In the early 1980's, I was living in New York City, a starving ex-graduate student just trying to make a living as an actor. One event I went without dinner for, was a huge Jackson Pollock retrospective being held at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. I have always loved the wild, tradition smashing work of that drunken poet/painter, but never got a chance to see any of his major work up close. The show was remarkable (to put it mildly). I was amazed at the size and vividness of the paintings. I was mostly in a daze trying to absorb such strange and beautiful art. At one point I was standing in front of a very tall painting (I think it was “Full Fathom Five”) just taking it all in, when I noticed a museum security guard standing just to the right of the painting watching me. Carefully putting my hands behind my back, I leaned in slowly to look at the painting close up. There must have been some look of concentration on my face which the security guard mistook for disapproval of the painting. After a moment, he leaned in and whispered, “Can you believe this shit?”. Stunned, I ended up wandering away, but to this day I can still hear that guards dismissive tone. It was my first introduction to how much the “general public” distrusts art.

You may wonder what this absurd story has to do with the “We are the Strange” film and DVD I'm reviewing here. Well, despite this film's startling originality and amazing energy, the general public will most likely frown and wonder how anyone can “believe this shit”, as the man said. Let's just say that America has never had a very good handle on what art is, let alone art that is as strange and nontraditional as “We are the Strange”. Some of this is due to the zeitgeist of our age, which is very much about conformity and corporate group-think. The kind of films made in this mode are a commodity that can be promoted and then sold to a target audience. The people who make these kinds of films successfully are more likely to be very good at the craft of film-making, but not so good at personal expression or innovation. And why should they? They are being paid a salary to produce a certain kind of entertainment. End of story.

There was a time though, in the early fifties and into the sixties, where because of the availability of cheaper, lighter cameras, people were able to make, edit and distribute their own films. These were films of personal expression that were frequently about smashing old notions of film and creating entirely new ideas as a form of personal expression. Money was not an issue, nor was the idea of making a film for a “target audience”. If a film interested and moved the person making it, that was all that mattered. Stan Brakhage, one of America's truly great DIY filmmakers, felt that making a film was like having a love affair. He embraced his “amateur” status as a way of creating personal art that he cared about, not work that he wanted to use to impress others or to make a lot of money. Today, however, these kinds of ideas and feelings are laughed at and often mocked, especially in the professional world of film (read Hollywood). And I can vouch for the truth of that statement through past personal experience in the world of professional film.

I'm not sure how we lost this freedom in making films. Perhaps it was the blockbuster film that killed the personal filmmaker, but it seems that with the advent of DV, the Internet and cheap software, we have started to get that feeling back. Now, it's possible to make a crazed stop-motion animated film in your bedroom entirely by yourself, post the trailer to the film on YouTube and discover that there are 700,000 people who love your strange trailer. You then submit the film to Sundance and it is accepted. The problem: the film isn't finished and you've got 3 months to complete it. So, you lock yourself in your room for eye-bleeding 30 hour work sessions and finish it just in time.

 

Screen capture from Title Sequence

 

This is exactly what happened to mdotstrange (aka Michael Belmont) of San Jose with his “stra8nime” film (strange + 8 bit + anime) “We are the Strange”, the DVD of which has just recently been released and, man, it is “mega_hella” as mdot would say. While the Sundance screening was not a popular success (quite a few people left before the film was over), the film has gathered momentum and is playing at many festivals around the world to wonder and acclaim.

In a first for me, I encountered mdotstrange and his YouTube posts (over 200) before I actually saw the film. So, I knew the director, his style and his sense of humor, before I entered his imagination. When I was finally able to get the DVD from filmbaby.com and sat down on a cold October evening to watch it, I was not disappointed. Not easy to explain, “We are the Strange” is a crazy, hyper-kinetic game-boy poem to child-like fantasies and fears filtered through the lens of Japanese monster movies, David Lynch sounds, Shaw Brothers Kung Fu films, classic Spaghetti Western scenes, Nintendo game imagery, the Brothers Quay, 50's Science Fiction films, video game cut-scenes and lots of Anime (did I say lots of Anime like “Fist of the North Star” and “Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust”?). Of course, most of these influences are so skilfully woven into mdot's imagination that you can only catch them very slightly as they rush by and after several viewings (the film rewards if you watch it several times).

