Disney and Pixar would have you believe that animation is primarily for kids. Bill Plympton would have you believe otherwise. The Academy Award nominated short film director (Your Face, Guard Dog) returns to the realm of feature films at this year's Tribeca Film Festival with Idiots and Angels, a noirish, revealing look at humanity's struggle with their own impulses. Plympton has expressed that animation shouldn't be relegated to Saturday morning cartoons or celebrity-voiced popcorn fodder. Idiots and Angels, with its bleak, atmospheric animation and mature content (including nudity and violence), isn't suitable for the lads and lasses. However, the big boys and girls, whether they know Plympton's work or not, are in for a delightfully twisted vision.
Idiots and Angels revolves around an Asshole. His name is never spoken nor is anyone else's - the film runs its course for a full 78 minutes without a single line of dialogue. What can be gathered is that he hates his life, cares only about himself, and carries a lustful infatuation with the Blonde Wife of Bart the Bartender in whose bar he spends way too much time. Confronted by the everyday Fincheresque mundanity of life, the Asshole goes so far as to set on fire those who may interrupt his routine.
One day though, in Kafkaesque fashion, he awakes with the stubs of angel wings on his back. Though quickly removed, they return the next day and geometrically increase in size. Though initially mocked as a freak, the Asshole decides to use the wings for his own selfish gain. But there's one problem - the wings physically force him into good deeds instead. When he steals a purse, the wings toss it back. When he attempts to grope a sunbathing girl, the wings steer him away. Eventually, those around him begin to covet the wings for their own dastardly deeds: a Dr. Hadley would like the fame of discovering a winged patient, Bart the Bartender wants to air raid competing bars, etc. With everyone out to get him and he being forced to strive against his natural inclinations, what is the Asshole to do with these wings?
It's been said that Plympton has no faith in humanity. Viewing Idiots and Angels, that seems not to be the case. Instead, it appears that Plympton, like fellow independent Todd Solondz, is aware of mankind's inherent self-centered nature. Unlike Solondz though, Plympton recognizes the capacity for redemption. Every aspect of this film - from the contrasty chiaroscuro animation style to the physical struggle with the Asshole's wings - represent the metaphor for everyone's internal struggles between what they want to do (dark) and what they should do (light). Those wary of a morality tale need not worry; the film never crosses the line into preachy territory.
If you're not into the substance though, the style will more than suffice. Those familiar with Plymptons work may be surprised at the dark tone but his drawing style still shines through. The animation medium enables the use of a variety of intriguing shots that would be unobtainable if one relied on a camera. A P.O.V. from the bottom of an ashtray, the interior of a mouth while drinking, and inside a human body are all views that Plympton uses to great success. The soundtrack, provided by the likes of Pink Martini, Moby, and Tom Waits, prove both hauntingly beautiful and bizarrely comical to match the changing moods of the film.
Though dark and twisted at many parts, the film is simultaneously gorgeous and emotionally fulfilling. Fans of Plymptons past work can find a new appreciation for the animator whereas newcomers to his work will find enough of his watermark for a proper introduction. Dark yet hopeful, mournful yet celebratory, Idiots and Angels is exploratory animation for adults to equate to the joy of discovery their kids find in any Disney film.
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-Bill Plympton's Official Studio Website, Plymptoons.
-Trailer for Idiots and Angels from the film's official website
-Biography of the animator from Bill Plympton Online!
