Skip to main content

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

     When thrown head-first into the comic-book world of Bryan O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim, it's natural to feel a little apprehensive. Are those graphics going to come up for every sound effect? Is Pilgrim (Michael Cera) ever going to grown a backbone ? But then a certain charm kicks in, whether it's through Pilgrim's horribly funny one-liners, the dialogue between his bandmates, or a particular brand of magic realism which allows the first of seven evil exes to propose a duel to the death via email.
     What ensues is a simple story of boy-meets-girl, boy makes a fool of himself but still convinces girl to come see his awful band play, and subsequently has to defeat her seven evil exes in Arcade fight scenes that would put the makers of Pokemon to shame.
     It's rare to find an indie film with such great special effects, let alone one which speaks in precisely the same language as its target audience. By the time we're done watching Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) walking through a door in the night sky, all that apprehension has gone.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Populaire - film review

     In the 50s, having a job as a secretary may have been considered modern, or even empowering, but mostly, as Rose Pamphyle (Déborah Francois) says in her job interview, it's the chance to work for an important man. Seen in this light, the rise and fall of a Speed-Typing champion is just as much to do with a woman's personal victory as it is to do with her boss' encouragement and coaching, as well as the freedom he allows her to have.      In the film, and in life, the Speed-Typing Championship probably stemmed from a cigar-fuelled "I bet my secretary types faster than yours" argument, and the exclusively female competitors inhabit a space somewhere between real sportsman(woman?)ship and simply being allowed to play. The rocky ground of post-war sexual power-play is tested with bright colours and the happy clack-clack of a typewriter, and leads us somewhere a little more patronising than first-time director Regis Roinsard may have been hoping for. ...

The "9ème art" of the Graphic Novel

Images from the Cité du Livre website Festival de Bande Dessinée, Cité du Livre, Aix-en-Provence For some reason I've never been here before. For some reason it's taken this bibliophile seven months to figure out that there is a place in Aix-en-Provence devoted to literature, a place whose name in Google Translate produces variations on the theme of Book City, Book Estate and Book Ghetto. The books, they are huge. We have discussed before how I feel about books. Books which I recently blabbered about in a vlog are here reproduced in thirty-foot-high concrete form and act as a simple external wall to the Book Ghetto. They are huge. I felt a few tears when I first saw them. Hidden unjustly away behind the gare routière , the Cité du Livre played host this month to a graphic novel festival whose speakers ranged from authors to graffiti artists, and whose slightly shabby walls were transformed into booths full of first drafts, coloured panels and authors' not...

Tinchi Shinmei - Wadaiko Tokara

Scotland is not a hotbed for Japanese music, so Art Lee and his band of traditional Taiko musicians take time out of their set to give us a background of their art, before launching into an adaptation of Bach or songs from a Japanese coffee machine. In the day time Ocean shows, three musicians play with absolutely serene faces and powerful movements reminiscent of martial arts, while the Mountain shows in the evening feature talented drummers using simplistic instruments that resonate beautifully in this historical Prince's Street Church. Peaceful, meaningful music with a purpose, from prayer to celebration, is played alongside Tango or Rumba music, showing the versatility of instruments and musicians alike. **** St John's Church, 5 – 29 Aug (not 11, 18, 25), times vary, £10 - £12 [originally written for ThreeWeeks magazine]