Consuming Spirits

Film

An animated character revisits old memories in Consuming Spirits

Time Out rating:

<strong>Rating: </strong>3/5

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Time Out says

Mon Dec 10 2012

If you were to fall asleep reading Raymond Carver stories while Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska played in the background, your nightmares might look a lot like Chris Sullivan’s animated tale of three small-town locals eking out lives of suffocating desperation. (The titular phrase refers both to the inebriating liquids one character uses to kill his existential pain and the way society slowly devours all three of the protagonists' souls.) A genuine labor of love and fictional self-loathing, Sullivan’s animation style is undeniably compelling, whether he’s channeling Grant Wood’s paintings or Robert Crumb’s monochromatic sketches. But the interweaving stories of commercialized religion, rancid Americana and alcoholic wretches start wearing thin around the movie’s midpoint; by the end, the whole morose endeavor risks becoming downright threadbare.

Follow David Fear on Twitter: @davidlfear

Author: David Fear

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Rated as: 0/5 (0 ratings)

  • One can definitely accept the basic outlines of "starts wearing thin around the movie's midpoint," or anyway I can accept that some viewers would feel that tipping point. It didn't play that way for me, personally, but with its tone it would sure wear on some viewers. On the other hand, though, "commercialized religion"? Religion plays the scantest role in this thing.... Some of the characters come into direct contact with each other through a local church, and that's about it. Was our reviewer taking the gardening call-in show to be a send-up of "commercial" faith? I just saw the movie last night; that reaction strikes me as having more to do with the reviewer than the pictures and sounds up there. And "rancid Americana"? Uhm, yeah, it's set in America.... Other than that I'm a little bit at a loss. Note to self: reviewers who think they can neatly summarize the title of something like this are not necessarily going to be the most thoughtful voices out there. Rosebud? It was his sled.

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