What a delight it is to rediscover the artistic genius of Canadian animator Norman McLaren. His animations are pioneering classics of the genre which are still fresh and enjoyable today. This retrospective presents a judicious sample of his work.
Trouble with Inanimate Objects
In Opening Speech, McLaren attempts to give a speech on the occasion of the first annual Montréal Film Festival where he has trouble with an uncooperative microphone stand. In A Chairy Tale he has trouble trying to sit down on a chair with a mind of its own. The hilarious action is perfectly matched by Ravi Shankar's soundtrack. Both of these films could be live action versions of classic Warner Brothers cartoons.
Abstract Images and Music
Begone Dull Care is an explosion of lines and colour–a brilliant visualization of the music of a young and energetic Oscar Peterson Trio. Synchromy is a colorful experiment with early music synthesizers. The beeps, boops, and other sounds strongly remind me of the Atari 2600 game console. The moving groups of lines in Lines Horizontal generate interesting interference patterns, all to the music of Pete Seeger.
The Birds
McLaren seemed to have an affinity for whimsically animated birds. Hen Hop features a chicken–whole and in parts–dancing to a square dance song. Le Merle is a bird-like figure animated to a French-Canadian folk/children's song.
Award Winning Shorts
McLaren won an Oscar for his billiant anti-war film, Neighbours. Also notable for its soundtrack which sounds like early electronic music. Possibly tape loops or directly painting onto the film sound track.
McLaren received an Oscar nomination and won the BAFTA award for Pas de Deux. It's a beautiful ballet duo filmed in black and white with multiple exposures and stroboscopic effects. It reminds me of The Matrix's bullet time effects.
About McLaren
McLaren's Negatives is a brief tribute to, and interview with McLaren. In animated form, he explains some of his techniques, and reflects on his work. It is amazing to think that all of his work predated the computer age, and much of it involved painstakingly hand painting images onto each film frame.
If you miss this retrospective you don't have to wait until the next film festival to enjoy McLaren's work. A DVD box set of all his films is available from the National Film Board of Canada website.
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