Idiots and Angels
Bill Plympton is probably best known for his political cartoons and animated shorts that are instantly recognisable from their distinctive style and sardonic humour.
Idiots and Angels, Plympton's fifth feature-length animation, is a moral tale of good overcoming evil. The protagonist is a gun-running, boozeswilling, cigarette-puffing arsehole who gets pleasure from causing others misery. One morning he wakes up with wings growing out of his back that force him to do good deeds. No matter how he tries to get rid of the wings, or fight against them, he can't overcome their power of good. However, he is soon pursued by those who want the wings for their own nefarious ends.
In these days of 3D CG animation it is refreshing to see an original hand-drawn animation. In this almost dialogue-free, macabre pantomime, it is Plympton's unique, metamorphosing artwork and visual storytelling, which plays out like a subversive, adult version of The Snowman, that captures the imagination and keeps the viewer engrossed in this battle between man's lower nature and his inevitable salvation.
This is truly filmmaking as an art form and should not be missed.
Information
- country
- USA
- year
- 2008
- runtime
- 78 min
- language
- English
- director
- Bill Plympton