals as the foremost of the sensory inputs, that you’re dragged into Belleville by your ears, rather than eyes, but this is nonetheless how it happens. It might be because of the lack of dialogue that you’re keening to recognise the usual aural cues, and it does take a while for the style to sink in, but on the other hand there’s so much else to pay attention to that you don’t really notice anything missing. All of the tiny clips, from obvious props such as grandma’s tuning fork and whistle, down to little details – the perfect sound of cracking joints as our cyclist Champion receives his bizarre massage. I can’t emphasise it enough. To go with them, the music is sparse, but also extremely effective. Bucking a trend for excessive use of scores in film these days (try actually paying attention to the music in any big release – including competent flicks like the recent Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as misfires such as ‘15 seconds’ and you’ll hopefully see what I mean), it’s a stunning thing to be totally blown away by the correct use of different styles within the same film. Check out the aforementioned chase scene for a perfect example.
This, they say, is an ‘adult animation’. Utter bollocks. Its been given a 12a certificate, although I certainly can’t see why. The violence is 99% slapstick, it has good, bordering on ‘hippy’ intentions (just a couple of subtle anti-globalisation messages), the characters are all comedians, there’s even a frickkin’ dog as a leading character. Besides, anyone who caught Watership Down on a Sunday afternoon as a prepubescent teen will tell you about real disturbing animated images. It’s a little like Raoul Ruiz' jumpy version of Proust’s Time Regained being given an 18 certificate – other than that most cinema-goers under a certain age might not “get it”, it doesn’t justify cutting off a proportion of bums-on-seats. Hell, I didn’t get half the films I saw before the age of 12, but it certainly didn’t stop me enjoying them.
This is the sort of film you’ll see at 2 in the morning on one of the more alternative TV channels, and wonder how gems such as this can slip through the net. You’ll wish you’d known about it when it was released, so you could support it at the cinema and maybe give more films like this a chance to swim to the surface. Well, now you do. You know how good it is, and as long as you can put up with the arty crowd at the cinema laughing at inappropriate moments you’ll have fun. So, hopefully, will your kids. The plot (Champion, a pro-cyclist, is kidnapped by the 'french' mafia, with his doting grandma and hound in pursuit) drags a little in the middle when they lose the scent, but its also where you find the meatiest parts. So, we’ll have no squirming, please...
8.2
MD 00:12 07/09/2003
addenum 01/2004: Although its probably just coincidence, I find it highly amusing that this film was shown on british television at a primetime slot (bbc2 around 8pm) christmas 2003 (as opposed to the presumed '2am on an alternative channel'). Its nice to assume that the network schedulers actually pay attention to alternative opinion - rather than just showing Titanic and E.T. again every single christmas, although it probably is coincidence. I've had a lot of traffic headed to this page since, which makes me think that people actually *liked* the film - and if this is the case, write to the bbc and demand more! we're paying their license; so they have to listen to us, right?! Ask for a Miyazaki (director of the recent Spirited Away) or a Manga season... let them know their audience has a preference! Or at least, let me know whether you're looking for something for or against the film. I'd love to hear your opinions.
It might sound a little like cultural activism, but surely its better than ready steady bloody cook...