WE LOVE IT HERE
Art & Artist continue to be the foundation for life itself; Shall we ride.
The Iron Giant
As a 90s baby, not only does animation hold a special place in my heart but The Iron Giant at least for me is home. Please Hold as I cry while writing this Analysis. In this untraditional children's film they touch on so many real life issues that as a kid I honestly didn't understand but sometimes that's exactly why animated films are still so underrated. And C’mon you can’t beat the 2D Animation.
Image: Film still from Iron Giant(1999), directed by Brad Bird.
Bill Plympton
Bill Plympton was born in Portland, Oregon. He grew up in a family like most of us and credits the rain for his sense of creativity, understandably growing up in the 50s and mostly in the rain. I’d be like Harold and color all over the walls, specifically purple. What a great color. I first stumbled on Plympton’s work by chance. I think my TV was just on, and there it goes again, playing those odd animations. I couldn’t help but fall in love. And well, of course, it was about love. The film “Cheatin’” by Bill Plympton was stuck in my head like bubblegum to a shoe bottom; I told everyone that mattered and I wanted more.
Image: Film still from Cheatin’ (2013), directed by Bill Plympton
VIVRE SA VIE
“Il faut se prêter aux autres et se donner a soi - même” “Lend yourself to others but give yourself to yourself”(Godard,1962)
Image: Film still from Vivre Sa Vie (1962), directed by Jean-Luc Godard
SHIVA BABY
Emma Seligman takes her seven-and-a-half-minute senior film of the same name and expands it into her first feature, Shiva Baby, drawing the audience into a series of overlapping worlds she has either passed through or lived within herself. The result is a tightly constructed comedy that feels less like casual viewing and more like an experience to be endured—one that is precise, claustrophobic, and quietly relentless.
“So you just study and don’t eat and go out with your beautiful friends, is that it? Is that your life?” (Seligman, 2020)
Image: Film still from Shiva Baby (2020), directed by Emma Seligman.