Cogent criticism
requires fairness,
attention to detail
For much of my writing career,
if it could be called a career, I
have been a critic. To be more
specific, I have been a critic of cul
ture. Whether it be films, books,
music, art or television, they have
all been examined with a critical
scalpel. That might come off as a
bit pompous, but being a critic is
the highest form of artistic hubris
anyway.
Being a published writer of any
kind requires an ornate amount of
pride, since it requires the belief
that your writing is worth being
read. But to believe that your opin
ions on other forms of art are wor
thy of public consumption is on a
whole different level. I know this,
accept it and continue to do it any
way, either out of ego or some all
consuming need to analyze every
thing. Who knows?
Ryan Nyburg
Budget rack
But despite the inherently proud
nature that goes with this kind of
work, I believe there is a higher
morality system to which it is
bound. Criticism has to be valid,
even if it is not always fair or bal
anced. It has to be well-informed
and, most of all, it has to be hon
est. If it fails on these levels it can
no longer be called criticism but
instead only a personal attack or
cheap promotion.
Journalistically, criticism is also in
an interesting area. While it is pre
senting a subjective and informed
opinion on a matter of public inter
est, it still has to be objective Politi
cal columnists work along this same
standard. You can't develop a serious
personal connection to the subject of
criticism because your opinion will
no longer be objective I don't accept
gifts from artists that I've written
about, nor do I accept free tickets or
music, except as promotional mate
rial that I do not keep.
I often get the chance to see
movies for free. But since I don't pick
the movies and see the good as well
as the bad, it can be considered pro
motional material. If I liked the
movie enough I'll often go buy a
ticket and see it again. I consider
these kinds of things moral deci
sions and treat them as such when
ever they come up.
A number of moral decisions
appear every time I write a review.
There is a lot of criticism floating
around that fails the test of validity,
and I try to keep that criticism
from being my own. When I re
view something, I try to analyze it
from a valid basis. For example,
when "Gigli" came out last year, it
was widely proclaimed one of the
worst films in the year, decade, his
tory of cinema, whatever. But most
of that criticism was based on the
fact that many critics hated Ben Af
fleck and Jennifer Lopez. An un
derstandable bias to be sure, but
still one that should have been left
at the theater entrance.
While I never saw the film my
self, I could never quite trust the re
views that blasted it mercilessly yet
never quoted a single instance that
described it as anything more than
mediocre. They set impossibly
high standards for what was never
intended to be more than a run-of
the-mill star vehicle. While high
standards are laudable, they
should also be flexible. Holding
your standards too high invali
dates your criticism.
The personality of an artist is
also not a valid area. By most ac
counts, many of the great artists in
history have been total bastards.
Ernest Hemingway was a drunk
ard, William Blake was a drug
fiend and Salvador Dali was a
complete S.O.B. But they were all
great artists in their own way. Who
they were as people is the subject
of biographers, not critics.
One problem that recurs is the
perception by many public relations
folks that I am somehow a branch
of their promotional machine. I am
often treated as if it were my God
given duty to plug whatever upstart
no-talent who happens to wander
through town. As a rule, PR is not
critical, hence it makes it difficult to
plug something and take it seriously
as art at the same time.
I have to be honest about my
opinions, and I can't do that if I'm
trying to promote something uncrit
ically. So I guess I wouldn't be cut
out for PR work, since the need to
analyze is a bit too strong in me. It's
just my nature.
Contact the senior Pulse reporter
at ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com.
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tVtV>Y» rViVi'ViVr iVi tViVi iViViVm iVm
French Triplets of Belleville'
raises bar for animated films
The Triplets of Belleville’
marks an important shift
in contemporary animation
By Steven Neuman
Freelance Reporter
In between Walt Disney and Tim
Burton lies the dark beauty and humor
of director Sylvain Chomet's French an
imated film "The Triplets of Belleville"
This film totally upsets notions of the
dominance of American animation.
Somewhere out there, Uncle Walt is
turning over in his cryogenic grave.
"Triplets"
MOVIE
REVIEW
follows a
simple plot.
The grand
mother and
-- heroine,
Madame
Souza, trains her grandson Champion
to be a world-class cyclist. When
Champion is kidnapped during the
Tour de France by the sinister French
Mafia, Souza must travel to the big city
of Belleville with Champion's loyal
dog, Bruno. With the aid of ancient
triplets, a trio of once-famous jazz
singers, Souza tames the big city and
sets out to resale her grandson.
However, the plot is somewhat sec
ondary to what amounts to one of the
richest animated worlds ever created.
The frames are packed with visual de
lights that make each moment a true
feast for the eyes. And while the movie
is basically a silent film containing no
dialogue of any real importance, the
surprisingly expressive charaaers car
ry the storyline brilliantly. Despite be
ing a foreign piece, there is no prereq
uisite background in the French
language is required. Most of the scant
"speech" is essentially gibberish with
a few actual French words thrown in.
The score and sound provide other
dominant features that makes this film
so unique. Musical director Benoit
Charest sets the mood and speaks for
the charaaers while perfectly synching
the tone of his music to the jazzy style
of the animation. He accomplishes
some fantastic feats, such as coaxing
jazz tunes out of a vacuum cleaner.
Again, "Triplets" completely lays to
waste the conventions of American an
imation and even Japanese anime.
Flawless integration of 3-D computer
work to the slightly gritty 2-D anima
tion makes Hollywood's attempts look
crude at best. The art direction is closer
to innovative long-form graphic novels
than to traditionally linear feature
length animations. Chomet's work
captures the true intensity and density
of often dreary and hectic city life from
the perspective of a country grandma.
The duo of Souza and Bruno is the
film's most charming creation. Their
partnership calls upon some classic
Laurel and Hardy overtones to form a
snappy and witty pair of charaaers
that the audience finds incredibly
sympathetic without being synthetic.
Despite the Triplets' top billing, they
Courtesy
Flashbacks to the heydey of the Triplets of Belleville are rendered in a less realistic, more
stylized manner than the rest of the film, which resembles early cartoon shorts.
Courtesy
A simpler time: The movie begins with a young Champion and Bruno as a puppy.
are hardly the stars.
The film's core genius lies is in its
humor: Subtly subversive, fraught
with running jokes, and highbrow and
lowbrow all at once. The laughter
"Triplets" can elicit adds polish to a
somewhat rough story, turning the
film into a gem that sparkles with wit.
Hie city of Belleville, which seems to
embody the worst perceptions of
America, becomes the stage for a
comedic exploration of the love/hate
Franco-American relationship. The
first image we see of the city is a har
bor view dominated by a grotesquely
obese Statue of Liberty. This image re
ceived some of the biggest laughs from
the crowd — which I can only assume
was an audience primarily dominated
by Americans — and further paves the
way for other cultural parodies.
This type of lighthearted criticism is
made all the more palatable by
Chomet's willingness to mock the
French as well. The red-nosed French
Mafia boss uses as his cover a French
wine organization with the slogan "In
Vino Veritas," and the French Mafia
proves to be horrific when it comes to
driving. However, not all of the jokes
are so intellectual; one of the more
pleasing running gags stems from
Bruno the dog's recurring hatred of
trains, which viewers witness to be the
result of his puppy-era accident with a
model train.
Taken as whole, "Triplets" breaks
the mold so completely that it is hard
to compare it to other examples. It will
certainly become the yardstick for fu
ture animated features.
"The Triplets of Belleville" is cur
rently playing at the Bijou Art Cinemas
at 492 E. 13 th Ave.
Steven Neuman is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.
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