Everything
is cuter with talking animals, right? This film will test that theory with drug
addiction, schizophrenia, police brutality, and industrial disasters. It is no
wonder three alienated animal youths are determined to escape their
dysfunctional and dystopian island home, but leaving is not such a simple
proposition for the late Birdman’s son. He is seemingly tied to the island by
bonds of psychological and emotional pain in Pedro Rivero & Alberto Vázquez’s
Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (trailer here), an officially
qualified Oscar contender, which opens this Friday in New York.
Not
so long ago, a nuclear meltdown wiped out the island’s industrial sector, leaving
a vast dumping ground in its wake. Residents of the island’s supposedly
civilized quarter avoid it as best they can, but a tribe of scavengers known as
“the Forgotten Children” constantly picks over the trash heaps in search of salvageable
copper. Dinky, a recently orphaned mouse, pines for Birdboy, her sort of
boyfriend, but it is unclear whether he can commit to her on any level. Tragically,
he is still tormented by the death of his father, Birdman, who was murdered by
the island’s shoot-first police dog, on the suspicion he was dealing drugs.
Dinky
and her friends, Sandra the schizophrenic rabbit and Little Fox the little fox,
plan to purchase a light boat in the [post-]industrial zone, so they can make a
Cuban-style getaway, but the sensitive mouse hopes she can convince Birdboy to
leave with them. However, he has his own ghosts and mental demons to exercise. Plus,
the police dogs are hot on his trail.
GKIDS
deserves all kinds of credit for giving ambitious animated films like this a
chance. Make no mistake, Birdboy is
absolutely not for kids—not one little bit, even though the characters look
deceptively youngster-friendly. Based on Vázquez’s graphic novel, it is a dark
and sophisticated film that is almost relentlessly pessimistic about human nature,
or rather anthropomorphic animal nature. Yet, it is singularly macabre and
richly inventive accomplishment in world-building. There is just so much that
is bizarre and frightening about their island environment, it would be a shame
to miss out on it.
Vázquez’s
characters are also unusually complex and deeply damaged. This is one neurotic
animated feature, but we really feel compassion for Dinky, Sandra, Little Fox,
and Birdboy. They are way more human than anything you will see in The Boss Baby or the latest Despicable movie. (However, parents
should again be cautioned, our cuddly cast of characters is headed for a
bittersweet conclusion that is more bitter than sweet.)
As
if Birdboy were not sufficiently
challenging on its own, it will be paired with Vázquez’s Goya Award-winning short
film Decorado during its New York
engagement. Featuring dreams-within-dreams and worlds-within-proscenium stage
sets, Decorado will confuse most Millennials.
It also features sexual references and a vicious parody of Donald Duck. It is
trippy and unsettling, but it is also dazzling, in a postmodern kind of way. It
certainly is not out of place proceeding Birdboy,
but it does not have anything like its emotional payoff.
Alas,
Birdboy has no chance for best
animated feature, because there is no way the Academy can handle it, but if you
want to see what animation can be, it will
duly impress (along with Decorado).
These are haunting visions, whose very existence makes our world a stranger and
more mysterious place. Highly recommended for animation connoisseurs, Birdboy: The Forgotten Children opens this Friday (12/15) in New
York, at the Quad Cinema.
