CONSUMING SPIRITS: Chris Sullivan's 15-year animated labor of love opens for the holidays; dump the kids somewhere else

True to Film Forum's ability to counter-program the usual holiday sweetness and cheer, the storied New York repertory/independent/
documentary theater has done itself proud this year by bringing us an animated film unlike maybe anything we've seen (anything TrustMovies has seen, at least).

CONSUMING SPIRITS might bring to mind Scrooge & Marley, were the spirits involved not mostly alcoholic. (I wouldn't be surprised if Charles Dickens' spirit didn't cotton to this odd film, once he got used to the freedom artists possess these days.) So personal and deeply-felt is the movie that you'll likely wince in near-recognition of all the sadness, regret and spent lives on view. Yet the film contains nary a jerked tear. You'll more likely laugh at the pile-up of neuroses on display by the artist, Chris Sullivan, shown at right, who wrote, directed, produced the film and did the cinematography, editing, sound and much of the animation. (This is not, however, a one-man show: At the end credits, plenty of other people are credited & thanked.)

 
Modern-day Appalachian small-town life seems to be the setting here, and the main characters -- Earl Gray (above), Gentian Violet (below) and Victor Blue (at left, further below) -- sport semi-Dickensian names and toss around interesting philosophies. Gentian's (Jenny's) elderly mom, who lives with her and has Alzheimer's, offers this bit of delectable dinner conversation: "Little Jenny keeps her muffin clean with a vinegar wash."

Stylistically the movie's "animation" is all over the place -- claymation, collage, photos, simple black-and-white line drawing, and richly colored hand-drawn stuff -- yet it all works together harmoniously and darkly. (The movie opens with a hit-and-run nun!) There's even a bunch of product placement here, though I doubt the director was compensated by any of those name brands.

You want hints on the care and keeping of the elderly and dysfunc-tional? Use handcuffs, because when you don't, some very dark things happen. Child molestation, or at least the possibility of same? Check. And a lovely rendition of Shenandoah. (The music/
songs here are used sparingly but beautifully and effectively.)

As the movie marches ahead, relationships and are laid bare and connections made clearer. By the finale (spoiler ahead, or maybe not) there is even a family reunion that is important and yet so distanced that it can not be said to have been played for sentiment. Yet that sentiment is present, all the same. We are told in the press materials that Mr. Sullivan spent 15 years bringing this film to fruition. A look at his animation "studio," below, may indicate why. This is probably as far from Pixar as one can get, though it does appear a "fun" place to spend some time. And however this movie came about, as an audience member I can only say it was worth it.

Consuming Spirits -- running, I am told, 129 minutes (the version I saw ran 135) -- is an animated tale that may take you awhile to appreciate. But I doubt you'll be able to easily forget it. The film opens this Wednesday, December 12, for a two-week run at Film Forum. Elsewhere? Can't say, but something this unusual and worthwhile will be around for a long time to come.

Art & Parenting: C. Scott Willis' THE WOODMANS opens at Film Forum

Thirty years ago, Francesca Woodman -- a young and very up-and-coming photographer from a highly artistic family -- killed herself. Some of us will remember the commotion the event set off at the time. Since then, the suicide, along with the remaining Woodman family has mostly faded from gossip, chatter and public view. Francesca's parents George (a painter/photog-rapher) and Betty (painter/ceramic sculptor) and her sibling Charles (now an assistant prof. of electronic art at the Univ of Cincinnati, whose recent works involve video, live performance, musicians and dancers) have gone their own way, continuing -- as they did prior to and after Francesca's death -- with the most important thing in their lives: their art.

Who are these people? How much responsibility did/do they shoulder for the demise of their family member? Did Francesca ever have a chance at what we might call a "normal" life? Should artists ever procreate their own kind or simply stick with what they do best (or even not so very well, depending, of course, on the taste of others)? These questions and more may pop into your mind while watching THE WOODMANS, the new documentary by C. Scott Willis, who is shown at left. Don't expect many answers, however -- at least not the kind that result in what we, these days, love to call "closure." This movie raises many more questions than it probably could, or would even care to, answer. Which is most likely what the director wants, and which is, I think perfectly all right, as far as it goes. I just wish the film had gone a bit farther.

One wonders why, thirty years later, a movie would be made about all this. And yet, why not? The mystery of family -- one of the great and enduring mysteries of all kinds and all times -- can always use another chapter, another viewpoint. Mr. Willis takes us back to Francesca's early years and her ground-breaking art. She used herself as her subject, often nude, in strange and revealing (of both mind and body) ways that shocked then, and still have that ability today.

Ellis interviews family and friends (even an old boyfriend) about the past and the present and comes up with some fascinating stuff.  "I could never live with anybody who did not love art the way I did," says mother Betty at one point.  (That's she, above, in her younger years.)Which leaves one wondering: How could anybody ever love art in the same way that any other person might love it? Are we not all quite different? "Distant as parents" does seem to describe George and Betty, but that's hardly all of it. Oh, yes -- and Betty created functional art: ceramic tableware that was used at home for dining. Remember how all of us in our younger years broke a dish or pitcher now and then? This kind of event, I suspect, was perceived and handled somewhat differently in the Woodman household.

Betty was Jewish, George a  Christian. To this day, certain of his family members have still not crossed the threshhold of his "new" married life. The Woodmans have another home in Italy, in a glorious mountain area that looks like Tuscany. Visiting here, as we do now (and as the family did in times before the suicide: that's George, above, in his studio in Italy circa 1960) is a treat. As is seeing Betty's recently completed commissioned piece for the U.S. Embassy in China. Life goes on. Art goes on. And so do egos. As someone notes, along the way: This was a house full of artists. It was all about "Look what I did!"

Toward the finale, just when we begin to want something more (oh, no -- do I mean closure?!), the movie seems to trail off. We're left with plenty to consider but the whole thing looks like a mess of puzzle pieces, some of which were inadvertently left in the next room. In the press materials for The Woodmans, the director notes that this is "a film that taught me to be patient, to appreciate the beauty of the world it inhabits and above all to listen carefully -- so the story could reveal itself."  Hello: I'm still listening. And waiting for that revelation.

The Woodmans opens this Wednesday, January 19, at Film Forum for a two-week run. Click here for the performance schedule. Note: There will be a Q&A with Filmmaker C. Scott Willis on Wed, January 19, at the 8:10 screening.