Strange Frame: Love & Sax

From the opening to the close I found myself in the constant motion of this film. Each detail compelled me to want more. Strange Frame is twisted and foreign yet the film maker calls me home. We have no earth but we have taken all the familiar virtues and evils with us to a new world. With unlikely heroes,gay, crippled, broken, addicted, colored and colorful I am totally under the spell of it. Abandon your prejudices and Strange Frame makes it easy as it weaves a cloth of seduction in your mind. It is a different way for the hero to get the girl. See it and come away humming the soundtrack. And by the way, that soundtrack is a cross between down home blues and sultry jazz clues. I cannot wait to own this film in my personal collection.

Definitely not for everyone. If you love the vanilla stories and characters of Hollywood Blockbusters, stay away from this movie. If you like to be spoon fed the plot points and donʻt enjoy digging in the subtext skip this one...but if you have depth and you like going deep, this is exactly what the Doctor ordered.

I felt like the whole movie was a walk through some exotic red light district of the future with a soundtrack and voice talent to keep that mood going. Lots of homages to my fave films in there and some of my fave playwrights too! (Did anybody else notice all the Oscar Wilde stuff?)

It is a wild ride, but not full of killing and mayhem: full of erotic asides, acid painted walls, poetry, rock and roll.

Itʻs an indie movie, so spread the word if you can.

This film could be considered edgy, avant garde, risqué, risky, new horizons...any number of things depending on your slant and agenda...depending on your definitions...especially of "cinema". This certainly is "art"...the human creations. But is it a good film? (in the context of who we generally think of good films). Just because a movie is...different....doesn't make it a great or even good movie. Okay...that being said- I found I did not enjoy this movie. And I like sci-fi, anime, certain CGI, etc. I can also appreciate someone taking risks. But....It's style is some sort of drug induced freak abstract just for the sake of doing it not for the sake of the story or film. And hey if that's all you want out of film then knock yourself out! As was mentioned the story isn't edgy or even engaging, there's no character engagement, I didn't feel connected at all, just kind of bored, especially with the forced pretentiousness of how I should be awed by everything, oh LESBIANS WOW!. Not. If animated abstracted lesbian lead characters is the claim to fame, there's not much to claim.

Bottom line...I'm not going to discourage anyone from watching any film, but I'm not recommending this one either. Do yourself a favor, if you want to watch a great original animated rock and roll movie, check out Rock n Rule. It's the ORIGINAL real deal, and you will see it looks like they probably lifted some things from it too.

A beautifully animated dreamlike adventure pulsating with sensuality and rock and roll. An instant cult classic in the spirit of 'Fantastic Planet' (La Planete Sauvage), 'Heavy Metal' with underpinnings of 'Fritz the Cat' and 'Blade Runner'. The character voices are interesting with Tim Curry and Claudia Black standing out. The music is reminiscent of the girl rock sound of the early seventies. Think 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls' meets 'Heart'. The story is complex enough to stay interesting without losing anyone. But, the cut-out style of the animation shows just how creative the animators were to elevate this type of video game style imagery to special heights. Try to see this film in as large a format as you can. It's quite impressive on a extra big TV or at the theater.

This trippy animated feature brings to mind stuff like Fantastic Planet and Heavy Metal, and I imagine lots of drugs will be done while watching it. I don't partake, but I enjoyed the mindbendingness unaltered plenty. The animation style is simple but beautiful. It's pretty difficult to describe, but the trailer can be watched on IMDb or Youtube. It's a lesbian love story between a saxophonist and a singer/guitar player who live on the moons of Jupiter in the 28th Century. The singer, Naia, is targeted by evil record producers, and her lover, Parker, is left out in the cold trying to figure out how to win her love back. The story isn't entirely coherent, but no matter. It's a rich visual and aural experience that left me breathless. It streams on Netflix and is highly recommended.