Sep 20 2012
That Feeling Feel That Feels… Feel-y.
Mark Osborne’s “MORE” is a color-heavy metaphor for happiness and creativity and where one truly finds it. (Hint: Check his stomach box-thing. It’s very Tellytubby-ish?) The use of color throughout the piece is what captivated me first and foremost: from the spectral, orange glow of our protagonist’s vision, to the overabundance of gray everywhere, to the rainbow vomit-like HAPPY state of mind, and finally to the colorful “children” laughing and playing in a far-off corner of this gray world. I’m a fairly big believer in the use of color as a means to convey emotion, but Osborne appears to be taking that use in a strange direction.
Literally my face watching “MORE.”
The vision of happy, playful children when we see into the mind of “Blobert,” as I’ve decided to call him, should give us the impression that this is a goal for Blobert: to restore this happiness to the world. It’s supposed to be a good vision, even possibly a desire to restore the past happiness to the present bleakness. But then there’s that orange glow. When I first saw the film, I began to think that scene represented ghosts, or something of a spiritual, spooky nature. The laughter seemed chilling, not warming, all because of that glow. It’s a warning? Does the orange mean caution? Who’s being cautioned and why are they being warned about these creepy orange-gray blob people?
Then you have this gray city, with gray people and gray skies and gray buildings and gray gray in all shades of gray. Maybe about fifty of them? Fifty shades of gray? I’m going to stop right here this isn’t funny or relevant at all. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that upon viewing the short film for a second, third, and fourth time, my thoughts immediately went to the use of color and the unusual questions they posed in the face of a fairly straightforward plot.
And now we come to Madame Tutli-Putli, a cinematic enigma by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, filled with puppetry and human eyes.
Here, Madame Tutli-Putli plays coy with a male suitor. Such a charming scene.
What impressed me most about this short film was that in the four years it took to create the seventeen minutes of footage… I understood next to nothing. Or rather I understood, but can’t explain. In a way I felt like I was on that train ride with the Madame, and that when she cried, I cried too. No, really, the moment the film ended I felt this uncontrollable desire to just bawl senselessly. The more I think about what this film is trying to say through metaphorical journeys and an abundance of imagery, the more questions and possibilities I think of, none of which I can fully elaborate upon. It’s an overstimulation of sorts: escape, mind games, gross seduction, murder, kidnapping, mysterious sleeping gas, chasing after a magical butterfly… It can mean so much, but it’s too much to take in at once.
Understandable? Not really. Interesting? Completely.
I love how you compared the stomach of the character in MORE to a teletubbies stomach! The name Blobert is also very original. I also agree, Madame Tutle-Putli was very confusing.
Haha, I just love your writing style… the comparison you made to the Teletubbies was awesome. I’ve watched this film about ten times and that had never come to mind.
Truly love your writing Brian! You never fail to make me laugh or smirk at your writing. Your reference to Fifty Shades of Gray was cute! Totally agree with you with the fact that the second short film we watched was interesting but completely not understandable. I was so unsure of everything and completely lost at what the whole film was, but maybe that was the point? To leave the audience in shock and uncertain about what really went on?
I laughed at the reference you made to the Teletubbies when comparing the small box in his stomach. I also thought your fifty shades of grey blobs reference was funny too! The laughter from the movie is completely different from my laughter of your post. I agree that the short film’s laughter was not warm but creepy. I was also left with questions unanswered by the ending. Both stop-motions were confusing, especially Madame Tutli Putli. I didn’t know why they took someone else’s organs and left hers. There was way too much going on in that animation.
You have a job as a film critic my friend. I agree with the colors being used to convey emotions absolutely but I thought it was pretty straight forward once you got to the end of More. I wasn’t confused by that one. Madame on the other hand was an absolute whirl wind of….. you know what. It was funny then scary then spiritual then confusing.