Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
11/23/07
Reviewed
based on a DVD screener provided by the filmmakers
Are
you one of those people who's frustrated with the overriding sameness of
Hollywood movies? Their slavishness to three-act structures, Syd
Field screenwriting models and test audience-approved endings? Their
refusal to mix live action and claymation? Then I've got a movie
for you! Imagination, the feature directorial/writing/animating/composing
debut of the multitasking Leiser Brothers, tells a disturbing, bizarre
story of a pair of twin girls whose fantasies may actually be prophetic
visions through a swirling vortex of film styles, many of them animated.
I'm not sure it all works, but that creepy chill I had as the credits rolled
made me pretty sure it doesn't not work either.
Dr.
Reineger (Ed K. Gildersleeve), a specialist in children's behavioral and
developmental problems, has been testing twins Anna and Sarah Woodruff
(twins Nikki and Jessi Haddad): one is losing her sight, the other
has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of Autism. The girls are so close
and their interactions so linked that they have become a kind of uni-mind.
And their mother Janice (Courtney Sanford) is worried about poetry and
artwork that might be doing more than just expressing their inner world:
it seems to predict the future.
Plot
synopsis is mostly futile, because Imagination is first and foremost
an experience. The Leisers throw just about everything they can get
their hands on at the screen, with different kinds of camera effects, the
free incorporation of all sorts of animation (particularly claymation),
and some visuals that are difficult to even classify. The story is
chopped up, spread out, jumps from the inside of one mind to the inside
of another and even then we can't be entirely certain what we're seeing
or what it means at any given time. It's the kind of movie (like
an even trippier version of The Fountain) that's designed to provoke
long debates about just what its' story is, let alone what it means.
But while I came out of The Fountain with an absolute certainty
of what I'd just witnessed, I could only theorize about Imagination
on a scene-by-scene basis, with new information jockeying for position
right up until the final shot. Alas, the parts of the story that
should be absolutely clear (the ones involving the adults) don't provide
a solid enough footing while we try to puzzle out the metaphysical mysteries
of the children. For all that we're told the girls' pictures and
poetry are prophetic, we don't see it in action in a way that's persuasive.
Yes, the Doctor and Janice believe, even obsessively so, but I couldn't
help thinking they were overreacting. Granted, given where the story
leads, I guess they weren't.
Part
of the reason for this disconnect is that the performances are weak, even
for this kind of low-budget enterprise. Gildersleeve struggles with a challenging
descent into obsession, alternately coming off as too detached and too
emotional. Both Sanford and Travis Poelle (as the girls' good-for-nothing
Dad) seem too cafeinated and don't convince as either parents or a couple.
The bright spot is the girls: there's something really unsettling
about the Haddad twins' performances, particularly when they narrate and
carry on conversations in unison. I liked that the movie doesn't
sentimentalize the fantasy world of childhood, instead taking a dark approach
that reminds me of the way it felt to actually be young enough to believe
there were monsters around every corner.
Of
course, there might actually be monsters around some of Imagination's
corners, and the movie's great strength is its' mood. Eric Leiser's
animation is inventive and weird, taking advantage of the childlike nastiness
inherent in claymation that makes it a favorite of Tim Burton's Gothic
tales. His brother Jeffrey's ubiquitous, impressive score helps to
make many different kinds of storytelling seem like a single entity (I
really dug the ultra-creepy children's song that plays over the end credits).
It's not just the constant changes in style or the bizarre story but also
director Eric's shot choices and the disorienting editing tempo (he worked
on that, too) that kept me off-balance and feeling like something bad was
about to happen. I'm not going to say I understood exactly what did
happen (I suspect that the entire film takes place before any of its' events
actually occur), but the movie maintains its' unsettling vision clear through
to the end. It may very well be that the girls have unlocked the
secrets of the universe, but they don't seem like fun secrets.
Between
the look and sound of the movie, the Leiser Brothers clearly have a lot
of talent, and they've gotten a very good-looking product out of a budget
reportedly just north of a hundred thousand dollars. I'd be very
interested to see what they could do with a better cast and enough money
that they'd never have to shake the camera and say it was an earthquake.
At a brisk 70 minutes, Imagination should make easy repeat viewing
for those hoping to decode its' secrets. They should have plenty
of time during their long wait for another movie quite like it to come
along. |
