Hair High

I viewed HIGH HAIR today in Los Angeles -- perhaps three years after it was originally screened. Comments on IMDb said it was a retro 50's style high school story line which drew my attention.

I am a child of such an era having graduated in 1959 (at the cusp of the next decade of the 50's) from high school.

I entered the theater with an invited friend. I was a bit anxious whether my experience would be the same as another person's opinion as we left the screening and talked.

We both had the same movie experience: It took about 20 minutes to get into it and at one moment in time, there was a hook that carried the film into its conclusion and enjoyment. I suppose this is a cult film, but it works well with those who were in high school in the era of the film despite the fact that this was not my own experience.

My enjoyment was the fusion of Japanese anime into contemporary American animation as a borrowed skill with a true technique honed by Bill Plimpton.

He pulled it off without a finger print of evidence that would tie him to such a cinematic crime of imitating Japanese Anime and not his own invention.

It worked. Just fine. Pure fusion.

While the story is pretty good (although very used), this kind of animation just blows. it looks like the animator is down right lazy. instead of 10 frames he uses the same 2 over and over. i've seen better animation by first year art student. i mean it. And the dubbing synchronization (and voices characterization all-in-all) is poor: when someone looks (visually) like he's shouting, their voice is dry and in normal volume. there is way too much silence and lack of sound effects to make the scenes work and be coherent, instead of just frames flickering around with big random pauses.

There are so many great storytellers and animators out there. I really can't figure out why Plympton is considered such a great one.

A sheer disappointment.

This is a bit of a psychedelic rockabilly animated nightmare. Packed with 50s American cool, depicted with 60s European charm. Telling the story Spud, a new kid in high school, it's a familiar and not particularly original story, but Spud is likeable and as he says "he just doesn't know the rules". The rules being that teenagers are obnoxious and if movies have taught us anything, it's American teens are more obnoxious, stupid and self centred than most. It certainly seems that Bill Plympton has made exactly the film he wanted to... a pretty disgusting, dialled up to 11 X-Rated version of The Rugrats do Carrie. His style signposts every inch of this and feels devoid of outside interference, which in itself is pretty cool. For all it's B-Movie cool though, it boasts a pretty decent cast of voice actors. I can honestly say I've never seen anything quite like this before.

"Hair High" is a full-length Bill Plympton cartoon that is very different from his hilarious shorts. Instead, it's more story-oriented, less funny and a bit padded. Many scenes seem to be drawn out....and the experience is certainly different.

Spud is a new student at the high school. Soon he draws the ire of Rod, the school bully and quarterback of the football team. To punish Spud for existing, Rod forces Spud to be Cherri's slave...and Cherri is Rod's girlfriend. Eventually, however, the plan backfires when Cherri and Spud falls in love and decide to go to the prom together. In response, Rod runs the pair off the road...killing them. While this should be the end of the story, it isn't...and the dead pair are determined to get to the next prom.

Like many of Plympton's cartoons, this one is certainly NOT for kids. It's filled with sexual material and violence...the sort of stuff teens and adults will enjoy but certainly NOT kids! In fact, I talked with Mr. Plympton a few years ago at ComicCon New York, and he said he did NOT want kids watching some of his films. They just can, in some cases, be way too adult for the little ones! It also is a film NOT for the casual viewer, as the material and especially the pacing are not typical of a Plymton cartoon...so I recommend that those not familiar with his work try something else first. Worth seeing despite its pacing...and very, very strange....sort of like the John Waters film "Cry Baby"...but on acid!

This story is in the same mode as Rod Serling's original "Twilight Zone," except with much more heart and soul, and less Old Testament style revenge. You learn to love the characters, even the ones you initially think are cruel.

After all the overproduced and overhyped animated films, that promise wonders but give us the same old thing - THIS is the reason we come back to watch animation. I've seen several of Plympton's short films, but they didn't prepare me for the beautiful characters, the simple and clear story, and (most amazingly) the 50's - 60's style teen music.

See it in the theatres AND buy it on DVD when it comes out. Be aware, though; there's some violence and messy stuff that very little kids probably shouldn't see. Kids above age 12 should be able to handle it, though.