 

A sullen Blue contemplates her future in StopMo City

And the music! My god, the music in this film is remarkable! There are six soundtracks to choose from (#5, the “Destroy”soundtrack is the director's favorite) which range from “Noise Agent” to “Nightmare” modes. You can change soundtracks in the middle of the film by using your remote, or try mdot's MVM (music video mode) which gives information in subtitles for the music used in the film. Each sountrack almost completely changes the mood of the film. And since a good deal of the film is left open to the viewers imagination, this idea actually encourages you to imagine 6 different films.

The story of the film is very simple (or so it seems); two lost souls go in search of ice cream and encounter a lonely, dangerous city. They also encounter a monster that in order to defeat they must overcome their own inadequacies. At least this is the story I got out of it. You might come up with a different story since a lot of the film is without dialogue, but filled with beautiful, haunting poetic imagery. In fact, the style of the film is so remarkable that it overwhelms the story at times. But this is a first film by a director who saw it as a “learning experience.” He made the film in the order that you see it (chronological) and felt that the film got better as it progressed and he learned more. And since he had to rush the last 20 minutes of the film to get ready for Sundance, he felt that the film was inconsistent (according to his YouTube comments).

 

 

The DVD is equally well done. Designed by mdotstrange himself, it comes in a two-disc package that has the various versions of the film on one disc, and all of the special goodies on the other. The design and the look of the package is very amusing and perfect for the film. The actual DVD programming is stylized, but very clean and efficient (form follows function here). Mdot uses clips and animations from the film to move from section to section. You will find a long "making of" video, along with clips from his appearance at Sundance (great Q&A session). I was very taken with his section on the “characters” in the film, where he introduces each one and explains how they were made and what their roles were in the film. Mdot includes several short films he made previously to “We are the Strange” and you can see variations of ideas in these films that he was to use to better effect in “We are the Strange”. There is one film, YORU (2002), which I found to be extraordinary and almost worth the price of the disc. I'd love to hear him comment on this film and it's background. There is a healthy sampling of his music and a nice long section of his first feature film, OPHIDIAN (2001). Extensive slide-shows contain hundreds of pix of mdot in the past, present and possibly future. They are a blast. Mdot naturally provides his own cut of the film which adds about 15 minutes (watch this cut, it's the best) and there's a funny commentary track with mdot and his friend, Sean Boyles, who have a “Waiting for Godot” rapport that rewards in repeated listening. Sean also provided many of the wonderful and strange (of course) illustrations used in the film.

Emmm plays his Gamebox in the center of the Forest of Still Life

Mdot's film is a masterful mixing of various media forms (including 3d animation, 2d graphic design ala Mario Paint, stop motion and green screen compositing) which never ceases to surprise (and inspire). The bulk of the stop motion work occurs in the first half of the film and it is creepy and very strange (much like the Quay Bros.) Watching him set up shots for the film on YouTube, it makes sense that he wanted to express his own sense of alienation in making the film. While he's very upbeat on Youtube, you wonder at the dream-state he must have created for himself to make this film. I think he calls it his “anti-reality bubble”. His “world-making” in “We are the Strange” filled me with all kinds of feelings that linger long after the film is over.

 

DVD packaging

 

“We are the Strange” is a remarkable, unique film, and I sincerely hope you will buy this beautifully produced DVD and see for yourself. There is a twisted fairy tale quality to the film that draws you in and continually surprises you with it's quick changing moods and visual styles. This is the kind of work that we should support and encourage. Or perhaps you could watch mdot's YouTube "FilmSkool" videos and make your own masterpiece. It's possible.

If anyone has the address of that security guard at the MET, let me know because I'd like to send him a copy of “We are the Strange” with compliments from an artist.

Links:

• You can order the film from filmbaby.com.
• It's also available on-line for free at Stage6
• Main website for “We are the Strange” (can also buy the film here)
• mdotstrange on YouTube
• WATS production log
• mdot at Sundance
• We Are the Strange DVD Slideshow (a Flickr slide-show of screen captures made from the two DVDs)
• “We are the Strange” Presskit with tons of cool stuff
• mdot's reading list (his “homework”) at Amazon
• Wired's Jason Silverman's write up featured a nice summation of mdot's Str8nime style (M dot's 8 Steps to Str8nime).

Ricky Grove [gToon], Contributing Columnist with the Renderosity Front Page News. Ricky Grove is a bookstore clerk at the best bookstore in Los Angeles, the Iliad Bookshop. He's also an actor and machinima filmmaker. He lives with author, Lisa Morton, and three very individual cats. Ricky is into Hong Kong films, FPS shooters, experimental anything and reading, reading, reading. You can catch his blog here.