A TOWN CALLED PANIC / Panique au village
(Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, Belgium/France, 2009, 75 mins)
"Sitting 'round at home...watching the pictures go."--the Buzzcocks
I can't think about this film without hearing the Jam's "Town Called Malice." That said, the two have little in common, except they're both a lot of fun.
A Town Called Panic begins and ends with a hand-drawn credit sequence, but most of the movie consists of stop-motion activity. During the first few minutes, images of Gumby and Pokey, Saturday Night Live's Mr. "Oh no!" Bill, and Bob the Builder danced through my head, but then I got sucked into the story and most other stop-motion animations faded away.
The feature springs from the 2000 TV series of the same name, which Aardman Animations (Wallace & Gromit) released on DVD, and centers around the adventures of the archetypical Cowboy, Indian, and Horse.
They appear to be made out of plastic, although I'd imagine it's actually clay, plasticene, or another malleable substance. If their facial expressions never change, the film itself is in constant motion. The figurines move quickly, but the story is easy to follow, and there isn't enough dialogue to create subtitle-reading fatigue, though younger viewers may feel differently.
The three friends share a roomy house in the country next to Farmer Steven (Benoît Poelvoorde, Man Bites Dog, Coco before Chanel). If Indian (Bruce Ellison) and Cowboy (Stéphane Aubier) are swinging singles, Horse (Vincent Patar) carries a torch for Madame Longray (Jeanne Balibar, Va Savoir), a sweet-natured music teacher with a long red mane. He's so enamored that he signs up for piano lessons to bask in her presence. (Because the movie is in French, the trio is literaly listed as Indien, Coboy, and Cheval.)
But first there's a birthday to celebrate. And that's when trouble begins...
As a gift, Indian and Cowboy decide to build a barbecue pit, but a
technical snafu turns an order for 50 bricks into...50 million.
The resourceful fellows construct the device and hide the bricks before Horse gets home, at which point a wild party ensues. Then, during the night, their house sinks--and collapses. While trying to put it back together, someone keeps stealing the walls. Who would do such a thing?
In attempting to solve the
mystery, the trio falls through the Earth's core to the other side,
where they land in an Arctic research center shaped like a giant
penguin. Along the way, they find the culprits while evading selfish
scientists, swordfish-wielding sea creatures, and a lava pit. Now
Indian, Cowboy, and Horse must figure out how to get back home with the
walls.
Though some might describe Indian and Cowboy as stupid or childish,
they're more naïve and impetuous than anything else. All of the
characters, to quote the press notes, speak "as if they are filled with
laughing gas"--and it's even funnier in French. Better yet, Cowboy and
Indian are semi-permanently affixed to display stands, but they still
wobble about quite well.
By the end, the three recover the walls and Horse gets back in time for
his piano lesson with Miss Longray. To say how would spoil the fun, but I
like the way the filmmakers mix scales: Indian, Cowboy, and Horse brush
their teeth with human-size implements, while Steven starts the day
with a towering slice of Nutella toast, even though all four are only a
few inches high.
According to Indiewire, A Town Called Panic is "the first full-length stop-motion animation to screen at Cannes." If the film's figures are cruder than those of Fantastic Mr. Fox, it's just as enjoyable, if more anarchically silly.
A Town Called Panic opens at the Varsity on Fri, Jan 22. The Varsity is located at 4329 University Way NE. For more information, please click here. Incidentally, Benoît Poelvoorde probably remains best known in the States for Man Bites Dog. Suffice to say, the feisty farmer he voices here is far less chilling than that film's unrepentant serial killer. Images from OutNow! and the IMDb. Jan 28 update: the film has been held over through Feb 4.
