(PANIQUE AUX VILLAGE, Stéphane Aubier & Vincent Patar, France/Belgium 2009, 75 min., French/subtitles)
The dominance of computer-generated imagery in the realm of animated feature films has recently created a nostalgic backlash of sorts, resulting in the release of Disney’s first traditional 2D animated feature in years (The Princess and the Frog), as well as old-school-style works of stop-motion animation (Coraline and The Fantastic Mr. Fox). But compared to these big-budget Hollywood productions, Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar’s stop-motion A Town Called Panic looks downright primitive. The characters are rendered through cheap plastic toy figurines with movement that could best be described as “limited,” and the sets are decidedly minimalist when placed alongside the finely detailed world of something like Coraline. That said, whatever A Town Called Panic lacks technologically is made up for by a limitless supply of imagination, humor, and charm, enough to make it the first stop-motion animated film selected for the Cannes Film Festival.
Based on a series of short animated episodes produced for European television, this thoroughly delightful fantasy/adventure tells of an eccentric provincial village and its beguiling inhabitants. The impetuous Cowboy and Indian, eager to build a brick barbecue oven as a birthday gift for their more mature roommate, Horse, mistakenly make an online purchase of 50 million bricks. In hiding the bricks, Cowboy and Indian accidentally destroy their home, which indirectly leads to the arrest of their innocent neighbor. Setting out to right their wrongs, Cowboy and Indian are joined by Horse and taken on a journey to a hot lava pit at the center of the earth; across a frozen tundra to fight a giant mechanical snowball-throwing penguin; and into a bizarre underwater parallel universe run by pointy-headed, criminally minded creatures. Woven through all of this action is a sweet and tenuous love story between Horse and the red-headed filly Madame Longray, a piano teacher.
Audiences of all ages around the world have responded to the zany antics of A Town Called Panic, whether it is shown at a midnight screening or a kiddie matinee. But trying to find the right words to describe its appeal can prove elusive, so I highly recommend you see it for yourself and discover its magic firsthand. Hollywood Reporter critic Peter Brunette sums it up best, writing, “there’s really very little to say about this film beyond that it’s absolutely brilliant.”
The six screenings of A Town Called Panic February 26, 27, and 28 will be preceded by The Toll Collector, a winsome and lovely short film by American stop-motion animator Rachel Johnson.
Note: Despite occasional impolite language in the subtitles, A Town Called Panic is otherwise entirely appropriate for children.— Jim Healy, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, Motion Picture Department
