Begone Dull Care

With the recent death of jazz great Oscar Peterson, Amid at Cartoon Brew showed his tribute by linking from YouTube two animated shorts scored by him. One was directed by John Hubley. This one, Begone Dull Care, was done by Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart with the abstract paint done directly on film. Peterson provides three jazz pieces with the second one just played to white lines on black background and the other two mixed with that and various other colors, mostly red. Wonderful Jackson Pollock-like images that might have inspired many a trip during the '60s! What a great tribute to a recently departed music genius from Canada.

This is a very important Canadian animated short in that many love it for its artistic style as well as all the tedious work that went into making it. Classical music is set to movement of scratches on film. None of the animation is anthropomorphic--instead all shapes and colors and scratches. Because of this, the film looks like something that you'd see in a modern art museum. However, it should also be pointed out that this is a very, very, very difficult film to watch nor is it particularly fun. Watching minute after minute of this is just a chore.

Overall verdict: An interesting experiment that has little, if any, commercial appeal. Not particularly pleasant but I sure can respect the time that went into making it.

This is a somewhat experimental animated short film that is quite reminiscent of the opening sequence of "Fantasia" in which abstract visuals sync with instrumental background music. This film can be described as somewhat more dull than "Fantasia" in nature, particularly in the middle, but it is still a whole lot of fun to watch (for the most part) nonetheless. Similarly to Stan Brakhage, the great Canadian animator/avant garde filmmaker Norman McLaren (the man behind the brilliant classic short film "Neighbors", which is, in m opinion, one of the greatest works ever put to celluloid) directly painted on film in order to craft the fine, stunningly colorful visuals expressed in this brief musical trip. If this doesn't sound too abstract to you, I would recommend it highly; after all, it's only seven minutes of your time!

This film is one of the better works of abstract animation. McLaren succeeds at precisely timing his drawn-on-film animation to Peterson's music. Also, McLaren's mastery of depth in his painting is wonderful.

These abstractions are tuned to the piano work of Oscar Peterson. While they really have no intrinsic connection, they jump and jive with the music. The colors are vivid and enticing. One should not be too critical of this work because efforts to classify the art just don't go anywhere. Just experience it and enjoy.