Hair High

One of the most easily recognisable auteurs working in animation, Bill Plympton has produced a succession of animated features and shorts which delight with their unique style and idiosyncratic world view. His is a bizarre world which, unusually for such hand drawn work, normally assumes the presence of an adult audience and where the exaggerations of sex can be sniggered over for all the right reasons. HAIR HIGH is no exception, and continues the animator's regular obsessions with the strained relationships between sexually optimistic men and women, detailed with black humour all the while laced with some side swipes at the ironies of romance. There's also plenty of hair spray, horny chickens, a good soundtrack, smoking, and the genital stimulation of frogs. Rudeness, surreality and extremes of physical contortion appear again as part and parcel of the plymptonesque world - which this time includes nods to such disparate films as REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, NIGHT OF THE HUNTER and THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO. HAIR HIGH is voiced by such talent as Keith and David Carradine, Ed Begley Jnr and Matt Groening. Ostensibly a moralistic tale of 50's high school love that ends in comi-tragedy, HAIR HIGH actually engages as a characteristic free wheeling fantasy, allowing the animator to indulge in all sorts of off the wall scenes and images propelling the narrative forward. For those better used to the tight pencil work and plot construction of more regularly exposed animation studios Plympton's work, which leaps more immediately from the artist's bizarre subconscious, often comes as a wake up call. In its attempt to drag cartoons out of the juvenile closet Plympton's longer work has been blazing a trail for years. With not a cuddly, wise-cracking animal in sight and a hands-off view with regards to any computer generated figures, HAIR HIGH is a must for admirers of Plympton. Since this film Plympton has completed two other features, including SHUT EYE HOTEL and, most intriguingly, TOKYO ONLYMPIC, which at 137 mins is slated at his longest yet, double that of the present title.

Hair High is a take-off of retro high school dramas, as a mild-mannered student finds himself being tortured by the top echelon at his new school. The story is little more than a frame for a series of insane set pieces that range from flies having sex to a crazed car battle.

This episodic, gag-first approach keeps one from caring much about the characters or events, but it's pretty consistently funny.

Bill Plympton has a weird sense of humor, but his mix of surreal cleverness and outrageous is always lots of fun. Hair High isn't quite as good as his shorts, but it is thoroughly enjoyable.

Bill Pympton's "Hair High" is everything an animated feature should be. It features some of the funniest comedy you will ever see in a film, animated or live action. This comedy is combined with excellent, unique animation that sets the film apart from other animated features. The rough feeling of it is a much needed break from the perfection that is Disney and Dreamworks. Plympton really proves that you don't need expensive fancy 3D graphics to make an amazing film; all you truly need is talent and ambition. The plot ties everything together; giving some meaning to the crazy world that is Plympton's animation style.

One of the best parts of "Hair High" is the cast of voices. Kill Bill's David Carradine lends his vocal talent, along with Beverly D'Angelo, and Animators Don Hertzfeldt and Matt Groening. Each voice fits the character perfectly, which really adds to the already excellent animation and story.

Overall, the incredibly weird, yet extremely funny, antics of "Hair High" are sure to entertain. Laugh after laugh, this film takes the fun of Plympton's shorts and allows the audience to enjoy the fun for over an hour.

Such a great work.One of the best animations that I've ever watched, although the story is very common; popular guy and cheerleader go out together but a "a new kid in school" falls for this popular cheerleader.

Drawings are very expressive you can almost taste the life they are living at the screen. I think this animation deserves more than just congratulations.

The thing about this animation is it makes you wonder and at the same time makes you want to watch over and over again.

If you haven't still watched it you may be missing a lot in my opinion.

Enjoy.

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.